Part two to the Sindella Rescue Mission is a go! It's actually kinda weird writing a part two, never done that before. But hey, won't be the last time I do that, the time travel chapters are in the future.
So, I've got Persona 5 and Royal on my PS4, and 4 on Steam, and 3 FES thanks to the PS2 emulator, but now I really wanna play Persona 1 and 2, but I hear the gameplay for them isn't exactly the best, so I think I'll just watch playthroughs for them. Then again, they're Persona games, that's gonna be a lot of videos to watch. But hey, I'm watching Critical Role, what's a few hundred videos?
Also, the chapter title's a reference! Bonus points to whoever gets it!
Now to reply to some reviews!
Drago: Thanks for the recommendation! I'll be sure to check him out some time.
Raidentensho: Hehehe, "knocked up". I don't know why that's so funny in this context, but it is. But I've got the whole proposal thing planned out and everything. I don't really have a red-sun convertor planned now, but thanks for the idea, we might just see it later…
ITSyndicate: You're welcome! And here's more!
Haydoge: Well, it's a good thing this story's more than just those chapters isn't it? Besides, not all chapters will play out exactly the same, you'll see soon.
Triumphant Fun Fact 4: If I had gone through with the previous fun fact (Esmeralda and Tim Drake replacing Rachel and Damien) then Rachel would have been their adoptive daughter in the Young Justice sequel.
Well, that's all from me up here, on with the story!
Escape From the Hidden City
Eric
Shit.
Shit!
SHIT!
There's a number of guards here in the mail building, all interrogating the employees and checking the packages.
Why I came back to this place I have no idea. Maybe I thought if they already checked they wouldn't come back? Like that hide-and-seek tactic. Why'd I think that? I'm not playing hide-and-seek; I'm trying to find my girlfriend's captured mother and rescue her from a city of mages who absolutely hate me and would kill me if given the chance.
My life is fun.
I press myself as deep as possible into the wall behind me before whispering a spell, the box appears around me again and I drop to the floor.
"What was that?" I hear a mage ask.
I flinch but don't move.
"You, go check out whatever that was," the mage orders another.
"Right," a female mage responds.
I watch as she walks over to the back of the room and looks around for any sign of me. She comes to a stop in front of my box but stands with her back to me. I could so take this moment to take her out, but if I do, they'll know something's up. I'll let her pass.
She mutters to herself as she looks around, but after a few minutes of finding nothing she gives up and heads back to the other mages. "Nothing there. The boxes were probably shifting or something."
The other mage hums before replying. "Go to your homes. If you find anything suspicious tell us or any other guard, understood?"
"Understood," the employees respond before heading off to their homes.
Once they're gone all that's left is me and the three mages hunting me down. And the only thing protecting me from them is a cardboard box. Metal Gear Solid don't fail me now.
"One of our own was found unconscious earlier, his mana having been absorbed," the third mage begins speaking. "We're sure an Anam user is within the city, but we can't let this get out to the general populace."
"If the citizens knew there'd be chaos," the female mage points out.
Even though other boxes are blocking my sight, I can practically see the third mage nod. "Yes. And we don't want that. The Silent Voices especially don't want that."
What? "The Silent Voices"? Who're they?
Probably the council to this corrupt city. I should avoid them, chances are they're old mages with centuries, maybe even millennia of experience under their belts. Fighting one of them would be a pain, but a whole council is something else. I don't even know how big this council is, so avoiding them is my best bet if I want this mission to succeed.
Which reminds me of the fact that Homo Magi can live for millennia. Zee and I haven't had a conversation about that yet, but it's due at some point.
Back to the mission.
"Come on, we're getting nothing here," the first mage states. I then hear the three leave.
I don't immediately get up, instead I stay in the box, as good a place as any to plan. And now that they did search the place and find nothing, I can use it as a base of operations.
Let's see…Sindella's in the prison near the city's center, and since the Silent Voices are this city's council there's no doubt they'll be nearby, so I'll need to really be careful about hiding. A smash and grab won't work, I wouldn't last long before they either kill me or imprison me. I can't exactly disguise as one of them, hell, I'm surprised the box is even working.
My best bet is to continue with stealth, move as quietly as possible to get in, grab Sindella, and get out. I'll just need to plant traps behind me for when I leave, and I need to make sure I've got an escape route.
But on the off chance this all doesn't work out and the shit hits the fan at max speed, I'll just create the biggest explosion I can with what Anam I have. It'll be a pain to fight the Feed though, and to ignore the fact that my skin turns into a stone-like substance and tries to kill me.
Problem is that I don't know where she is, hell, I don't even know where the prison is, exactly. Unless I get a better idea, I shouldn't go there just yet, don't wanna play my hand to soon, otherwise I'll be running around the center of the Hidden City like a headless chicken, and that's the last thing I want to do.
Okay, I think I know what to do.
I need to get out of here, closer to the center of the city but not too close that they know what my plan is. Once there, I need to grab someone, preferably a guard, and interrogate them, find out where the prison is and where Sindella could be. Once I've got all that I can return here and come up with a plan.
All right! Sounds-
I stiffen a little as I hear the door open and then close. Listening carefully, I deduce six feet, meaning three people are here. Dammit, did those mages come back? Why?
The three stay silent as they quietly move through the facility. Ah shit, do they know I'm here? Are they trying to sneak up on me? Well, that won't work, 'cause I know what they're planning.
I love enhanced senses.
I slowly begin to get up, but I'm suddenly pushed down and have to hold back a grunt as one of them sits on the box, and from my angle I can't see who.
"Goddammit, why do I wear high heels? It was a pain to walk through all that snow."
Wait a minute…
"That's what I've been wondering for these past few years, Piccola."
Oh for-
"Uh, Zatanna?" Silver Bolt says, looking right at me.
Zee hums and turns to him. "Yeah?"
"You are currently sitting on Eric," Silver Bolt tells her, pointing at me.
Zatanna hops off the box and looks down at it, slowly reaching for the handle in front of me and lifting the box, revealing me in my crouching glory.
"You've got a fat ass, you know that?" I say as I slowly get up, rubbing my back to soothe some of the pain.
Zatanna glares at me and her eyes flicker blue with mana. "That better be a compliment."
