Hunters of Justice

by trestwho

Remnant has fallen, its cities captured and its greatest defenders defeated at the hands of the alien conqueror, Brainiac. In the aftermath of his victory, the people of Remnant's last hope lies in the hands of two teams of students, whisked away to another world. A world where Gods walk among them.

16. Hocus Pocus and Alakazam

Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)

Chapter 12: Hocus Pocus and Alakazam

---

It was nighttime when the alarm blared. The young heroes were in the midst of a fighting game tournament when they were interrupted, but once they received word of exactly what had occurred all thoughts of Kombat were extinguished. After getting into their super-suits, they hopped into the T-Car and drove as fast as they could towards the scene of the incident, vehicles moving out of the way as they would with other emergency vehicles. By the time they arrived, the JPD had already cordoned off the run-down apartment complex with yellow police tape and were moving spectators away.

The police offered no such resistance to the Titans however as they, along with RWBY and JNPR, stepped out of the T-Car and entered the building. Inside were a few police officers inspecting the area, including piles of flowers, streamers, and an assortment of various other stage items that seemed to be scattered across the entire building. One of the officers turned to face the heroes, rubbing his hand down his bearded face before nodding at them.

"Titans," the lead officer greeted the team.

Cyborg nodded in response. "Officer. Mind explaining the situation more clearly?"

The officer sighed deeply while rubbing his bald head, "It's a damn mess, is what it is. We got the call roughly half an hour ago about an assault. The perp had been long gone by the time we arrived, but the landlord here was…" He looked around and frowned deeply. "We couldn't find her. Right now, we're assuming it's a kidnapping."

"You think a villain did this?" Weiss suggested, and the officer nodded.

"There's only two people I know who would assault a person with flowers, and one of them is locked up in Arkham. So yeah, I'm pretty certain."

M'gann nodded, and she and the others walked inside the building, adding, "We'll take it from here, officer," as they walked past. The officer, who Jaune just now noticed had the name 'Miguel Rodriquez', nodded back.

"Good. I'll let you all take over. Not about to let my boys get taken out by a damn supervillain," Miguel stated before ushering his men out of the building, many with reluctant grumbles.

Ruby watched them go with sympathy. She could understand just why many of the officers would be reluctant to hand over the investigation. After all, this was supposed to be their job. However, the reality of the situation meant that normal police officers trying to directly apprehend a supervillain could potentially turn deadly, hence why most cities simply let the local superheroes apprehend them. The only major exceptions, of course, were Gotham City and Metropolis. Gotham due to the sheer need and Metropolis due to having the most advanced police force in the country. Putting those thoughts aside for the moment, Ruby then turned her attention towards her friends, who had already begun to survey the area more closely.

Cyborg had already accessed the building's security cameras while Beast Boy had turned into a bloodhound and begun to sniff around. Using their masks' built in visualization software, Blake and Ren had begun to comb for fingerprints while the others were investigating the signs of damage along the walls and floors. Yang, Jaune, and Nora had gone upstairs with Pyrrha, following a trail of flowers and feathers while the eyes of their masks and helmets glowed. Raven, suspecting who the culprit was, had begun to scan for magical signatures while M'gann and Starfire continued to inspect the debris around them.

They checked each and every room for any scraps of evidence, eventually joining their friends upstairs and going into the suspect's room. Yellow police tape crossed the door in an 'X' pattern. Carefully opening the door, they were greeted by the sight of a seemingly inconspicuous room, albeit one that had had extensive forensic work inside of it. Raven quickly began to scry the room for any signs of magical activity. Jaune, meanwhile, rubbed the back of his helmet and sighed deeply.

"I couldn't find a single trace of her anywhere," Ruby noted sadly while Yang clenched her fist tightly.

"So, what do we got?" Jaune asked. "I read some reports on your guys' villains a few days ago, but I want to know what you guys think. You know him more than I do."

"Security cameras broke down during the assault," Cyborg replied while displaying an image of a strange looking magician entering the building via hologram, projected from his eye onto the nearby wall, "but I was able to isolate this image. Sure looks like him."

"Could be a copycat," Weiss pointed out, playing devil's advocate. "Police records show he hasn't had an arrest in the past two years, and none of the fingerprints Jade Lotus and Nightshade found match his."

"To be fair," Ren interjected, "he was wearing gloves. But, we did find some fiber strands that matched previous pairs he wore."

"Anyone can buy those gloves. Even if that wasn't the case, why now? Why her?" Weiss then turned to face Raven, who had her eyes closed and her left hand pressed against her temple. Her right hand was encased in a purple aura as she slowly waved it around, scanning the area. "Raven, what do you see?"

Raven kept her eyes closed as she continued to survey for a few more moments before stopping. She then turned around to face the others, and a worried look briefly crossed her face before returning to her normal stoic expression.

"I'm detecting hints of magic here, mostly downstairs where the attack occurred. The attacker likely moved in here for a brief stop before finally leaving," she revealed, and Weiss couldn't help but let out a groan. "I think its safe to assume Officer Rodriquez's suspicions were correct."

"Great, just perfect…" Beast Boy groaned. "Mumbo's back in town."

"I read about him," Yang stated. "He's a magician who cracked, right?"

"Close," M'gann followed, drawing both RWBY and JNPR's attention towards her, "Mumbo used to be a stage magician who worked in a small time traveling circus. Made a decent living, but ended up getting a major case of 'small name, big ego'. Was harmless for the most part, if only a little eccentric, but then…"

"He got his hands on an actual magic wand and hat, right?" Jaune said, and Raven nodded.

"We don't know how he got ahold of it, or where it even came from, but the wand changed him on a fundamental level," Raven continued, "Made the cheap parlor tricks he called 'magic' into actual magic. Granted, he couldn't do the type of magic I can do, only limited to real versions of what he already did, but magic nonetheless. At first, he used it to simply enhance what he was already doing, but he quickly lost his mind and started using his newfound powers to commit crimes."

"That's how we ended up fighting," Starfire stated, "although it was mostly to just get the wand away from him. We eventually did, but in the end, the event nearly destroyed his life."

"Lost his job, lost his home, everything. We tried to help him, but he's so stubborn that he refused all of our attempts. He's relapsed every so often since then, and we've had to put him down every time. It's more sad than anything." Cyborg sighed and shook his head. "In any case, we have to stop him before he hurts anyone else."

"Any suggestions there?" Blake asked while loading Gambol Shroud.

"Just one: get that hat and wand away from him."

The others all nodded at that. From what they had read about the man, despite his silly appearance the Titans had never once managed to defeat him through pure strength alone. It was only by destroying his wand that they'd been able to revert him back to his normal form and thus defeat him. It was kind of like Control Freak in a way, albeit from a completely different genre. The group checked their equipment then, with a silent nod, split off into groups to cover more ground. Cyborg had given them likely areas to stake out, and they could only hope they would find Mumbo in time before someone else got hurt.

---

It was times like these that Dick Grayson really regretted leaving Jump City. Sure, the villains there were usually nothing like the ones he just finished dealing with in Gotham, but that didn't mean nothing bad could happen. Having a woman potentially get kidnapped by a resurgent supervillain certainly qualified as a 'bad situation.'

"We're currently trying to track Mumbo down," Starfire detailed into Dick's communicator, and the young adult sighed.

"Dammit. Any luck so far?"

"Friend Cyborg is looking for him now, but nothing yet. He's actually getting kind of frustrated." Starfire paused at that, and Dick could feel her sense of empathy towards their friend. "But, don't you worry! I'm certain he'll show up soon! You know Mumbo."

"He always was the showman." Dick frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Kori, you and the others be careful. I'll be there in a few hours."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. We'll all be."

With that final statement, Starfire hung up and Dick shut off his communicator. Leaning forward on his motorcycle, he zipped past the traffic as he continued to make his way to Jump City. He passed by a green navigation sign, telling him that he was 60 miles from Los Angeles, 40 miles from San Diego, and 120 miles from Jump City. Frowning, Dick throttled his motorcycle even more while briefly glancing towards the metal briefcase strapped to his bike. It contained his suit, and something told him he would likely have to use it.

"Out of the frying pan, and into the fire. Life certainly isn't boring."

---

In order to cover more ground, the Titans and RWBYJNPR had decided that splitting into smaller teams would be beneficial. Starfire and M'gann split off with team RWBY while Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy went with team JNPR. At the moment RWBY, Starfire, and M'gann were staking out a nearby bank, standing on a rooftop across the street while looking around for any signs of suspicious activity. So far, there was none, but that didn't mean they could afford to put their guards down.

"You guys see anything yet?" Ruby asked while looking through her mask's internal binoculars and kneeling against the building's edge. On the street below were a few pedestrians taking a nightly walk or run, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Nothing," Weiss replied while surveying the area. She then pressed her finger against her ear, activating the earpiece inserted inside, "White Knight, anything on your end?"

"Not a thing. Stopped a mugging though, so I got that going for me," Jaune answered in a slightly accomplished tone of voice. Weiss couldn't help but smile at the declaration.

Jaune asked for an update in turn, "What about you guys? Find anything?"

"Same as you. Nightshade tapped into the police scanner and Miss Martian is psychically reaching out. If we find anything, we'll let you know."

"Sounds good. Keep us posted. White Knight out." Jaune's voice cut off with a click, and Weiss pulled her hand away. Standing up, she took one last glance around the area before turning back to face the others. They, too, had begun to set out and moments later they were making their way across the rooftops. M'gann and Starfire casually flew over everything while the others had to make do with running. Ruby, at the very least, was taking the opportunity to practice gliding with her new cape as she leaped across the alleyways, but each glide was still unrefined and shaky.

"Oof!" Ruby grunted as she tripped against a rooftop, failing to stick her landing after a faltering glide. Yang, using her new grappling hooks, made her way over to her sister and helped Ruby to her feet. The two sisters then continued their run, watching as Weiss gracefully ran across platform glyphs and Blake bounded from roof to roof. When they finally reached their next site, the group stopped and assembled in various locations, maintaining a constant view of their environment as they searched for Mumbo.