My eyes shoot open and I stiffen before nodding. "Yes. Yes. Compliment. You have a fat ass in the good sense of the phrase."
Zatanna continues to glare, and even with the cold atmosphere I feel a bead of sweat go down the side of my face. But she then smiles. "Thanks, Eric!"
Zatara coughs into his fist. "Yes, while I am happy that the two of you are together again and while I am fully aware of the…activities you partake in, I'd appreciate it if you didn't allude to them when I'm around."
Zee and I blush and take a step away from each other. "Yeah, right, sorry…" we both mutter.
Zatara sighs before his face becomes serious and he focuses on me. "Eric… Is she really here? Is my Sindella here?"
I notice Zatanna looking at me as well, hope in her eyes that I've never seen before, and I feel happy with what I say next.
"I'm positive she is."
Zatanna's face breaks out into a massive smile as she hugs her dad tightly. I notice Zatara's smiling as well, with some tears going down his face as he hugs her back. "You hear that, Zatanna? Your mother's here."
Zatanna nods mutely in response.
Zatara then pulls me into the hug before resting a hand on my shoulder. "But how did you know that she was still alive? That she was here of all places?"
I look away for a little and scratch the back of my head nervously. "This is awkward. I've known for the past few months now," I chance a look to see both of their faces are blank. "It happened after my Anam unlocked. I-I didn't say anything because I didn't want to bring your hopes up for the possibility that they'd be crushed. I know how much Sindella meant to you two, and doing that would've been way worse than the breakup."
Zatanna presses the button on my neck and my facemask goes away for her to pull me into a deep kiss. After a few moments she pulls back, and I can see the tears running down her face before she rests our forehead together.
"Thank you, Eric, for this. For everything," she breaths out, her voice cracking a bit.
I kiss her on the side of the neck and hug her tightly. "Anything for you, Zatanna," I then look to Zatara. "But when'd you two get here? And how'd you get here? Isn't the city on lockdown?"
Zatara folds his arms and looks around. "Is this building secure?"
I nod. "Some mages checked this place out earlier but couldn't find me. Until further notice I plan on using this place as a command center."
Zatara sits down on some boxes and Zee and I sit on a few to his left and Silver Bolt on one to his right.
"So, we had just teleported to Turkey when…"
Zatanna
An Hour Ago
Dad, Silver Bolt, and I continue our trek through the snow (I stumble a bit thanks to my high heels. Stupid shoes), the three mages in the distance still don't know we're here.
"So, what's the plan?" I whisper as the three of us crouch low in the snow. "Want me to take them out? I can do it before they even know we're here."
Dad shakes his head. "Wait. Let's see why they're out here first. Besides, they have the only way into the city that we know of."
I grumble and sink into the snow a little lower. "How the hell did Eric get in?"
"Knowing him? He snuck in," Dad replies.
"Makes the most sense," Silver Bolt nods. "Eric knows when to attack and when not to, so stealth is the best option we have."
"Okay… But how do we get in? It's a city of magic, so Dad and I can't exactly cloak us, they'd find us in less than a minute," I say, getting frustrated.
"But maybe I can," Silver Bolt hums. "I am an advanced Galvanic Mechamorph with cutting edge stealth tech. I could sneak in."
"Okay…but how will we get in?" I ask, starting to get a little annoyed at the lack of answers.
"I do-"
"Quiet!" Dad hisses. "They're near."
The three of us get as low as possible as the three mages get close, allowing for us to finally hear their conversation, even through the raging blizzard.
"-id they get in?" One of them, his voice gruff, asks. "The alarms would have gone off immediately if they detected an Anam user."
"Maybe they had a cloak of some kind?" A second, smoother voice, wonders. "The outside world has some wild technology. Which is why I keep saying-"
"We should upgrade our technology defenses," the three say, the other two joining in, annoyance clear in their voices. "We know," the third voice, a female, sighs. "If we keep talking the Anam user will continue to stain our beautiful city. Spread out, find any hints about them."
We hear the three spread out and watch as one of them scans the snow nearby.
Dad looks to Silver Bolt and the two nod before he looks to me. "Zatanna, stay here, Silver Bolt and I will take them down."
"I can help," I reply, a little angry.
Dad arches a brow and I already know I lost. "Remember your promise?"
I growl quietly and simmer as I glare ahead.
Silver Bolt stays low, even though he's already short, and his right arm shifts into a taser-like weapon. Dad also gets into a crouched position and points at the farther two while Silver Bolt stalks towards the closest of the three.
Once in position, the little robot leaps up onto the mage's back and with his taser arm hits the target in the neck. The mage screams in pain as he's electrocuted, orange lightning arcing through his body as it spasms.
The other two turn around, just to see Dad giant snow golems falling over on them. They practically flash freeze, and their teeth chatters incredibly fast, and if I listen carefully, I can actually hear their teeth.
Silver Bolt then walks over to Dad and I get up to join the two, standing in front of the other two, cold mages. "How did you drop their temperature?" Silver Bolt asks.
"Their cloaks protect against natural cold, magic cold not so much," Dad answers. "Now then, we need their cloaks."
"Whoa, but won't they freeze out here?" I ask.
"We'll give them our coats. They'll shift to match their size," Dad replies.
I sigh deeply. "Even a few seconds of cold is gonna suck. But screw it, we're here to save Eric, let's do it."
With a spell, our coats, and the cloaks of the two frozen mages fly off, exposing us to the cold air at the base of the mountains. I grit my teeth and hug my arms close to me as the cloak of the female mage flies over and puts itself over me, making me warm again.
I rub my hands together and breath into them. "Knew it would suck. C'mon you two, let's go."
Dad nods and heads towards the city, I follow and look behind me as I watch Silver Bolt aim his taser arm and fire little bolts of electricity, knocking the two out before joining us.
"So, they said Eric couldn't be scanned," I begin. "Why?"
Dad hums and rubs his chin with his index finger and thumb. "Well, Anam users are insatiable, the Feed is a constant part of their lives, but Eric doesn't have that problem. And I think I know why…"
I arch a brow and wait for Dad to continue. After a few moments he doesn't. "Well? Don't keep us in suspense, Daddy."
His eyes widen a little before he chuckles. "Sorry, Zatanna, every now and again I forget I'm not on a stage."
I laugh a little and put my hands in the cloak. "Yeah, I get that. But why's Eric safe from the Feed?"
"Maybe the Omnitrix?" Dad theorizes with a shrug. "Think about it, when we resurrected him, the Omnitrix achieved full power, and his Anam activated as well. So, the Omnitrix must at least keep the Feed, well, fed at minimum, meaning he doesn't need mana to stay alive."
I nod as I absorb Dad's words. It does make sense, countless people have talked about how the Omnitrix is one of the most powerful things they've seen, and the fact that it's got enough power to keep a planet or two running for centuries. Actually wild to think about, I've been sleeping next to a weapon every day for the past few months now.
Suddenly, a giant wall appears in front of us, and Dad and I stop walking, which catches Silver Bolt's attention. "Yes? What is it?"
"You don't see it?" I ask him. I facepalm. "Right, city of magic, little…thing of science. What is the correct term to describe you anyway?"
"Galvanic Mechamorph Synthezoid," Silver Bolt answers. "But why can't I see what you see?"
"The city is invisible to those without the touch of mana," Dad answers. "Once we're inside you should be fine."
I fold my arms and look up on the top of the wall. "So, how will we get in, Dad?"
He hums and looks along the wall. A few guards mill about, with four above the gate, ready to act in a moment's notice. "We can't enter even with these disguises; they'll figure us out in no time."
"But Silver Bolt said he could get us in," I comment.
"That he did," Dad agrees.
The two of us turn around and look down at the Galvanic Mechamorph Synthezoid. Silver Bolt looks back at us and nods before backing up a little. He then grows in size, going from about three feet tall to twenty. He has mortar cannons over each shoulder and claws at the ends of his now massive fingers. And now he has a second face that looks like a dome helmet, with an orange circle in the center as an eye.
"Please, come in," he says, his head lifting and chest opening to reveal two seats inside.
Dad and I share a glance before shrugging and hopping in. Once his head and chest close, we're in pitch black for a moment before live footage of the outside is seen in a full three-sixty view.
"Cloaking now," Silver Bolt announces. There's a shimmer to the view of the outside world before it stabilizes. Reminds me of when I turn invisible.
"Gonna fly?" I ask, looking around.
"Yes," Silver Bolt begins to float off the ground. Like when he's in ship mode, the movement isn't too jerky, thanks to the gravity dampeners or whatever Eric had installed. I wasn't paying attention when he told me the specifics. Too busy looking at his muscles.
And he'd better be alive so I can keep looking at those muscles.
Or else…
Eric
Now
"-And that's how we got here," Zee finishes telling the story.
I arch a brow and look to Zatara.
"Abridged, but yes," he nods.
Zatanna frowns. "Whoa, wait, you don't trust how I tell the story?" She glares at me and has her hands on her hips as she stands in front of me.
I look up at her blankly. "No. I do not."
"Yeah, well-" she sways on her feet and puts a hand to her forehead. I quickly get up and hold her steady with a hand on her back and the other holding her by the arm. "Th-thanks."
"You okay? What happened?" I ask, putting a hand to her forehead to feel it's a little hot.
Zatara folds his arms. "She puked earlier this morning. Apparently, she's been sick all day."
"Wha- why'd you come here!? You should've stayed home!" I admonish Zee.
She groans in annoyance. "I would've stayed home if you did."
"You did not just blame me for your actions," I say in disbelief.
"Maybe I did," Zatanna says.
The two of us glare at each other, waiting for the other to back down.
It doesn't last long though, Zatara snaps his fingers right between us, forcing us to blink and look to see him and Silver Bolt looking at us with annoyed faces.
Zatara sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Just like me and Sindella when we were that age… Morrigan, Rachel, Esmeralda, and Nova will be coming soon, we need to-"
I quickly hold a hand up, silencing him and listen carefully.
Outside, a number of guards—ten—run past the building, heading towards the city's gates if I'm correct. I focus my hearing on them. "Four beings have appeared outside of the city! We will deal with them immediately! Capture is our first priority but eliminate if you must!"
They then exit the range of my hearing and I bring my mask and goggles back up. "Well, the four of them are here, and they've got a welcome party of ten guards incoming."
Zatara puts his hat back on and Silver Bolt clenches his fists. "Ready."
I look down at the little robot before we leave. "Oh, and we're talking about your battle mode later, don't think I forgot," I then point to Zee. "Stay here, the three of us can deal with them."
Zatanna looks like she wants to argue before she looks behind me and sighs deeply, she then nods and sits on a box. "Fiiine. I'll be here. I won't enjoy, but I'll stay behind."
I blink in shock. Did-did I just win an argument with Zee? Hell, it wasn't even an argument, I just gave her an order and she followed it no problem. That's a first. Felt wrong somehow though.
Zatara puts a hand on my shoulder, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Come on, Triumph, your sister and the others are in danger."
I look back at Zee one more time before leaving and nod once she nods back the three of us sneak out of the building and head towards the others.
Hope we get to them before the mages do.
"There they are," I announce as the three of us stand atop a hill.
Below us are the ten mages, trudging through the snow, nearing Victorious and the others. I look to Zatara and Silver Bolt. "They should be in visual range with each other in a few minutes."
"Can you use the Omnitrix?" Zatara asks.
I show him the orange alien watch. "I've already got an alien in mind."
Zatara nods as his eyes glow blue, snowballs filled with ice float above him.
Silver Bolt begins to shift, becoming the giant form Zatanna described to me.
I dial through the Omnitrix, and once the core pops up, I turn it again before slamming it down, transforming straight into Ultimate Arctiguana.
I'm at least three times bigger than Arctiguana's normal form, with a black under suit and orange armor that covers most of my body. Some dark blue ice-like growths come out of my shoulders and three from each elbow. From my back is a large, iceberg shaped ice-like growth. My skin's dark purple, with three growths going down my chin and a mustache-like part of my body, connected to black markings that stop between my orange eyes. Over each shoulder I have two cannons. The Omnitrix crest is in the center of my chest.
Some of the mages turn around as they notice the large flash of orange light but can't react in time when Silver Bolt and I open the attack with our shoulder mounted cannons. The ones Silver Bolt hits are sent flying away, electricity arcing across their bodies. The ones I hit are also sent flying, but they don't get far as their bodies are frozen.