"How long do you guys usually do this?" Yang asked while quickly inspecting Ember Celica.

"Couple hours, at least," M'gann said, feeling the impatience in Yang's mind. With a smile, she gently shook her head. "I know, but right now we have to be patient. He'll turn up, and when he does we'll be ready."

"I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it. However," Yang then developed a sly grin as she turned to face Weiss, "this is a prime opportunity to finally solve a little pesky problem for our group."

Weiss groaned, knowing exactly where Yang was going. Judging by the looks on Blake's and Ruby's faces, so did they.

"I know, I know. I still need to come up with a name," Weiss began, and Ruby shook her head.

"It's been over a week," she pointed out, and Weiss stared pointedly at her leader in slight frustration.

"You think I don't know that?"

"She does have a point. Your lack of a name has been making things a little more difficult," Blake chimed in, remembering how they'd been purposefully leaving out any traces of Weiss' name over the radio.

"Coming up with a name is hard, okay?" Weiss threw up her hands in frustration. "Especially in my case."

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked with a cocked head, and Weiss narrowed her eyes at her. When Weiss refused to speak, Yang put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "Well?"

Weiss waited for a moment then sighed and hung her head, before muttering quietly, "…he stole my color…"

Although the others couldn't quite hear what she said, Blake did, and she couldn't help but groan. "Seriously? 'He stole your color'?"

Recognizing instantly what Blake was referring to, Yang and Ruby looked at Weiss with a look that screamed 'really?'. Weiss, meanwhile, blushed slightly and glared at the Faunus.

"Well, he did! My hair is white, my clothes are white, my Aura is white, everything about me is white. Yet because he chose white first, now I can't use that color without being derivative."

"That's your fault, really," Blake pointed out, causing Weiss to stare at her in shock and Yang to quickly suppress a chuckle. "Seriously. We were all brainstorming ideas back then. Sure, he chose White Knight before you could come up with an idea, but if you hadn't been so recalcitrant about the whole thing and simply come up with one with your color I'm sure he would have given it to you."

"Yeah, first come, first serve," Ruby chimed in. M'gann and Starfire, standing off in the background, remained quiet as they watched the situation unfold with no small amount of amusement. The Tamaranean had a goofy grin on her face, and M'gann had to suppress giggles at the humorous scene.

Weiss prepared to retort, only for a suddenly cheerful Yang to put her finger to her ear. "Let's ask him!" she stated.

"No, that is not-!" Weiss began, only for Yang's voice to cut through everyone's comms.

"Golden Dragon to White Knight," Yang stated, pointedly looking at Weiss who stared right back.

"What's up? Find anything?" Jaune quickly replied. Weiss motioned for Yang to stop, but the brawler merely smiled and continued.

"Not yet. Wanted to ask you a question, actually."

"Sure, we got time. What's up?"

"Remember when we all came up with our names before the Control Freak thing?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"If our resident mage had come up with hers back then and wanted to use the color white, what would you have done?"

"I'd have come up with a different name, obviously. Why?" Jaune immediately answered, and Yang pointedly looked at Weiss with triumph. Weiss stared in slight annoyance at the brawler and crossed her arms, then looked away in an embarrassed huff.

"Nothing, just curious. I'll tell you more later," she answered. They could feel the confusion on Jaune's end as a pause ensued, then after a few more seconds he began to speak once more.

"…Okay…? I'll talk to you guys later, I guess…" Jaune once again clicked off the comms, and a moment later the three girls laughed while Weiss stewed.

---

"Geez, that was a weird conversation," Jaune noted as he went back to what he was doing before. His team, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven were currently overlooking a bank, Raven scrying the area for any magical signatures.

"What did they want?" Nora asked, Magnhild currently collapsed and strapped to her lower back.

"They wanted to know whether or not I'd have chosen a different color if someone else wanted it," he answered. It was obvious to all parties involved that the person in question was Weiss, but for the life of him he couldn't understand why the subject had come up in the first place.

Pyrrha, from the confused look on her face, evidently agreed. "Why'd they ask that?"

"No idea." Jaune shrugged.

"Maybe she was annoyed you stole her color?" Nora suggested, only for Jaune to shake his head.

"No way. She's way too mature for something as petty as that." The others thought about it for a few moments more before shrugging, deciding it wasn't worth pursuing any further.

"In any case, we should—" Ren started, only for a loud explosion to ring out a few blocks from their position. Instinctively, the heroes threw themselves to the ground and felt the small shockwave roll over them. As it passed by, the sounds of shattering glass and blaring of car alarms came up from the streets, and a moment later the heroes jumped to their feet and began to race towards the site.

"Isn't that the place we literally just left?!" Beast Boy shouted before turning into a hawk and flying next to Raven. Jaune quickly noticed that it was, but before he could tell the others Ren had already begun to speak into their comms.

"Explosion at Jump City Bank! Possibly Mumbo!" Ren shouted as he leaped from building to building.

"We saw it! On our way now!" Ruby responded. Rather than reply, Ren focused on getting himself over to the building as fast as possible. When they arrived, they quickly noticed the large gaping hole in the side of the building, debris laying strewed across the bank's floor. On the ground were a few security guards, tied up with large rings that appeared to be constricting them, and a lone night attendant was tied to her chair with a multi-colored ribbon of streamers over her mouth. Her eyes were frantic, and when she saw the assembled heroes rush inside she screamed as loud as she could, her voice muffled by the gag over her mouth. Before the heroes could get to her, several large bags filled with money were thrown from the blasted open bank vault, causing them to turn towards the entry and aim their weapons at the blue-skinned man waiting for them on the other side.

"Mumbo Jumbo," Raven began with a snarl as she floated upwards, a purple aura covering her body. Jaune quickly glanced at his team and jerked his head to the side. Nodding back, Ren joined his leader while Nora and Pyrrha spread out to far sides of the room, their weapons never leaving Mumbo's frame.

"Hello, Titans!" Mumbo cheerfully replied, his gestures far too animated in Jaune's tastes. "And looks like you have some new recruits! Splendid!"

"Where is she?" Cyborg demanded, cutting through Mumbo's bombastic greeting. The crazed magician laughed and wagged his finger.

"Ah-ah-ah! A magician never reveals his secrets. But," Mumbo smiled wickedly as he pulled out a single card from his coat pocket, "I will say that I've always loved a captive audience."

Jaune squinted his eyes, slightly confused as to why Mumbo would have pulled that particular card out, but when he zoomed in with his helmet's optics he let out a disgusted gasp. The card itself was a Red Queen of Spades, which by itself wouldn't have been alarming. The fact that the normal queen was replaced by the horrified visage of an overweight, middle-aged Hispanic woman was, and a quick look through the police database told him that the woman held a striking resemblance to the missing landlord, one Maria Gonzales.

"Oh my god…" Pyrrha muttered under her breath while Beast Boy, currently a lion, roared in anger.

"Let. Her. Go," Raven demanded through gritted teeth, her eyes briefly turning red, but Mumbo merely laughed as he placed the card back in his pocket. He then twirled his hand, causing a black and white-tipped magic wand to suddenly appear in his hand with a puff of smoke, and he aimed it haphazardly at the heroes in front of him.

"And end the show early? You know me, I never leave an audience unsatisfied!"

With that declaration, both sides sprang into action. Cyborg opened with a quick shot with his sonic cannon, striking Mumbo's head and causing it to disappear. The gagged bank teller screamed in fright at the sight of the now headless Mumbo and she fainted, but his head then returned almost as soon as she did.

"Geez, talk about a rough crowd," Mumbo muttered under his breath before watching a trio of grenades flying towards him. He smiled then waved his wand in a circle. "Presto chango!"

Just before the grenades hit him, they suddenly poofed into clouds of white smoke, followed by three doves flying away from where the grenades previously were. Nora stared slack-jawed at the sight, only to feel something grasp her leg. Looking down, she saw a multi-colored rope had wound itself around her leg, and a moment later she screamed in shock as the rope whipped her around and flung her into a nearby column, shattering it. Jaune, currently trying to free the constricted security guards from their bindings, was forced to halt his attempts to shield them both with his quickly extending shield. He barely felt the debris hit him, and he looked over to see Nora picking herself off the ground. Nodding to himself, he looked back at the guard and pulled out his sword.

"I'm going to have to cut it, so don't move, okay?" he told the man, and the guard frantically nodded, unable to speak thanks to the gag over his mouth. Jaune nodded back then carefully inserted Crocea Mors into the gap, making sure not to nick the man with his blade, then carefully sliced upwards. The metal circles cut into two, and the now freed guard practically tore the gag from his mouth.

"Th… Thank you!" he barely got out, and Jaune nodded towards the man before quickly looking towards Ren. He could see that his brother-in-arms had already freed the other guard, who had pulled out a nine-millimeter pistol and started firing it towards the magician from behind some debris, then looked back at the unconscious teller. The guard pulled out his pistol and prepared to join the battle, only for Jaune to gently grasp the man's shoulder and look him in the eye.

"No, you and your friend need to get out of here," Jaune said, looking at the still unconscious woman.

"But-!" the guard protested, only for Jaune to shake his head.

"I'm sorry, but its too dangerous for you guys." Almost as if to punctuate his point, the sound of explosions rippled through the foyer as Mumbo threw small white pellets at the fighting heroes. Ren dove towards the nearby guard to protect him from the blast while Raven erected a shield around herself. Cyborg merely weathered the explosion while Beast Boy gracefully jumped over them while lunging at the magician. With a wild smirk, Mumbo opened up his sleeve and sent forth a swarm of playing cards at the surprised lion. The cards engulfed Beast Boy and flew him up to the ceiling with enough force to slightly crack it, then slammed him back down with a loud crash.

"Go, now!" Jaune shouted as he grabbed the woman and handed her to the guard before rushing out to join his friends. The guard watched helplessly as the heroes all desperately fought the magician then, reluctantly, ran to his coworker and beckoned them to leave. With Pyrrha providing them cover fire, the group ran out of the hole in the wall just as RWBY, Starfire, and Miss Martian entered the fray.

"Ooh, more Titans! Magnificent! Greetings, I am the amazing Mumbo!" the magician declared with a bow while at the same time ducking under a swing from Jaune. He then lifted Jaune up with a twister of flowers, hurling him into Pyrrha's arms who collapsed under the sudden weight.

"Sorry…" Jaune muttered as he and Pyrrha got to their feet.

"It's okay," Pyrrha answered before rearming herself and facing Mumbo. "Almost pulled off a princess carry…" she whispered under her breath after Jaune turned away from her to do the same. The others prepared themselves briefly before springing into action. Weiss created a glyph under a pile of rubble, lifting it upwards then shooting the debris forward like a machine gun, only for the magician to turn the sharp chunks of concrete and rebar into harmless feathers that fluttered away. Turning intangible, M'gann flew through the cloud of feathers to land a hit on Mumbo's jaw. His head spun like a top from the blow, only for his arms to spring up and clasp his head tightly, stopping it in its tracks. Not letting up, Starfire threw several starbolts into him, which he blocked by sending forth another swatch of playing cards that whipped around and slammed the Tamaranean into a nearby wall.

"I'll say, you guys are the most rambunctious crowd I've ever had the misfortune of trying to entertain!" Mumbo lamented. Pyrrha responded by throwing Miló at him with the crack of the rifle's recoil boost. Mumbo teleported away in a puff of smoke, and as Pyrrha recalled her weapon Cyborg fired several volleys of plasma bolts towards the magician. Using her grappling hook, Yang lunged at Mumbo to deliver a punch to his gut, only for him to twirl out of the way and use her to shield himself from Cyborg's volley. Yang screamed in pain as she was hurled at Cyborg, but before she could get up Mumbo threw three metal bands that enlarged in mid-air then closed themselves around her. Unable to move, she wiggled herself to face the magician and snarled.

"Oh, you motherfu-!" she cursed, only for Mumbo to poof a gag around her mouth, cutting her curse short into an angry muffle.

"Uh-uh-uh. There are children present," Mumbo chastised, pointing his thumb at Ruby. The young Reaper looked confused for a moment, then offended once his words fully registered.

"Hey!" she shouted as she zoomed towards Mumbo in a burst of petals, moving around slices of purple magic Raven was launching at the magician. He whipped those apart with a handful of multi-colored streamers, but with his attention distracted Ruby was able to appear above him then strike the top of his head with the blunt end of her scythe, shoving his top hat down to encase his entire head.

"Gagh!" he grunted as he tried to pry the hat off, only for Ruby to spin-kick him in the gut and knock him to the ground. He bounced off the floor, only for Ren to tackle him and land several punches to his side. Ren then hurled him back towards Nora, who swung Magnhild like a baseball bat and struck him. A loud, gong-like sound erupted as Mumbo was flung through the wall. He tried to get to his feet, only for a series of glyphs to pin him to the ground as well as a large purple chain constructed by Raven. To top it off, Pyrrha ripped some exposed rebar from the ground and wrapped them around Mumbo, and Jaune took the opportunity to hurl himself onto the man and pressed down as hard as he could.

"Guys, hurry!" Jaune yelled as the others ran over to try and separate the wand and hat from Mumbo. Ruby, meanwhile, went with Blake to free Yang from her binds. The Golden Dragon shifted her shoulders once freed, then smiled at her teammates.

"Thanks."

"No pro—" Ruby was interrupted by Mumbo suddenly teleporting out of his makeshift bonds and reappearing on top of a crystal chandelier. Immediately, the Red Reaper, Nightshade, and Golden Dragon fired their weapons towards him, their bullets shattering the crystal into small pieces. They rained down upon them, but Mumbo merely teleported away from the assault and back towards the main vault. The other heroes at this point recovered, and Beast Boy turned into an elephant and charged at the magician, who merely scoffed and shook his hand.

"Fly, Dumbo! Fly!" Mumbo proclaimed while twirling his wand, causing Beast Boy to suddenly levitate upwards. He quickly realized what was going on and turned back into his normal form, flailing about in a desperate attempt to free himself.

"Dudes, help!" he shouted as he turned into a multitude of different animals to try and escape. Cyborg ran to help his friend while firing a steady stream of sonic waves at Mumbo, who merely responded by waving his wand and stuffing the barrel of Cyborg's arm with a bouquet of flowers.

"Huh?" Cyborg said as he looked at said arm in confusion. He tried to rip out the flowers, only for another batch to take its place. Getting angrier, he continued to rip out more and more bouquets until finally he simply turned his other arm into a sonic canon and fired at Mumbo. Starfire and Raven were joining in on the assault by firing swaths of magic and starbolts towards the supervillain, only for Mumbo to hurl a rhino-formed Beast Boy at them. Raven teleported away into shadow while a rapidly changing Beast Boy fell onto Starfire and Cyborg. M'gann then flew forth and tried to attack Mumbo once more, only for him to suddenly pop a large ring into existence.

"Now, my dear Miss Martian," he announced, "can you defeat me… and the RING OF FIRE?!"

As he finished his sentence, the ring burst into flame, and M'gann felt her heartbeat quicken and her eyes dilate at the sight of scorching fire. She began to back away in fear, and even at her current distance she could feel the heat cause her slight pain. Unfortunately, a rope suddenly wrapped around her waist and began to pull her towards the fire, and as she grew ever closer M'gann tried to turn intangible to escape, only to suddenly find herself unable to do so. Her skin began to turn white as she panicked, only for a loud roar to break Mumbo's concentration. A moment later, a green crocodile fell from above and split the rope in two, then tried to crunch the angered magician in his powerful jaws. Mumbo instead threw several white orbs into Beast Boy's mouth, which exploded inside. Beast Boy shook his head in a pained daze just as M'gann recomposed herself and Weiss doused the ring of fire with a cloud of ice-cold gas. A moment later, an enraged Miss Martian flung herself at Mumbo while turning her hands into white claws.

"Okay," he said while teleporting away from M'gann, spinning as did so, "for my next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience!"

Almost as if in response, Jaune sheathed his sword then shifted both items into a claymore. With yell, he charged at Mumbo and swung, appearing to bisect the man at the waist, only for Mumbo to quickly pull himself together and bind Jaune with an animated chain while also blocking Pyrrha's rifle fire with a conjured mirror.

"Perfect, a volunteer!" Mumbo then created a wooden box and threw the captive Jaune into it. Only Jaune's head was exposed, and Jaune could only watch horrified as Mumbo pulled a large saw out of thin air and placed it over the middle of the box.

"Guys!" Jaune shrieked as Mumbo began to saw down. The others fired their weapons and attacks, trying to stop the magician, but Mumbo drew a curtain in front of him that blocked the bullets and energy blasts. Not willing to stay put, Pyrrha sprinted past the curtain and parted it, only to stare as a still struggling Jaune was completely sawed in half. She screamed when Mumbo parted both boxes, and the fact that Jaune did not appear to be in any actual pain – along with his frantically moving feet – was the only thing that kept her from outright fainting.

"Ta-da!" Mumbo finished and bowed, only for an enraged Pyrrha to hurl her shield at Mumbo's face, striking him in the nose. A loud honking noise followed as the man clutched his face, giving Nora and Ren the opportunity to grab both halves of their leader and bring him out of harm's way.

"Are you okay?" Nora asked as she and Ren tried to figure out a way to solve this.

"Honestly, I'm fine," Jaune noted, trying to keep a level head and thankful that he could not see anything below his neck at this point. He probably wouldn't have been able to handle the sight of his lower half completely separated from his top. "Please help."

"Bring him together," Raven declared as she hovered over him, her hands glowing with magic as she quickly recombined both halves of Jaune. Behind her, Weiss summoned yet another series of glyphs and picked up the scattered debris then shot them at Mumbo. They pelted his body, and then with a snarl he summoned a robe and grabbed Weiss by the ankle, whipped her into Ruby with a surprised shriek, then threw her out of the building.

"Alright, everyone! Now is the grand finale!" Mumbo announced while taking off his hat. Blake fired several shots at the man from behind, leaping over him as he turned around and used his hat as a vacuum. The bags of money he had previously stolen were ripped open and had their contents be sucked into the hat, reality itself not caring that the hat would not realistically be able to hold that much cash. When he was finished, Mumbo let out a small smile, only to casually twirl his wand around and levitate the heroes just as they lunged towards him with the noticeable exception of Raven, who herself was able to fly out of his magical grip and float overhead. Her arms were outstretched and she prepared to attack him, only for Mumbo to suddenly bind her with so many metal bands that they almost mummified her.

"Mmmph!" Raven screamed from behind her metal gag, and the others struggled to break free, only for Mumbo to wag his finger from side to side while making clicking noises with his mouth.

"Now, kiddies! Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for now! I have a big show to headline soon, and people are dying to see my triumphant return!" Mumbo laughed. Outside, Weiss groaned as she slowly picked herself off the ground, shards of rubble falling off of her like hail.

"You know," he continued, pointedly ignoring the large, purple aura surrounding Raven's prone body and Weiss shaking herself out of her stupor, "I could actually use some assistants for tonight. And something tells me that you all would be just perfect."

"No we wouldn't," Jaune immediately denied. The others merely snarled while continuing to struggle, and then Yang and Nora spat defiantly at Mumbo's face. He glared at the two as he wiped the spit from his face, the two girls looking accomplished and smug.

"Well, that was rude. But, I like your spunk," Mumbo admitted. Then, without warning nor fanfare, he took off his hat and aimed it at the captured heroes just as Raven broke free of her bonds and Weiss ran into the building. As their friends started getting sucked in, Weiss erected a series of glyphs to try and hold them in place, using another to anchor herself to the ground. Raven summoned several shadowy arms that grabbed hold of her friends while also flying away from the sucking force, visibly straining as she did.