There's about four left, but one gets hit by Zatara's snowball barrage, knocking her out instantly.
And then there were three.
As one of the mages prepares an attack, a giant, black, mana raven appears above him and swallows him. A distance away I see him fall into a pile of snow.
The second to last one is hit by a combined attack from Victorious and Abuela. He's pulled into the air by one magenta hand and slapped around by another. The second then becomes a fist and punches him away.
The last one wears ornate armor, which means he was the commander to this unit. He quickly reacts as Luna, in the form of a giant polar bear, looms over him and swipes a claw, but the mage flies back and fires a shotgun blast of magic that sends Luna tumbling back.
"Come on!" Zatara shouts before hopping on Silver Bolt's leg, the two then fly over and Silver Bolt nearly lands on the mage.
I then shoot a blast of ice from my mouth, creating an ice slide while firing mortar shots from my cannons.
But the mage manages to dodge most of them and shoots a fireball that melts through the slide and hits me in the gut, sending me flying through the air and landing in the snow. My eyes open and I see Victorious standing over me.
"Yo," she greets.
"Yo," I greet back.
"I see you're using Blastoise again," she comments, kicking one of my cannons.
"Yup," I nod. "Mind helping me up?" I'm telekinetically put back on my feet. "Gracias."
"De nada," she then cracks her knuckles and the two of us watch as the others swarm the last Hidden City mage. Luna transforms into a pale white and magenta monkey and goes apeshit on the mage. "So, why'd you come here?"
"I'll tell you and the others later," I reply. "How's Abuelo Victor?"
"He's good. Still doesn't know Papa's name though," Esmeralda answers with a laugh.
I sigh and shake my head. "I swear he does, he just doesn't care," I look to see Raven hit the Hidden Mage with a spell that transforms his cloak into lead, and because the mage is high up, he falls and gets knocked out. "Come on, let's get to Zee. I don't like being far from her for too long."
I transform back to normal and the two of us join with the group. Once together, Morrigan slaps the back of my head. "What the-!?"
"Remember Ireland, boy? I thought you'd learn," she then shakes her head in disappointment. "Oh well. Where's Zatanna?"
Zatara points a thumb towards the Hidden City. "Inside of a post office. Come, I don't feel safe leaving her alone in there for any longer."
"I can teleport us there," Raven offers, already conjuring a giant teleportation raven.
Zatara shakes his head. "No, they'd detect any form of magic entering the city. Silver Bolt can get us in."
As Zatara says this, the others finally notice his now massive size.
Victorious steps back in surprise as Luna, now in his cat form, jumps on her shoulders. "Whoa! Cool form, SB!"
"Thank you."
"Okay, great. How's a giant robot supposed to get us in undetected?" Raven asks.
To demonstrate, Silver Bolt cloaks then decloaks.
Victorious silently gives him a thumbs up.
"Though I am only able to hold two occupants in this form," Silver Bolt warns. "Raven and Victorious could fit, as well as Luna. Maybe Morrigan can fit in as well if you try."
I dial through the Omnitrix and slam the core down, becoming my Merlinisapien form, Chamalien.
I'm a large, purple salamander-like alien with darker purple camo spots. I have a black helmet over the top of my face with a fin swept back. In the center of the mask are three triangular shapes as my eyes, the right being red, middle green, and left one blue. RGB. I have four-fingered hands and three-toed feet as well as a relatively short tail.
Silencio's a great stealth form when I'm in a dark place, or whenever in a building, but Chamalien's great for not being seen. And while he does leave a trail I've trained to leave as little a trail as possible.
Silver Bolt's body opens up and the three women and cat get in. It takes a bit, but eventually the three fit and Silver Bolt closes before cloaking.
I then look to Zatara. "What about you?"
He looks in the last known location of Silver Bolt. "SB, can you cloak someone on you?"
His head and an arm decloak. "Actually, yes! Hop on!"
Zatara does so and the arm cloaks, as well as him, leaving Silver Bolt's dome-shaped head as the only visible part of him.
"Would you like to hop on as well?" He asks.
I shake my head. "Nah. I transformed into Chamalien, I'm gonna use Chamalien. Come on, let's get back to Zee."
The two of us then cloak and head back towards the Hidden City, leaving the mages we just beat behind in the snow.
I stop just in front of the backdoor to the building and look around before decloaking and knocking the first part of olly-olly-oxen free. After a few seconds, the rest can be heard from the other side of the door and it opens to reveal Zatanna.
She arches a brow as she looks at me. "Huh, haven't seen this guy in a while."
"Well, you're not," I reply before slinking in.
Silver Bolt decloaks and Zatara hops off before he opens up to let Victorious, Luna, Morrigan, and Raven out. Once they exit, he shrinks back to his normal form. We all then enter the building and Victorious turns to me as she sits on a box next to Zee.
"All right, why'd you come here? How's Turkey play into your life, Er?" Victorious asks as I transform back to normal.
"Well, Turkey means more to Big and Little Zee than it does me," I reply. I then get right to the heart of the matter, "Sindella's here, in a prison near the city's center."
Morrigan's eyes widen in surprise, Victorious blinks, and stares ahead, Luna looks up at me and I swear he raises a brow in confusion. Raven on the other hand looks…I don't know, scared?
"You okay, Raven?" I ask, bringing attention to her.
She jolts in surprise a little before looking to Zatanna and her dad. "Uh, yeah, just… You're sure she's here?"
I nod. "Ever since I unlocked my Anam she's reached out to me and we've talked. I only came now because I knew for a fact she'd be here—didn't want to bring their hopes up only to have them crushed, you know?"
"And thank you for that, Triumph," Zatara nods. He then turns to Raven and puts his hands on her shoulders, a fatherly smile on his face. "Don't worry, Rachel, Sindella will love you like her own daughter, I know that for a fact."
"I've already told her about you, actually," I chime in. "She's excited to meet you."
Zatanna smiles and nods. "Yeah, Mom's great like that."
Victorious tilts her head a little as she looks at Zatanna. "You okay, Zee? You're looking a little pale there."
"I just threw up a little, that's all," Zee mutters, avoiding eye contact with any of us.