"You know, I always hated hecklers!" Mumbo shouted as he twirled his wand. Suddenly, a large shattered pillar was lifted into the air and slammed into Raven's side, who shouted in surprise as she flew into another pillar. The object collapsed as she impacted it, burying her in rubble, but the pillar continued its swing towards Weiss unabated. The heiress tried to block it with a series of glyphs, each one shattering on impact but slowing the object down considerably. It wasn't enough however, as the pillar slammed into Weiss' side and flung her into a nearby wall, shattering her Aura on impact. Her vision began to blur and became hard to make anything out, but she could hear the defiant shouts of her teammates as they were sucked into Mumbo's hat.

"That's all, folks!" Mumbo declared as he put his hat back on his head and extended his cape out to the side. He then began to twirl just as Raven exploded from the pile of rubble and created a large magical sphere, concentrating it into a large slice of energy. She shot it towards Mumbo, who spun rapidly then teleported away just before it impacted. The slice continued and shattered a desk behind where he once stood into thousands of tiny splinters, and Raven snarled in anger.

"No!" she shouted, tightening her grip before she noticed the injured Weiss. The half-demon gasped, then quickly flew over to her and began to tend to her wounds. To her relief, Weiss' injuries weren't serious, and a quick application of magic healed them. The sounds of police sirens told her that that the police were on their way, and at that moment Raven teleported the two of them away to a nearby rooftop. Gently placing Weiss to the side to allow her to rest, Raven sensed out with her magic to try and ascertain Mumbo's location, but to her disappointment she found nothing.

"No…" she whispered to herself and she wondered what to do, then steeled her expression. She wanted nothing more than to lash out in rage, but Raven knew that would make only make things worse. Right now, she had to tend to Weiss, make sure her injuries truly were healed. She was confident that Mumbo would show himself soon enough, and when he did, the two of them would ensure that there would be hell to pay.

Her eyes flashed red as she thought this, but that soon passed as she pulled out her communicator and dialed Nightwing's number.

"Nightwing, we have a problem."

---

Weiss awoke to a throbbing head and the touch of cool concrete beneath her back. With a groan, she pushed herself up with her elbows and opened her eyes. A quick look told her that she wasn't bleeding, and only sported some minor bruising. Raven was currently speaking to someone on her T-Phone, and the sounds of sirens on the street below told Weiss that they weren't too far from the bank.

"Gods…" she groaned again as she forced herself to her feet. Raven stole a glance towards the heiress then walked over to her. She lent Weiss a helping hand to help steady her, who gratefully took it when she appeared to wobble.

"She just woke up," Raven continued to speak into her communicator while simultaneously putting it on speaker and erecting a silencing spell around them.

"That's good to hear. Weiss, how are you doing?" Nightwing asked, his voice filled with concern. Weiss rolled her shoulder to test it, and upon finding its performance satisfactory nodded to Raven.

"I'll be fine. Nothing a bit of rest won't fix," she admitted.

"Right, your guys' Aura acts as a limited healing factor. Raven said it was shattered during the fight."

"It was." Weiss frowned. "That clown threw a pillar at me."

"How much do you have?"

Weiss quickly tapped the side of her mask, bringing up her team's Aura readouts. The rest of her team and team JNPR's Auras were nowhere to be seen, while hers was hovering at a dangerous ten percent. Her Aura bar was blinking red in emphasis, and Weiss couldn't help but frown.

"Not much, and it'll take a few hours for it to come back," Weiss begrudgingly admitted. It was hours that they didn't have, and Nightwing's groan told her he felt the same thing.

"Dammit…" he cursed before falling silent, allowing the sound of his motorcycle to cut through the speaker's audio. "I'm still an hour out, but we need to find Mumbo now. There's no telling what he might do to our friends, and I'm not wanting to find out."

"I'm coming, too," Weiss immediately declared, unwilling to let her diminished Aura reserves impede rescuing their friends. Raven nodded back at her, and something told Weiss that Nightwing was smiling to himself on his side of the phone.

"Glad to hear getting hit hard doesn't keep you down. Now get going. We don't have any time to lose. Once you find Mumbo, be careful."

"Trust me, we know," Raven replied.

"Keep me posted. Nightwing out." With that, the communicator clicked off, and Raven sighed and shook her head before pocketing the device away. The half-demon then turned to face Weiss, who looked back at her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Raven asked, her eyes showing her concern even when her voice remained stoic.

"I should be asking you the same thing. You took a hit much worse than me."

"I'm tougher than I look. Guess I can say the same about you." Both girls smiled at each other before becoming serious once again. Weiss pulled up a map of Jump City on her HUD while Raven floated up to the top of a nearby rooftop water tower to get a better view of their surroundings.

"I'm not seeing any new police activity," Weiss reported, then tapped her chin as she began to hum in thought. Raven herself began scanning the area, and before long both girls were scaling the rooftops to an even higher vantage point.

"Okay, think," Weiss muttered to herself as she felt Raven lift her up towards her. Although she could feel her Aura steadily increase, attempting to use her Semblance now would only slow her recovery and she needed all of it if she wanted to take Mumbo down. Her thoughts drifted back towards the fight itself, specifically towards Mumbo's mannerisms and behavior. It was quite animated, disturbingly so in fact, but Weiss felt she had managed to obtain a decent insight into the man's character. He was a showman, obviously, a man who loved the spotlight more than anything else. She suspected that, outside of his obvious psychosis, he robbed the bank not because he wanted the money but because he wanted the attention. He also said that he had a 'show to headline soon', and it was then that Weiss turned her head up to look at Raven.

"Raven, where's the entertainment district?"

---

As it turned out, Jump City's waterfront contained a large assortment of activities for one to enjoy. Arcades, movie theaters, vibrant beaches, and an array of shops along the boardwalk. There was even a circus in town, complete with a giant big-top tent sitting on the pier. A prime location for a egomaniacal supervillain wanting to stage an epic comeback. Currently, Weiss and Raven were scouting out the area on top of a nearby radio tower, Raven scrying for any magical signatures while Weiss' focus remained glued to any sign of her teammates' transponders. So far, none were appearing, and she couldn't help but worry.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine," Raven comforted the girl, having felt her emotional distress. Weiss sighed to herself then looked back up at Raven.

"Has something like this happened before with you guys?" she asked.

"He turned us into circus animals one time," Raven immediately answered. "Turned me into a white bunny."

"… Yeah, white is definitely not your color."

"You'd be surprised," Raven joked, and Weiss couldn't help but smirk. An image of a white-cloaked Raven appeared in Weiss' mind, and she had to admit it did suit her. But now was not the time to focus on fashion. Now was the time to focus on their mission. Weiss took her eyes off of her teammates' nonexistent signals and focused on the big-top tent. If she were a betting woman, that would be the place Mumbo would strike next. Given how Raven was staring intensely at the same structure, she likely agreed. Weiss thought for a moment, glancing down at her suit and then up towards Raven, an idea beginning to form in her head.

"What's up?" Raven asked, feeling how intensely Weiss was thinking. After a moment, Weiss nodded to herself than looked back up at Raven.

"I have an idea, but I'm not certain you're going to like it," Weiss said, but Raven stared back at her stoically.

"Anything beats sitting around and doing nothing." She floated back down to Weiss' level and stood atop the roof. "What is it?"

"Mumbo attacked the bank that Cyborg's group had just left. That can't be a coincidence. He had to have known where they were. To me, that means he doesn't want us around for whatever he's planning."

"Makes sense. Out of everyone, we'd be the most liable to stop him."

"Exactly. He likely knows we're here somewhere. So, if he thinks we're gone…"

"We can catch him off guard," a man's voice suddenly finished the thought. Weiss yelped as she spun around and prepared to thrust with Myrtenaster, only for the man to effortlessly parry the blow with his armored gauntlet and then twist the rapier out of her hands. It was then that Weiss noticed the man looked awfully familiar, and upon seeing the dark-blue bird sigil on his chest she realized exactly who the person was.

"Nightwing," Raven greeted her leader, sounding almost gleeful. Nightwing smiled at the half-demon then turned to look at a suddenly embarrassed Weiss with a smirk before tossing back Myrtenaster.

"Need to work on your spatial awareness," he advised, and the embarrassed blush on Weiss' face slightly deepened. "Good to see you two again, though."

"I knew you were here," Raven stated, only for Nightwing to smile knowingly at the comment.

"Sure you did." The man then turned serious as he knelt down on the roof's edge, Raven and Weiss following his lead. From behind his mask, Nightwing obtained a readout of the area's electrical systems, security cameras, even gas and water pipelines. He directed this information to Weiss' mask, Raven following along with her magic, then rubbed his chin in thought.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," he started, "Raven, teleport us out of here."

Raven did as instructed, teleporting the trio into a nearby dark alleyway. Using her magic, any security cameras looking in their direction had their images turned to static, and once the coast was clear Nightwing turned to face both of them.

"Can you make us look like we're wearing our normal clothes?" he asked, and a moment later a purple sheen surrounded the three of them that masked their costumes and made them look like their normal attire. There were some noticeable differences, and Weiss noted that should she move the fabric too much the illusion shattered, but it would suffice for now. She also noticed that Raven appeared to be in strain, and went to check on her before Raven stopped her with an upraised palm.

"I'll be fine."

Nightwing nodded, then looked back over to Weiss and Raven, who nodded back at him. They then walked out of the alleyway and towards the tent.

"Once we find our seats, we'll have to wait until Mumbo arrives. Once he does, we are not going to go in immediately."

"Why not?" Weiss asked, wanting more than anything to get her friends back, but he shook his head.

"If we're to have any chance of stopping him, we have to strike at the opportune time. Not before, and certainly not after. Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do."

"Hmmph," Weiss groaned before ultimately conceding. As much as she didn't like it, he did have a point. They tried to overpower Mumbo before back at the bank, outnumbered the maniac thirteen to one, and yet they still lost. Now they only had the three of them. Trying to fight Mumbo in a direct assault would only spell disaster. They had to play this right.

Weiss' ruminations were suddenly halted when a group of young women spotted the trio, and upon seeing Nightwing in his civilian garb they all screamed shrilly.