As expected, Victorious gets up and creates a little light from her finger. She then grabs Zatanna by the face and puts the light in her eye, looking for whatever. "Whoa! You puked!? Any other symptoms? Nausea, light headedness, dehydration? The hell are you doing here!?
Esmeralda wants to be a doctor, and obviously she's got a great start.
Annoyed, Zatanna smacks her hands away. "I'm fine, Esme! Sheesh, give a girl a warning before you grab her face next time, yeah? Besides, your grandma put an anchor spell on me, if things get outta hand I'll get 'ported back to your brother's place."
Victorious folds her arms but doesn't look like she's done with this. "Still don't think you should be here but whatever…"
I fold my arms with a sigh. "Well, now that Zee knows what we all think about her being here-"
"I will stab you."
"-We need to get to planning," I continue. "I know there's a prison near the city's center, and I also know that they don't have too many prisoners, just a few hundred."
"Yeah, "just a few hundred"," Victorious rolls her eyes.
"Did you learn anything else?" Abuela asks.
"I also know that security gets tighter the closer to the center we get, and that the Silent Voices are there," I answer.
"The Silent Voices? Who're they?" Raven asks.
"The council of this city," Zatara answers with a grim frown. "They're a collection of the oldest Homo magi in charge of protecting their people. The youngest of them is around two thousand years old if I remember correctly."
Morrigan hums in intrigue. "Almost as old as my oldest brother."
Victorious and I look at her in surprise. "How old are you?" We ask.
Abuela just smiles.
I shake my head to get back on track. "Getting off topic. It'll be a pain though, you all use magic as your main form of combat, and I'm not sure Silver Bolt and I could cover you all effectively."
The others hum and begin to think things over.
I could use Anam, but I'm only good with offensive and defensive spells, I can't make us invisible or teleport us, my magic's too chaotic to trust.
Wait a minute…
"Chaos!" Victorious and I shout at the same time.
The others are pulled out of their thoughts and look to us. "Let's hear it," Zatara says.
"Eric, your magic's balls to the walls crazy, right?" Victorious asks.
I smirk behind my mask and nod. Looks like we're on the same page. "Sometimes a lightning bolt becomes a wind scythe."
Victorious' smirk grows and she seems to vibrate on the spot. "Oooh baby, this is gonna get good."
Zatanna waves her hand in between our faces. "Uh, yeah, mind sharing this idea with the rest of the class you two? We're dying to hear this plan of yours."
"Okay, it's simple—I'm gonna go out there and use all the Anam I have to cause as much chaos as possible and pull them away from the prison. I mean, an Anam user going full supervillain in the middle of their city? No way would they not send the full force of their mages at me," I tell them.
Victorious nods. "And while he's doing that, we get into the prison, track down Sindella, and get her out!"
Zatara hums as he plays with his moustache a little. "We could track her using Zatanna or I as the focal point of the spell. But what about you, Triumph? You're right, they will send the full force of their might at you, but will you be able to handle it?"
Before I can reply, Abuela stands next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it, I'll be with him, watching my grandson's back. You just worry about getting your wife back."
"Where do I play in this?" Zatanna asks. "I mean, obviously everyone would rather I be at Eric's place or whatever, but this is my Mom we're talking about, and both parts of this plan sound dangerous, even if all the guards will be dealing with Eric and Morrigan."
"You'll be on the search team," Victorious says. "Tracking spells work better the more connections you have to the person, right? And honestly, you're the best connection we have to Sindella, since you're the only person here with a blood relation to her."
Zatara nods. "She's right. Connections of blood run deeper than those of emotions. And you have both, so it'd be nearly impossible for us to not find her."
Zatanna looks to her dad before turning to Victorious with a smile and nod. "Thank you, Esme."
Victorious smiles back. "I know I just gave you shit and all, but if our positions were switched and my Mama were in that prison, I'd do whatever it took to rescue her."
"All right, and as a contingency, if shit hits the fan, transform into your jet form and get us out of here, Silver Bolt," I then take a deep breath and look over this group before nodding. "Okay, let's go."
I'm currently crouched on the roof of a building, with Abuela Morrigan standing next to me, the both of us watching guards running through the city trying to find us. I notice a group kick in the door to a residential home near the city's edge and force themselves in, the inhabitants screaming in fear.
"Reminds me of home," Morrigan whispers.
I look up at her. She's never mentioned Anodyne, and this little comparison doesn't paint a good picture for me.
"Why did you come to Earth when you did?" I ask.
Her eyes dart away before she sighs. "I'll tell you later, it's a very long story."
My eyes slowly move back to the home and I watch as the mages leave the home, heading over to the next one and doing the same thing. "Okay…" With a deep breath, I get up and hop around a little. She offers her hand and I take it to absorb some mana. I feel black and purple energy waft from my eyes. "Let's go."
"Yes," Abuela's eyes glow magenta. "Let's."
I raise my arms up high before throwing them down with a shout. "GORRILAQUAKE!"
I ignore Abuela's confused glance and watch as the ground begins to shake. Slowly, a crack appears, and then it grows, and grows, and grows. The mages run out of the home after hearing my shout, but they can't investigate for long.
Suddenly, a troop of black furred gorillas with purple tips at the top of their fur burst from the ground. With their sudden arrival the mages are knocked off their feet and are panicking at the sudden appearance of the large primates.
"Effective," Morrigan hums. "But "Gorrilaquake"? Really?"
Even with my goggles I avoid eye contact with her. "You're supposed to be causing chaos."
She chuckles before raising her arms high. "Aquata Risa Spackwata!" I hear what sounds like pipes straining underground, and shortly after they burst, and giant spouts of water shoot up from under the mages, keeping them suspended in air.
I hear a siren in the distance, followed by a voice, "Attention all guards! There was a spike of Anam detected in the outer ring of the city! Repeat, a spike of Anam was detected in the outer ring of the city! Quell this threat!"
"Well, you've caught their attention," Morrigan comments dryly.
"Lucky me," I reply, just as dry. "We should spread out, force them to split their forces between the two of us. I'll head east, you go west."
Abuela nods before flying away.
I look back down to see the gorillas I made still causing chaos, more mages teleporting in to deal with them.
I clench my right fist, and my Anam energy builds in it before I aim at the mages.
"Chaos."
Zatanna
While Triumph and Morrigan go to cause chaos, the rest of us sneak our way to the prison. It's difficult though, since we're flying over the second outer ring, and the city's made up of seven, meaning we have quite a ways to go. And to make matters worse, security gets tougher the deeper we go.
Thankfully, Silver Bolt's in his mech form, and Dad's currently hanging onto his back while Raven, Victorious, Luna, and I are squeezed inside.
As he flies, I sniff the air. "Hm, SB, do you have one of those pine tree things in here? Smells like it."
"I have a few, yes," he replies.
Raven looks at me with an arched brow. "Why'd you ask that?"
I shrug. "Gotta kill the time 'til we get to the prison. Silence stresses me out, especially in moments like this one. Anything could happen."
Victorious nods. "Triumph told me the same thing. Always stay vigilant, and be extra cautious when everything's quiet, that's when the enemy plots their next attack."
"Right," I nod. "Can never be too careful in the life we live."
"Warning: I am detecting a magnitude 5.4 earthquake," Silver Bolt suddenly announces.
"What? Are we on a tectonic plate?" Raven asks, looking down at the ground through the screen.
"Negative. I believe Triumph and Morrigan have begun," Silver Bolt replies.
I look behind us in worry in their direction. "Kick ass you two," I whisper.
We hear what sounds like a siren, followed by a voice, "Attention all guards! There was a spike of Anam detected in the outer ring of the city! Repeat, a spike of Anam was detected in the outer ring of the city! Quell this threat!"
Victorious takes a deep breath before petting Luna along his back. "Well, they did start… I should've stayed with them, I could've helped."
I reach over and take her hand in mine, catching her attention. I then give her a comforting smile. "Hey, they'll be fine. Your brother's a force of nature when he wants to be. And Morrigan's a master in magic, the city'll be hard-pressed to stop them."
Raven nods. "She's right. Remember what your brother did to Brother Blood and his cult last week? Ran through them all like a hurricane with his Anam. And I've trained against your grandmother—didn't even leave a scratch on her."
Victorious slowly smiles in thanks and nods.
Suddenly, Silver Bolt begins to land in a secluded alley. From the screen we watch as a ton of mage guards run towards the outer ring to Eric and Morrigan.
You two better not make us liars.
Once they're gone, Silver Bolt opens up, and the four of us hop out. He then decloaks and Dad hops off of his back before Silver Bolt shrinks back to his normal size. "I detected a mana signature similar to Zatanna's within the next ring."
My heartbeat picks up.
This is it. Confirmation that she is alive, and she's only one ring away.
"Well, what are we waiting for!?" I demand. "Let's go!"
Dad raises a hand in a calming gesture. "Wait a minute, Zatanna, I bet Silver Bolt has a reason for landing here. Don't you, Silver Bolt?"
The Galvanic Mechamorph Synthezoid nods. "I also detected mana in the air. It would seem there is an invisible mana barrier separating us from the last three rings. If I had continued my flight path we could have been detected, destroyed, or bounced off of the shield."
"Which would give away our position and ruin the plan," Dad nods. "I see. Well, if I remember correctly, the only way in would be through the gate, but doing so may be difficult."
"Security," Raven sighs.
Dad nods with a sigh. "Security. But with the chaos Triumph and Morrigan are causing a skeleton crew will be the worst we can expect, with it being entirely empty being the best outcome."
"Why?" Victorious asks. "If there's a barrier protecting these three rings why would security be lighter now?"
"Because your brother uses Anam. As you all know, Anam users are looked down upon heavily, they aren't even treated as people, but as monsters, ticking time bombs waiting to explode. With your brother's blatant attack on the city the Silent Ones will not let that stand. So, they intend to crush him with all the force they have," Dad answers. "We need to go, now."
The rest of us nod in agreement before following Dad to the edge of the alley.
Looking around, I see that the city in the fourth ring is definitely nicer than the sixth ring. If we weren't threatened by death right now, I would love to see the center, watch the absolute disproportionate difference in quality of life here.
After giving an all-clear signal, Dad sneaks towards the gate, and the rest of us follow. We jump from cover to cover before reaching the entrance to the wall.
Luna jumps off of Victorious shoulders and his body becomes wispy, almost cloud-like, before he slips between the crack in the door. I hear an exclamation of surprise and two bodies drop before the gate opens, Luna standing tall in the center. On either side of him is a knocked-out guard.
Victorious reaches down and picks him up before she rubs her cheek into his with a smile as she puts him back on her shoulders and follows Dad deeper into the gate. "Good boy, Luna! You're getting the best fish money can buy later tonight!"
The cat has a smile on his face as he purrs in delight.
Suddenly, Dad raises a hand, and we all jump into places to hide. Shortly after, two guards enter the lobby, both putting on the final touches of their gear. They stop in surprise when they see the open gate and their two co-workers knocked out.
Before they can call for help, Raven teleports one away, and Victorious hits another with a sleep spell. And with those two down, we can continue.
Nothing much happened the rest of the way through the gate. A few close calls there, a mage or two knocked out here, and eventually we arrived in the third ring.
The ring where Mom is.
Okay. Wow. Shit. This is… Oooh wee. Wow.
After ten years she's here. Well, not here with me right now, but she's close, like-
I look ahead to see a massive compound with a high defensive wall around it and some guards in towers.
-in visual range close.
Get serious, Zatanna Zatara. You're boyfriend and his grandmother are out there making the distraction you need to get your Mom (Who you haven't seen in a decade) out of a prison run by some asshole mages.
Come on, Zee, you can do this.
Yeah! Yeah, I can! I can win! I feel great! I! Can! Do! Thi-
"What're you doing?" Victorious asks.
I'm jolted out of my thoughts to see the others looking at me curiously. I blush in embarrassment and cough into my fist. "I- uh… N-nothing."
Victorious hums the same way Triumph does when he isn't convinced. "We're gonna talk about this later."
And just like her brother, she's not gonna let this go anytime soon. Damn Mercers and their unrelenting persistence.
"Whatever. Prison's over there, let's go," Raven says, already heading towards it with Dad, Silver Bolt, and Luna.
Victorious looks at me with narrowed eyes before following them.
I let out a breath in relief before running after them.