"Oh my gosh, is that Dick Grayson?!" one of the girls screamed. Raven groaned and Dick immediately put on a faux smile while waving at the girls. Weiss, meanwhile, had her eyes widen slightly, having recognized the name. Sure, the Titans had mentioned Dick's name before, she had assumed that was simply a nickname. Dick was apparently a shorthand for Richard – why that was the case, she didn't know – but they never once told her his last name. Knowing what it was now told her why.

Richard 'Dick' Grayson was, after all, the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, who adopted him after his parents were tragically killed in a mob hit during the last Flying Graysons circus performance. She had read up on the man back at the Watchtower, as well as the company his family's name was plastered across. By all accounts it was a highly successful, and highly ethical, company who sponsored many philanthropic events throughout the country and especially in Gotham City. The man himself, despite his playboy ways, was a lone bright spot in the crime-ridden cesspool. She couldn't help but admire the man.

But it would be nearly impossible for someone like Bruce Wayne to not notice his adopted son was a costumed vigilante. Sure, he sometimes gave off an air of being a 'rich kid with no day job', as described by Lois Lane before she, funnily enough, dated him for a time and got to know him better, but Weiss seriously doubted he was dumb enough to not notice his son was Nightwing. Thinking about it more, she remembered that Nightwing used to be the first Robin for Batman, having fought alongside him for many years and even during the Darkseid War. Apparently the young boy even ran over Kalibak with the Batmobile at one point. But that then begged the question as to how the young Dick Grayson managed to find the time to meet the Batman in the first place. From what she remembered, he had appeared roughly a year after his adoption, and there was no way the young boy could have managed to find the time to meet, train, and become Robin unless…

"Oh my god…" Weiss muttered under her breath, but she was broken out of her thoughts by the young women swarming the three of them. They began to babble near incoherently, but Dick attempted to calm them down.

"Ladies, please. I'd love to stay and chat," he then suddenly pulled Weiss and Raven close to him, "I'm currently taking these lovely ladies to the circus this evening."

Realizing what Dick was doing, Weiss immediately began to play along. "Come on, Dick! Let's go inside! I want to see the funny animals!" she whined in a stereotypical valley girl voice while fluttering her eyelashes at him and holding herself close to him. Raven, meanwhile, remained as stoic as ever, but she did give the three women a mighty death glare.

"Oh, please. We can give you a much better time than those two," one of the women, a long-haired brunette, stated in a sultry tone. The two girls next to her giggled, but Dick merely glared at them.

"I doubt that," he said sternly while holding them close by the shoulder, sending the three women aback. "Now, if you'll excuse us."

The trio briskly walked past the three women without sparing them a second thought. Once they exited their line of sight, they let go of one another while continuing to walk towards the tent.

"Sorry about that," Dick told the two girls.

"Don't worry about it," Weiss replied with a wave of her hand, "I knew what you were doing."

"You did catch on pretty fast," Dick noted. "Prior experience?"

Weiss turned her head to face Dick's before responding, "My father wasn't as…supportive as yours."

"Ah." Dick seemed to understand Weiss' hidden meaning but didn't say anything more.

"Those three were…annoying. And empty headed," Raven complained.

"Oh, obviously."

"You didn't need empathic abilities to see that."

The three chuckled among themselves as they entered the line into the tent. The line was long, but at the same time it moved quickly, and they soon found themselves at the ticket booth.

"Hey, would it be possible for me and my friends here," Dick started while once again pulling Raven and Weiss close to him, Weiss fake-giggling as he did, "to get a private booth?"

The booth operator, a young teenager with freckles and glasses, stared at them with a blank expression before typing in his request. "That'll be $500 each, sir."

"Of course." With a smile, Dick reached into his pocket and gave the boy his credit card, and a moment later the boy handed it back along with three tickets. He directed them to the staircase on their left, mumbling under his breath something along the lines of 'damned rich boys', as the trio walked upstairs with their arms intertwined. To keep up appearances, they played up their date charade with loud laughs and shrill voices, but once they entered their private booth they immediately dropped the act and separated. Raven erected a silencing ward around them while simultaneously dissipating the illusion around their bodies, revealing their costumes in all their glory. Weiss took the opportunity to look at how much Aura she had managed to recover, and to her disappointment she was barely out of the red at roughly thirty percent.

"Still low?" Nightwing guessed, and Weiss nodded. "We'll have to make do."

"So now what? We just wait?" Raven asked, and Nightwing nodded while walking over to a nearby wall. Using his mask's sensors to find the wall's internal wiring, he quickly found a spot then cut a square-shaped hole with a wing-ding. He then pulled out a small device and attached it to some wires, and a moment later Weiss was greeted by the sight of CCT monitors being broadcasted into the corner of her HUD.

"Huh, neatly organized," she noted. "I'll have to commend Cyborg for that little feature."

"Man does good work," Nightwing agreed before looking out through the glass windows of their private booth. Raven and Weiss joined him, and as they watched the circus performers below they couldn't help but remain apprehensive.

"I know what you're thinking, but trust me. This is the best option for us," Raven advised the still tense Weiss.

"…I know." Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her brow. Seeing she was still distressed, Raven placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder, and Weiss grabbed it back and nodded. Nightwing watched from the corner of the room silently before continuing to work on the wiring. Once he was finished, he pulled out three disks and placed them onto a desk inside the booth. One press of a button later, the three disks lit up to reveal a holographic display, showing all of the various CCT feeds from across the area.

"He shows up anywhere near here, we'll see it. Raven, can you shield these?" he said before walking over towards the window. Raven did as instructed, casting a spell to prevent Mumbo from disabling the cameras, then nodded when she was finished. Leaning against the window, he stared down below and narrowed his eyes. "Thank you. Now…we just have to wait."

---

For the next hour, the trio waited inside their booth. Their attentions were only marginally focused on the show below them. Instead, their eyes and ears were glued to their surveillance of the surrounding area. So far they had nothing, but given how the show was set to be ending soon, they felt it wouldn't be long now before Mumbo arrived. Taking her eyes off of her CCT monitors briefly, Weiss looked down at the circus with a slight amount of interest. There were acrobats soaring over wires high above the ground. Animals were doings tricks at the behest of their operators. Clowns juggling various items and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

All in all, Weiss was generally unimpressed. Certainly good enough as a low-class venue, but her standards were higher than that. When Nightwing chuckled to himself, Weiss figured that he had noticed.

"Yeah, something told me that this kind of place wouldn't be your type of thing," he guessed, and after a moment Weiss nodded. "Figured. Still, I think you would have liked the Flying Graysons. We were…something else."

Weiss stared at him for a moment. Behind Nightwing's cheerful face, she could see the pain that was still held within. She could easily understand why. A child losing their parents is always tough, and Dick had to watch it happen before his very eyes. It was no wonder why he and Bruce would have turned to crimefighting afterwards.

"Yes, I would have liked to have seen them," Weiss admitted before turning back to her surveillance. "Raven, you sense anything?"

Raven, with her eyes closed, continued to wave her hand around to sense for magic. Her face was scrunched in concentration, and as she continued to scry her head began to tilt. When her eyes suddenly shot open, both Weiss and Nightwing turned sharply to face her.

"I—" Raven began, only for the lights in the circus to shut off. A moment later, several spotlights began to circle around the circus floor, and a heavy fog started billowing in from the performer's entrances.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" an announcer proclaimed as the performers began to exit the stage. "Boys and girls of all ages! I now present to you tonight's grand finale!"

"Okay, time to move," Nightwing whispered as he gestured to Raven. The half-demon girl nodded, then carefully cut a hole into the glass. Once she was finished, she carefully levitated the circle of glass and placed it on the ground, allowing Weiss and Nightwing to grapple to the high beams on top of the tent, Raven flying after them. Perching themselves on the beam, the trio watched with narrowed eyes as the announcer continued to speak.

"He's amazing! He's wonderful! He's the greatest magician in the world, with skills beyond anything you've ever seen before!" Raven scoffed at that while Nightwing and Weiss zoomed in at the spot where the spotlights were now converging. "Now, put your hands together for…"

Drums began to sound off, building to a crescendo, when a large puff of smoke erupted in the center of the stage. Then, almost like a vacuum, the fog began to be sucked into the center, revealing a bowing Mumbo.

"The AMAZING Mumbo!" he finished with a flourish. Rather than applaud, the audience stared at him in silent horror, then a loud scream rang out as people tried to get out of their seats in a frantic escape.

"Uh-uh!" Mumbo chastised while waving his wand, causing everyone to be tied to their seats by their feet and waist. "And leave before the show is over? My, and I thought my last audience had a cold reception."

"Oh, I'll give you a cold reception…" Weiss growled under her breath as she rotated Myrtenaster's chambers to a vial of Freeze gas. She wanted nothing more than to jump down and skewer him on her blade, but she stayed her hand and remained still.

"Well," Mumbo continued while hopping onto a central podium, "I have a show for you all tonight! Raw thrills! Danger! Intrigue, and so much more! May I present to you my assistants for this evening!"

Mumbo then took his hat off of his head and from it spewed forth several objects. Weiss gasped when she saw, locked inside of cages, were various animals that could only be her transformed friends.

"Not again…" Raven groaned, remembering the last time this happened, while Weiss continued to study her friends' new forms. Inside of one cage was what she could only assume was her team. She saw a black-furred wolf pup with a red tinge along its head hiding behind a much larger yellowish-brown bear. Weiss immediately pegged the two as Ruby and Yang, and the slender black panther currently growling and roaring angrily at Mumbo was likely Blake. Weiss could easily see that Blake was heavily offended at what Mumbo had turned her into, and she was glad she could not understand what she was saying.

Inside another cage was team JNPR. Like their sister team, they too were now turned into multi-colored animals. Jaune had been turned into what appeared to be a Golden Retriever, currently being watched over by a lioness Pyrrha. A stoic-looking owl was currently perched on a small beam, its magenta eyes telling her it was most likely Ren, while a sea lion wearing a pink skirt was leaning upright while barking and clapping, a Nora action if there ever was one.

In the final cage was what was left of the Titans. Starfire was presently transformed into a tiger – Weiss noticed the angry look on Nightwing's face upon seeing her state – while Cyborg was transformed into a large bear with cybernetic implants on its head. In contrast to the others, Beast Boy was not transfixed as a single animal. Instead, he was changing rapidly between several different inanimate objects, including a lamp, telephone, and even an RC car with which he attempted to move through the gaps between the cage bars only for a force field to send him back. M'gann had been turned into a large snake, but was cowering in fear of a small ring of fire that encased her. It was then that Weiss noted the burns on the other Titans, telling her that they had tried to get her free, but something Mumbo had done prevented them from getting to her.

"When I get my hands on him…" Raven growled as her eyes flashed red, only for an equally furious Nightwing to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. We have to find an opening," he told them, visibly having to hold himself back. Mumbo at this point was floating high above the audience, still well below themselves, as he began erecting his stage. They saw boxes, rings, cages and podiums form out of thin air. Spotlights turned multi-colored as they highlighted specific sections, and Mumbo created all of it with an air of an orchestral composer.

'Certainly has a flare for the dramatic, I'll give him that…' Weiss thought as she carefully walked along the edge of her beam to get a better view. Nightwing zipped over to another for the same reason while Raven remained rooted in place. At this point, Mumbo forced the transformed heroes out of their cages and into positions. Weiss felt a twinge of pride at how, even now, they attempted to fight back against their captor, only for Mumbo to conjure up a whip and strike them, the blow sending them back.

"Back, you animals! Back!"

Blake only roared even louder at the crack but another series of whip strikes forced her into a series of round podiums. With a loud growl, Yang attempted to swipe at the crazed magician, only for a conjured pair of Mumbos to appear and hold her back with a pair of whips. To Weiss' disgust, the conjured pair of Mumbos appeared to be female.

"Ah, three cheers for my lovely assistants in keeping this crazed beast contained!" The Mumbos bowed at the praise, and Weiss had to force herself to look away.

"That was not an image I wanted to see today," Nightwing admitted as they watched Mumbo begin his show. He created versions of himself and forced their animal friends into performing humiliating acts.

With Blake and Pyrrha, a version of himself dressed as a lion tamer 'tamed' the two cat girls with a held chair and a spiked whip. The two cats clawed and roared at the tamer Mumbo, but the man merely smirked and forced them further and further up onto podiums. With Yang and Cyborg, he had forced them onto tiny bicycles and magically beckoned them into riding them. Both of them glared at a laughing Mumbo, and when he forced them into juggling bowling pins at the same time those glares only intensified. Had they not been magically glued to their seats, its likely that they would have attacked the man. Another Mumbo was forcing owl-Ren to carry snake-M'gann through several rings of fire. Weiss' heart ached for the clearly terrified Martian girl, who was currently curled around Ren's talons as a lifeline and noticeably flinched whenever they had to go through the rings, and Weiss vowed to treat her to something after this. Nora was currently balancing a green ball, who had to be Beast Boy, on the tip of her nose, and if nothing else appeared to at least be trying to make light of the situation. Finally, Jaune was currently being forced into pushing a barrel with the wolf puppy Ruby balancing herself on top of it.

Another Mumbo, whom Weiss assumed to be the actual Mumbo, was currently flying around the tent and using his hat to suck out all valuables from the audience with manic glee.

"Thank you, thank you! You're too kind!" he proclaimed as more and more jewels, electronics, wallets and purses were sucked into the endless void within Mumbo's hat, and when Nightwing beckoned the two women to join him, Raven and Weiss immediately complied.

"Okay, first things first," he began. "Right now, Mumbo's focused on 'entertaining' everybody. We can use that as a distraction. Raven, can you turn our friends back to normal?"

"No," she admitted, "not with his wand still in play. But, I should be able to free them from their captivity."

"That'll have to work. Focus on getting them and the audience out of here first. Then we get Mumbo." He then turned his attention towards Weiss, who herself was in deep thought as she stared deeply at Mumbo. "Something on your mind?"

Weiss hummed to herself before looking back at the two Titans. "I have an idea, but I want to ask you two something first. Am I correct in saying that Mumbo, more than anything else, loves the spotlight?"

"Yes," Raven answered with a nod. "Everything's a show to him, and he's the main star."

"Right, right." Weiss hummed while rubbing her chin. Looking back down at the thieving magician, she continued, "How long do you think you can try to free everyone before he notices?"

"Not long, but if I set up properly, I should be able to free everyone at once."

"That'll take too long," Weiss stated while shaking her head. "What we need to do is buy you more time."

"How do we do that?" Nightwing asked, and Weiss turned her head towards him and smirked.

"By taking the spotlight off of him, of course." Nightwing and Raven stared at her for a moment before looking back down at the man in realization.

"Yes, yes," Nightwing said, beginning to see Weiss' train of thought. "If we upstage him, he'll undoubtedly try to counter with an even bigger performance, allowing Raven the time she needs to get everyone out and corner him."

"One problem. How are we going to do that?" Raven pointed out, and the others paused to think. She had a point. Unless they had a good enough show to top whatever he could do, they were unlikely to get the reaction they needed. If anything, he'd just attack them outright and drag them into a fight they'd undoubtedly lose. As much as Nightwing didn't want to admit it, he doubted that him performing a solo Flying Graysons routine would cut it. When he noticed a thoughtful look on Weiss' face, he looked towards her in expectation.

"You have an idea?" he asked, and after a moment Weiss nodded and looked back towards them.

"Do you have a microphone?" she asked, and Nightwing arched an eyebrow at the question.

"Yes… Why?" Weiss' smile widened at that, and when she told him exactly what she had planned, Nightwing and Raven couldn't help but smile back.

---

By the time Weiss had managed to make her way down to the ground, Mumbo had heavily expanded upon his 'performance'. He was forcing the heroes into doing increasingly outlandish, not to mention dangerous acts. Swinging on wires over a firepit, balancing on thin rods over a bed of spikes, dodging heavy pendulums on a tight beam, and many others that she couldn't even recognize. It was barbaric, and judging by the audience's reception they, too, didn't find any enjoyment in the spectacle. She doubted they would have even if they weren't being held captive.

That lack of reaction only served to make the still hovering Mumbo angrier, and one twirl of his wand later he created strands of rope that tied themselves to everyone's arms and hoisted them up to their feet like puppets on a string.

"Come now! These pitiful creatures have worked tirelessly for your entertainment. How can you just stay on your seats and not applaud them?!" He glared at the captive audience, and after a moment a nervous applause slowly began to trickle out. He seemed to be satisfied at this response.

"Thank you, you're too kind!" he said with a flourishing bow. "Now, for my next act we'll—"

"This show sucks!" Weiss suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs as she strode onto the ring, wearing her costume for all to see. Everyone grew quiet as Mumbo sharply turned around to stare at the Huntress.

"WHAT?!" he replied. If Weiss was phased, she didn't show it and instead continued to walk forward.

"You heard me. This 'show', for lack of a better word, sucks. It's derivative, uninspired, not to mention needlessly cruel. I mean, you have all this vast, unimaginable magical power, and all you give us is the Ringling Brothers?" The captive audience chuckled at Weiss' crack, causing her to smirk as she briefly shot her eyes up towards the roof. She saw Nightwing and Raven nod back down at her, the Titans leader interacting with the tent's lighting control system and Raven preparing herself to head down at any moment.

"I mean, honestly. I would have expected something more like Zatanna Zatera, not…whatever this is," Weiss continued, and when Mumbo marched over to her with heavy stomps, Weiss let out a triumphant smirk. From behind the magician, she could see her friends gawk at her while bear-Yang was beginning to laugh.

"That woman has nothing on me!" Mumbo chastised while poking his finger threateningly at Weiss chest. "And moreover, who are you to criticize me for standing out here, by myself, and trying to entertain the masses!?"

"Someone with standards." Weiss earned a blowback of cards for that remark, sending her skidding back across the ground. The other heroes prepared to jump to her defense, but an upraised hand kept them at bay. As she got to her feet, a fuming Mumbo, with literal steam somehow billowing out of his ears, glared at the Huntress.

"'Standards'? Is that what you call it?" Mumbo asked while tightly clenching his fist. "Please, I know you hero types. The standards you have is mass market drivel. Video games, cartoons, needless explosions and violence. You have no sense of appreciation for the performing arts."

"Oh, I have plenty of appreciation for the performing arts. But you know what I appreciate more? Knowing that the person performing can actually perform."

Mumbo went still at Weiss remark, his eyes going wide. Seeing her chance, Raven began to slowly move to the outskirts of the tent, tendrils of dark magic seeping across the floor and untying everyone. A few spectators noticed, but a quick gesture from the half-demon caused them to go quiet.

"Ho… How DARE YOU!" Mumbo shouted as he raised his wand, but when Weiss continued he paused yet again.

"See, there it is again. The magic you're threatening me with right now isn't even yours. It's the wand's. You're not doing this under your own power, grown from talent or developed with practice and hard work. No, you found a cheat and instead of admitting to it and trying to develop yourself, you instead decided to pass it off entirely as your own. That sickens me, and you should be ashamed of yourself."

Mumbo's face turned red and hissing steam erupted out of his ears. Growing his head cartoonishly large, he began to shout at the top of his lungs, "NOW SEE HERE-!"

Weiss then pretended to have an epiphany as she gasped and raised her finger. "You know what? I'm pretty sure that even I could do a better job than this drivel."

Mumbo stared at her then childishly scoffed while crossing his arms. "I'd like to see you try."

Weiss smirked then reached into her pouch before pulling out a microphone. Seeing this, Mumbo couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, you're going to sing?" he said with a smile. Weiss ignored him and took a deep breath, while he himself began to laugh. "That's adorable! I didn't know American Idol was coming to my stage! I would have set up! Please, go on!"

Weiss took another breath before looking up. Nightwing, having finished his modifications, flashed a thumbs up to the former heiress. She nodded back as the opening notes of a piano played out, then began to sing.