Eric
I narrowly avoid a conjured arrow and retaliate with a blast of pure energy, that sends a mage flying off the roof and she manages to hit a few more on her way down. Nice.
I quickly raise a shield as I'm hit with a massive wind spell. I watch as the pieces of the roof below me are cut by the gale blades and how one mage barely dodges, but his robes and armor get cut up.
"Wonder if my armor could've handled that," I whisper to myself. I then thrust an arm outward. "Mjolnir!" Instead of a massive bolt of lightning, the mages unlucky enough to be in front of me are caught up in a tornado of my creation, and their armor and robes are torn up before they're sent flying away.
Eventually, a massive gravitational force breaks through my shield and sends me flying off the roof and into the side of a nearby home; shaking my head and looking around I see I'm in a bathroom. Thankfully, no one's in here.
"Kill the abomination!" A mage shouts. Above him, a number of flaming swords appear.
As I get ready to retaliate, the door to the bathroom opens, and I look out of the corner of my eye to see a little kid at the other end of the doorway. "What's going-" his eyes widen in awe at the swords. "Whoa…"
I then look back to see the mage then tosses the swords in my direction, not at all caring for the kid in the way.
I turn around and tackle the kid out of the way just as the swords begin to pepper the ground. One blade hits my armor and I feel the skin underneath heat up, but thankfully my armor doesn't break.
After a little combat-roll into a hallway I see a girl a little older than Esmeralda in front of me. I hold the boy out to her. "Here, take your-"
She screams, grabs her brother (I presume that's her brother, at least), and sends me flying out of the house with a telekinetic blast.
I'm sent tumbling out of the house and come to a stop at the foot of another one. After shaking my head to get rid of the ringing I look up to see I'm surrounded by five, maybe ten mages. I don't know, vision might still be a little blurry.
The mage in front of me slowly raises an arm, and another sword, also on fire, appears in his hand. "You're dead, abomination."
And with that, he swings down.
Zatanna
This is it, we're in the prison.
I slowly clench my shaking hand into a fist and take a deep, calming breath.
"Zatanna," Silver Bolt whispers. "May I see your arm?"
I give it to him, and from one of his fingers he pricks me with a needle, getting some blood. His eyes flicker red for a moment before they become orange again. "I have a trail."
A big smile comes over Dad's face. "Well, where is she?"
"If I am correct, she would be in the bottom of the prison, five floors underground," Silver Bolt then points ahead. "I detect something akin to an elevator at the end of the hall, but there are two guards by it."
Victorious and Luna step forward. "They won't be a problem will they, Luna?"
The cat meows in response before becoming a white furred cheetah with magenta spots.
Victorious' hands glow with mana. "I've got the one on the right."
Suddenly, she shoots into the distance, and we can hear someone cry out in pain as they're slammed into the wall behind them, a weapon clatters against the floor. While Luna, in his cheetah form, shoots forward like a bullet and almost at the same time tackles the other guard. He then comes back with what looks like a key on a chain hanging in his mouth.
He drops it into Silver Bolt's waiting hand and the two look up at the rest of us. "Let's go."
We run down the hallway, and as we do, I notice the prisoners in their cells.
For one, they don't separate the genders, I see a woman in one cell and a man in the next. I also notice some collars around their necks that glow with an ethereal white-red energy. The mages look…out of it. They don't even know we're here. God, what the hell did they do to deserve this?
What did Mom do to-
No. Don't think about that. Mom doesn't like killing bugs, besides, these Silent Ones sound like assholes, I bet they're keeping her here for some stupid reason.
We stop in front of the elevator and Silver Bolt's arm stretches up, letting him insert and turn the key. Almost immediately, the elevator dings, and the door opens to reveal a platform with a green magic circle in the center of it. Magic elevator, nice.
We hop on, and after passing a few doors, we stop at what feels like the bottom. The doors open to reveal only one cell in front of us.
And inside of it is Mom.
She's sitting on her bed, humming the lullaby she used to sing to me when I was a kid. Her blonde hair's messy, and there's some dirt along her arms and face, but she's still beautiful. Hell, I'd say she looks better than me, even if she's wearing nothing but a white robe.
Weirdly enough, she doesn't have the same collar the others do. But I could care less about that—Mom's here, in front of me after a decade.
She stops humming. "I thought I already got my lunch."
I've missed her voice so much.
"W-well, we're here to break you out," Dad says, his voice wavers.
Mom slowly looks up and I watch as her vibrant green eyes widen in shock. She slowly gets up and carefully walks towards the cells, the rest of us doing the same.
Her eyes go from Dad, to Luna, Silver Bolt, Victorious, Raven, and then they end on me. She reaches out before thinking about it and bringing her hand back to her chest and shakes her head.
"No. No, this has to be some sick trick," she tries to reason with herself. "I mean, what is this? An illusion of my husband and daughter? A glamour spell? Why are you doing this? Why now?"
"It isn't an illusion, amore mio, it's really us," Dad says. "You remember? When Zatanna was twelve we went to the Himalayas-"
"-To test me. I passed with flying colors," I add.
"T-tell that to the goat that almost ate your bag," Mom whispers.
I shake my head. "There was no goat. My bag was almost tossed off 'cause of that blonde girl I met up there, Di-" Wait. Oh, I knew Dinah was familiar somehow! I'll talk to her about this later.
Mom looks between the two of us before tears well up in her eyes. She then falls to her knees and lets out a laugh. "It really is you. B-but if you're here, then that means Eric's-"
She's interrupted by a giant explosion in the distance, which nearly knocks us off our feet.
"What was that?" Raven asks.
"I don't know," Victorious replies. "Okay, hi, my name's Victorious, or Esmeralda, I'm-"
"Eric's sister, he's told me about you," Mom interrupts.
Victorious pauses before continuing. "Okay, cool. So, let's get you outta here. Silver Bolt?"
Said Galvanic Mechamorph Synthezoid steps forward and grabs two bars of the cell. He then begins to pull, but in the center of the door a magic circle appears, and he's hit by a lightning bolt to the chest, sending him flying down the hallway.
"Silver Bolt!" Victorious cries out in worry.
He slowly gets up with a groan and rubs his chest. "I-I-I am f-fine."
"I'm sorry, I should've warned you," Mom apologizes. "The only way to open the gate is with the key."
"And where is this key?" Raven asks.