"Mirror…Can you hear me?" she sang, music suddenly playing out thanks to the modifications Nightwing had made. Mumbo stared slack-jawed as her voice resonated throughout the tent, and a large cheer and applause broke out among the audience. Nora honked in excitement while clapping her flippers together while Ruby bounced around happily.

Weiss continued, "Do I reach you? Are you even listening? Can I get through?

"There's a part of me that's desperate for changes, tired of being treated like a pawn. But there's a part of me that stares back from inside the mirror. Part of me that's scared I might be wrong, that I can't be strong."

"God dang, she's good," Nightwing muttered as he began to manipulate the lights into shining down on top of her. He had already believed she was good from how she described herself, but hearing her now truly moved her boasting into undeniable fact. The audience seemed to agree, as the applause was growing louder and Mumbo was getting angrier at getting upstaged. He was frantically looking around and yelling at everyone to stop, trying to get the spotlight to focus back on him, but Weiss merely ignored him and continued singing gracefully as Raven quietly finished freeing the audience and moved towards the captured heroes. As quietly as they could, the audience began moving out of the tent as Mumbo remained transfixed on Weiss.

"But I don't intend to suffer any longer. Here's where you dominion falls apart! I'm shattering the mirror that kept me split in pieces, that stood between my mind and my heart. This is where I'll start!

"I'm not your pet, not another thing you own. I was not born guilty of your crimes. Your riches and your influence can't hold me anymore. I won't be possessed. Burdened by your royal test. I will not surrender.

"This life is mine!"

When Weiss finished her chorus, Mumbo screamed while tightly gripping his hair. "Oh, so you can sing?!" he yelled while twirling his wand around, forming a massive stage that contained lights as well as a giant version of his head. "Two can play at that game! 5, 6, 7, 8!

Mumbo began his song by sending forth a ring of magical energy, knocking Weiss back and causing everyone to go quiet. A ring of multi-colored rope then wrapped itself around Weiss and bound her. Mumbo smirked when Weiss growled in anger, then began to sing.

"You think you can defeat me – oh, how very droll!" Mumbo continued while using his magic to manipulate Weiss's body, forcing her into a makeup stand while surrounding her with large and animated playing cards. "Well, Titan, one thing you should know: I am the one with magic powers around here, I am the one who runs the show!

"I am the master of ceremonies, so let me set you straight: With just a wave of my magic wand I'm… Master of your fate!"

Using a glyph to free herself, Weiss quickly got to her feet and glanced behind Mumbo. Much of the audience behind him was fleeing out of the exits while Raven was working on removing the trapped heroes' magical bindings. She was getting close, but when Mumbo appeared to turn around Weiss immediately launched into yet another song to keep up her distraction, forming a series of glyphs behind her at the same time.

"Come at me, and you'll see, I'm more than meets the eye. You think that, you'll break me, you're gonna find in time, you're standing too close to a flame that's burning. Hotter than the sun in the middle of July. Sending out your army, but you still can't win; listen up, silly boy, 'cuz I'm gonna tell you why…

"I burn!" Weiss sang while her glyphs, powered by Firefly Gel, erupted into columns of flame. The audience that remained cheered at the sight while Mumbo faltered. Weiss, meanwhile, continued, "Can't hold me now, you got nothing that can stop me. I burn! Swing all you want, like a fever I will take you down.

When Mumbo attempted to retaliate with his ropes, Weiss gracefully jumped over them with a twirl and landed on a platform glyph, doing a mocking curtsey at the same time. Mumbo growled at this while the audience cheered ever louder.

"Reign supreme? In your dreams;" Weiss continued to sing while moving from platform to platform, dodging the enraged Mumbo's attempts to halt her. "You'll never make me bow. Kick my ass? I'm world-class, and Super Saiyan now.

"You're starting up a fight that you just can't finish; watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor." Mumbo screamed at Weiss's sung taunt and launched two large conjured gloves at her, but Weiss merely blocked them with her glyphs. "Bringing out your rockets? Well, shoot 'em up, baby. High as you can go, but I'm the one who's gonna soar.

"I burn!"

Rather than let Weiss continue, Mumbo decided to enlarge himself to a cartoonish size. He towered over Weiss, his head almost reaching the metal support beams along the tent's roof, but he was so transfixed on the woman who was clearly upstaging him that he was blind to Nightwing, who himself was scaling down the side of the tent and began escorting people out as soon as he got to the floor. Raven, meanwhile, finished freeing the other heroes and they began to assist in getting the others out, but Mumbo either didn't see or merely ignored them as he tried to regain his spotlight by out-singing Weiss.

"With just some hocus-pocus and slight of hand, you all are under my command!" he sang, confirming to Weiss that he really was no longer paying attention to everyone outside of her. She smirked at this, but this only seemed to make him angrier as he created several gloves that walked on two fingers.

"Put them in their cages, keep them all apart! Places, everybody – the show's about to start!"

Several of the gloves turned to do as instructed as yet others began to sing, only for the freed Titans and Huntsmen/Huntresses to quickly engage and overpower them.

"He is the master of ceremonies," Blake and Pyrrha ripped apart a pair with their fangs and claws, Yang and Cyborg doing the same to another pair, "So let him set you straight: with just a wave of his magic wand, he's…" Ruby and Jaune ganged up on one while Nora crushed another underneath her massive bulk. "Master of your fate! (Master of your fate!)" M'gann, still a snake, constricted around the center of yet another while Ren shredded it with his talons. To finish off another, Yang then grabbed Beast Boy, who turned into a heavy lamp, and slammed it onto the top of the final glove assailant, popping it like a balloon. "Master of your fate! (Master of your fate!)"

With a large twirl, closed eyes, and a wicked smile, Mumbo appeared to be completely lost in the moment. 'Good,' Weiss thought, and as he prepared to finish Weiss cut him off.

"They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child. Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild. Prepare for your greatest moments. Prepare for your finest hour. The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower!"

Weiss began to move and dance along a long platform of multiple glyphs as she continued to sing. There was no more cheering as the last remains of the audience high-tailed it out while Mumbo stared back numbly and shrunk back down to normal size.

"We are lightning, straying from the thunder. Miracles of ancient wonder!

"This will be the day we've waited for," Weiss sang just as the wholly freed Titans and Huntsmen/Huntresses attacked the thoroughly distracted Mumbo, Raven pulling him to the floor with her magic after getting bowled over by their animal friends. Nightwing then followed up by whacking the magician in the face with a thrown wing-ding, but when Mumbo attempted to retaliate he noticed that Weiss continued to mock him by singing more.

"This will be the day we open up the door. I don't wanna hear your absolution; hope you're ready for a revolution. Welcome to a world of new solutions. Welcome to a world of bloody evolution. In time, your heart will open minds, a story will be told, and victory—"

"SHUT UP!" Mumbo shouted while ripping out several chunks of his hair. He whipped some rope at her, only for Raven to slice it apart with a dark tendril and Nightwing to spin kick him in the face. When Weiss, with a mocking smile on her face, began to twirl like a ballerina along her glyph platform, Mumbo completely lost it and lashed out wordlessly at the person who completely upstaged him, sending forth a torrent of ropes, streamers, and razor-sharp playing cards towards Weiss while completely ignoring the other heroes who were presently assaulting him. Weiss stopped mid-pirouette at the sight and hastily erected a last minute glyph to try and protect herself, only for it to shatter almost instantly.

Everything seemed to go into slow motion at that. Weiss could see how low her Aura still was, and it would undoubtedly shatter under Mumbo's strike. Should that happen, there was no telling exactly what it would do to her. Instinctively, she threw her arm up to shield herself to the side out of desperation, only for Raven to create and shoot a purple swath of magic against the rod. The magic struck the wand's center and, with a loud crack that sounded like shattering glass, it splintered and released a small explosion of magical energy that shot everyone back. Mumbo's final attack dissipated near instantly, turning into nothing more than harmless smoke. With a groan, Weiss picked herself off her feet and shook her head, only for her discomfort to go by the wayside when she noticed her now normal looking friends doing the same.

"Guys!" Weiss cried out as she ran towards them. They looked back at her then each other, and upon seeing that they were indeed back to normal they jumped up and smiled.

"Oh, thank god!" Yang shouted as she and the others inspected themselves for anything abnormal. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Bears are badass, but I prefer being me."

"I'm going to kill him," Blake darkly muttered, still angry at the form Mumbo turned her into.

"Rawr." Yang teased, only for Blake to softly glare at her. Beast Boy was currently comforting his sister, who was maintaining that she was perfectly alright, while Nightwing made his way over to the now suddenly materialized Ms. Gonzalez.

"Maria, are you alright?" he asked while he and an absolutely giddy Starfire helped the woman up to her feet.

"I… I'll be fine. Thank you for saving me," she said earnestly while looking towards Weiss and the other heroes. "All of you."

Ruby smiled at the landlady and nodded back. "It's no problem. We're just doing our job."

Maria smiled wearily at that and the others couldn't help but smile back in kind. The woman then groaned and almost fell, but the pair of heroes holding her managed to keep her upright. "Oh, I think I'm going to take a few days off."

Weiss couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I'll bet. You definitely—" Weiss halted her speech when Maria moved out of the way slightly, exposing what was behind her. She saw a now normal looking Mumbo lying on the ground, which by itself wouldn't have been alarming.

The fact that he was convulsing violently was.

"Raven!" Weiss shouted while pointing at the man. Raven turned to look and gasped when she saw the man and sprinted over to him. M'gann quickly followed, and the two women began to work on saving him.

"What the hell is going on?" Jaune asked as he and the others looked on in horror.

"Magical overload!" Raven answered while working to extract as much of the excess magical energy as possible. "Somehow shattering the wand resulted in a backlash!"

"How did that happen?!"

"Star, get her out of here now!" Nightwing ordered, and at once Starfire flew a confused Maria out of the tent as the rest of the heroes began working on the dying man. As they did, Raven's thoughts were running wild. As she pulled more and more energy out of him and saw his condition continue to deteriorate, one thought began to run through her head.

'I did this…'

---

In the end, after nearly an hour of tireless work they'd managed to extract enough magic from Mumbo's unconscious body to prevent his death. But, as they saw him being loaded onto the back of an ambulance with an oxygen mask covering his face, the last thing either of them felt was accomplishment.

"Raven, it wasn't your fault," Nightwing declared from his motorcycle as they all rode back to Titans Tower.

"That was my magic," Raven countered, huddling up to herself in her seat inside the T-Car. "My magic was running through his veins, and it almost killed him. I almost killed him."

"You also saved his life," Ruby pointed out, trying to comfort her friend. "None of us would have been able to get it out of him without you. Heck, if it wasn't for you, Weiss, and Nightwing, we'd all still be animals and I'd be a puppy."

"If it wasn't for me,we wouldn't have had to save him from a magical overload in the first place. Dick could have easily knocked it from his hands and broken it, stopping him and returning everyone back to normal without almost killing him."

Everyone grew silent at Raven's declaration. As much as they didn't agree with her assessment of the situation, truly feeling it wasn't her fault, they also knew why she was so scared. No one could blame her for that. Kori, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned to look at Raven with sad eyes.

"Friend Raven, please. I don't… I don't like it when you do the moping. You're my friend, and when you get sad about yourself, it hurts. You're so much stronger and better than that."

Raven looked back at an almost tearful Starfire then sighed. "I… I know, Star. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We're here for you, okay?" Garfield replied while gently taking her hand. "And we always will be."

Raven looked at her friend then everyone else. From the driver's seat, Victor flashed a thumbs up while the others looked at her reassuringly. Raven could feel the love and concern coming from all of them, and when she let out a small smile the others smiled back.

"Thank you, guys," she said, and Yang nodded back while leaning back on her chair.

"No prob, Rae," Yang replied before looking at Weiss. "Now, let's discuss something else."

"Oh, gods…" Weiss groaned, feeling the looks everyone was giving her. "Look, I know what you're going to say—"

"That that concert was the most awesome and hilarious thing I've ever seen? Then yes, you'd be correct."

"It was most spectacular!"

"Seeing Mumbo flip out like that was hysterical, dude!"

The others all rattled off about Weiss' performance, how her singing was incredible and the way she effortlessly took the wind out of Mumbo's sails. Weiss slowly grew to smile at all the praise, a faint blush forming on her cheeks.

"Yeah, it was kind of fun," she admitted.

"'Kind of fun,' she says. Girl, it looked like you were having an absolute blast. Remind me to get you on my team during karaoke night," Victor replied, only for Ruby to suddenly drag her partner in close.

"Nope! I call eternal dibs on having my bestie Weiss be on my karaoke team!" Ruby declared, and Garfield let out a disappointed grunt and snap of his fingers.

"Ah man!" he stated, knowing their next karaoke night was in just a few days. Judging by the looks on RWBY's faces, they knew this too. Yang then developed a thoughtful expression before looking back at Weiss.

"You know, I'm pretty certain that first song was a brand new one," she pointed out. "Funny how you're able to come up with a brand new song in less then ten minutes yet can't come up with a superhero name in over a week. And don't give me the 'Jaune stole my color' excuse this time, as we've already determined that was nonsense."

"Wait, what?" Jaune suddenly asked in clear confusion while Weiss looked at Yang in embarrassed irritation.

"Don't you start, Xiao Long," Weiss replied.

"Hold on, is that why you called me?"

Weiss ignored Jaune's suddenly offended outburst and straightened herself. "And for your information, I did come up with a name."

"Oh, praise the heavens above!" Yang eulogized while raising up her arms in thanks.

"Be quiet and take this seriously!"

"Never!" Everyone, including Jaune, laughed at Yang's impertinence. Even Weiss let out a chuckle, and when everyone calmed down they looked at her expectantly.

"Well," M'gann began, "don't leave us in suspense."

Weiss cleared her throat and looked everyone dead in the eyes. "Ivory Mage."

---

"And so, children," Brother Blood preached to his flock, nearing the end of his sermon, "understand this. The true nature of man is to seize control of one's destiny. Do not let others decide your fate, let others control your destiny. Your life and your desires are in your hands alone, as decreed by our Lord."

"So says the Highfather," the congregation chanted, their heads bowed low. Brother Blood looked down upon them and smiled.

"So says the Highfather. Now, go forth and spread his word. There is much work to be done."

"Our work is never done."

Brother Blood nodded at their declaration, and soon enough his brothers and sisters began to file out of the main hall and out into the nighttime city. Brother Blood remained behind to watch them go, only to turn to the lone individual who remained.

"Brother Blood," the acolyte said, "the plan was a failure. Mumbo yet lives."

"Is that so?" Blood asked while moving towards the back room of the church.

"Yes," the acolyte answered, almost sounding despondent. "I don't see how we can continue our plans now."

"Don't be so sure, my wayward son. You're thinking too small."

The acolyte seemed confused at this. "What do you mean? The plan was—"

"I know what the plan called for," Brother Blood interrupted, silencing the acolyte, "but even the best laid plans never survive contact with the enemy. We had not known about the new recruits, so we could not have planned for them. Yet I am not disappointed in the outcome in the slightest."

"You're…you're not?"

"No. Besides, we got what we needed. Yes, Mumbo and the Titans yet live, but sometimes…" Blood smiled wickedly, "Sometimes all that is needed to destroy our enemy is a single seed of doubt. That seed, if you nurture it and grow it, will consume a person like a plague. So, if we do our duty and allow that seed to grow…"

"Of course," the acolyte gasped in realization. "I'll see to the preparations at once."

"Please do. Glory to Trigon."

"Glory to Trigon!" the acolyte chanted before walking out towards the front of the church. Brother Blood watched him leave with a satisfied smile before becoming stoic. Closing his eyes, he took in a deep breath and allowed himself a far more wicked grin.

"I know you're here," he said, and after a few moments he heard the heavy stomps of armored boots hitting the tiled floor.

"If you think you're going to be able to 'convert' me with that crap I heard in there, you've got another thing coming," the man said from behind his helmet. Blood merely laughed.

"How disappointing. I would have loved to have you join our little family."

"I'll pass," he responded. The two remained in silence before Brother Blood began to speak in a much more serious tone.

"I trust you have what I ordered."

"I do. It's waiting for you out back with the rest. The payment?" In response, Blood reached to a nearby wall panel and opened it, revealing a large safe. Placing his thumb against the scanner, it opened and revealed itself to house a heavy duty briefcase. He grabbed it by the handle then placed it onto the center desk and opened it, revealing it to be filled to the brim with stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

"Ten million dollars for the creature and transport, as negotiated," he said, and the mercenary grabbed a stack for inspection.

"Hmm," he hummed while thumbing through its contents. Satisfied, he placed it back into the briefcase and closed it, the sound of a lock clicking shut ensuing afterwards.

"I trust everything is in order?" Blood asked, and the mercenary nodded.

"It is, but if that thing breaks out, it's on your head. You better have guns, big guns, pointing at that thing at all times."

"You won't be staying? I would have thought you'd try to take advantage of this opportunity against our mutual enemies."

"I'm still under contract, and the last thing any mercenary who wants to keep getting hired should do is to break a contract. So don't even bother."

"Shame. Should I anticipate anything?"

"Just one: don't trust it. At all. It played dead a while back, tricked a few into going into the cage, and it slaughtered them. If it's still there, it's not dead. You got that?"

"Of course, Mr. Wilson," Brother Blood affirmed, before rubbing his hands in anticipation. "Now, let's go see exactly what I ordered."

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice! Special thanks to NaanContributor and JessessanMan for all their help. Lots of stuff happened here and I hope you all enjoyed it!

Now, onto the Q&A:

NRF: I do have plans for Atlantis. You won't be disappointed, but as you said now isn't the right time for it to happen.

Guest: Two things, really. For one, Yang isn't the type of person to jump into a relationship quickly. Mainly, though, is that she herself is not ready to jump into any romantic relationship after the trauma she just experienced. Remnant did get destroyed, after all, and she saw a lot of people die.

Struggs to Funk: Ruby's Semblance being 'Rose Bursting' or whatever a better name would be called is a much better description of what she can do in any case. As you said, her Semblance being such offers much greater variety in movement and combat.

Althea Sirius: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I did know the name of the Predator species, hence why I included it. I'm also glad you're enjoyed the costume designs. We worked hard to both make them match the superhero aesthetic but also match what RWBYJNPR were wearing before.

captaindickscratcher: All of those upgrades are very interesting, and thank you for sharing them. More to your point, RWBYJNPR will be receiving other upgrades int the future, but what they are I will not disclose at this time.

Steelrain66: Yeah, he would be. But, as you can see in this chapter, he's not going to be a major focus for a little while longer. But, he is in play.

meeyaargh3412: Yeah, she kinda is. As for out-of-towner villains, right now the focus is on Jump City rogues. Fits the setting and all. But, rest assured, other villains from around the DCU will be appearing.

Guest: Thank you. One of the things we strive to do in all of our stories is to emphasis not only to action but also the calmer moments. Its through moments like these that bonds are forged, grown, and the characters can truly grow as people. Hence why we treat them with as much importance as the action scenes.

Kinaki747: Thank you! I'm happy that you've enjoyed the story so much.

tyfighter1997: Yes, RWBYJNPR will be meeting other young heroes eventually. Right now, though, the focus is on the Titans.

Jacob9594: The armor designs were based off of some armored RWBY character fanarts we found but mostly with our own little touches. Our main desire was to not only match the superhero ascetic but also keep with the themes the characters used in their clothes.

Blacksmith Omniverse: You'll have to wait and see for answers on Wally, but but Kara and Conner Kent are not active as of yet. In fact, Superman hasn't met Kara at time.

Dracus7: Once again, please stop with the story suggestions. I am not taking them at this time.

NexusPrime42: Unfortunately no. For one, I don't have a Deviantart account and even if I did, I can't draw. Sorry. But, if you or anyone else would like to create a piece or pieces of fanart for this story, I'd very much appreciate it.

That's it for this chapter. See you all next time, and let us know what you all think.