"I have it."
We turn around to see a small group of guards, three of them, stepping out of the elevator. Two of them wear matching suits, with pieces of armor over their forearms, shins, shoulders, and chests, with helmets that remind me of those dudes from… What game was it again? Eric played it. Right! Final Fantasy XII!
But it's the guy in the center who's the most interesting.
He wears a white coat that goes down to his knees at the back. He also has bronze armor with silver accents. Though he doesn't have a helmet, letting us see his face. He looks to be around Dad's age, maybe a little older, with brown hair and matching beard, with green eyes just like Mom's.
Dad clenches his fist and grits his teeth. "Aimeric."
This Aimeric guy narrows his eyes at Dad. "Giovanni," his gaze then drifts over the others before finally landing on me. His eyes widen a little before he bows slightly. "You look just like your mother."
Uh… "Anyone mind telling me who the hell this is?"
"Oh, you didn't tell her? I wish I could say I was surprised, Giovanni, you keep a lot of secrets," Aimeric says in a sarcastic tone.
Mom sighs, catching my attention. "That is Aimeric, the guard assigned to me. He is also my older brother."
"Holy shit! Zee, you have an evil uncle!" Victorious shouts.
"Now really isn't the time, V," Raven whispers.
Aimeric, my…uncle, looks at Victorious. "I wouldn't say "evil", just a man who's doing his duty. Unlike my dear baby sister."
Before anyone can say anything else, we hear a radio sound from Silver Bolt. "Hey, SB, update: that explosion earlier? Was me, now I don't have any Anam. Abuela's kicking ass though," Triumph says. "How're things on your end?"
"We have reached Sindella, but the prison cell can only be unlocked by a key Zatanna's evil uncle has," Silver Bolt reports.
"…excuse me?"
Aimeric (Uncle Aimeric? Ugh, sounds wrong) sighs in annoyance. "Not evil, I do what is expected of me."
"Doesn't explain why I was Father's favorite then," Mom comments with a smirk.
We all slowly look to her to see as she's sitting down and putting her hair in a braid. Dad's eyes dart between her and his brother-in-law (still sounds wrong). "Uh, love? Maybe don't antagonize the man with the key to your freedom."
"Giovanni, if you were in my position you would do all you could to antagonize my brother," Mom comments.
"But is now the best time to anger him?" Dad counters.
"Every time is the best time to anger him," Mom argues.
"It's like Triumph and Zatanna. But she's Triumph and he's Zatanna," Victorious whispers.
With a sigh, Aimeric pulls out a staff. "Look, your friend with the Anam will be apprehended and executed any minute now, and since you've returned with Giovanni Zatara, a known criminal, you will all be apprehended and executed as well. Surrender now and I'll make sure you all spend your last moments together."
I look at Dad from the corner of my eye. "Wow, Daddy, you've pissed off a lot of people back in the day, huh?"
He sighs. "If I had a dollar…"
Suddenly, the two of us shoot fireballs at Aimeric and his men. One of them gets hit in the chest, while Aimeric and the other duck, which destroys the elevator behind them.
The mage who got hit slowly gets up and waves his staff upwards, creating a rock monster from the floor in front of him. His friend does the same.
"Just wait here, Mom, we'll take these guys on," I tell her.
With a smile Mom shrugs. "I have nowhere else to go, Little Witch."
She just called me by my old nickname. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.
I clap my hands together. "Rozar sdrib, ylf yawa!" Once my hands open, a flock of birds, with razor sharp wings and beaks like saws fly forward and slam into the rock monsters. They both raise their arms in defense, but the birds just chip away at the stone.
From between the two monsters, a dragon made of water shoots out, and I roll out of the way, so it just hits the cell bars behind me. I then look to see Aimeric walking forward, another water dragon coiling around his left arm.
This time, he aims at Dad, a sneer on his face. "Because of you my sister was tainted! Because of you she lost her way!"
He shoots the water dragon forward, and manages to get Dad in the chest, sending him flying into the wall behind him hard. He groans in pain as some bricks fall on his back. "Giovanni!" Mom shouts.
Aimeric then points to me. "And you—you're an abomination, a mix of the common man with the Homo Magi shouldn't exist."
Oh, mother of God, he's the racist uncle.
Aimeric's then tackled by Luna, who's still in his cheetah form, and sends him flying. Luna then turns around and shows me Aimeric's key ring between his teeth.
"Oh, Luna, you are the best cat familiar ever!" I quickly take the keys from him and go to unlock the cell door. But just as I put the keys in, I'm hit by a powerful spell that sends me flying through the air and I slam into the wall opposite Dad. "Owww…"
"Zee!" Victorious shouts in worry just before a rock monster grabs her into its arms. The other one grabs Raven, and the two mages manage to trap Luna in a cage.
Aimeric chuckles as he slowly walks over and grabs his keys from the lock. "Come on, niece, you should know that these keys would only work for me. There's a powerful barrier of pure mana around the cell bars that only I control."
I groan and slowly sit up. "Gonna keep an eye on keys now," wait. Pause. The cell bars are coated by pure mana? Oh, you shouldn't have said anything, Uncle. "Gnirb hpmuirT dna nagirroM ot em."
The two then appear in front of me with a flash of blue light.
Triumph looks around in surprise for a bit before noticing our "friends". "Is that evil uncle?" He asks me, keeping an eye on Aimeric.
I notice that the fingers on one of his hands are gray with those same purple veins from earlier. How much power did you use?
"Yeah," I groan as Morrigan helps me up. "Thanks."
Aimeric studies the two. "And you are…?"
"I am that one's grandmother," Morrigan answers, pointing at Victorious, currently squeezed between two stone arms. "You'd be smart to let her go."
"And I'm that one's brother," Triumph adds. "Same thing she said."
Aimeric folds his arms, unimpressed. "Which one of you is the Anam user?"
"She is!" I quickly point at Morrigan.
A fight immediately breaks out between her and the three mages, letting me slump on Triumph's shoulder. "Prison bars are protected by pure mana, absorb it. I'll help your grandma. Laeh su."
I feel one of my ribs pop back into place (which I'll need to look into later) and watch as Dad gets up and hits the two rock monsters, forcing them to let go of Raven and Victorious. Victorious then immediately jumps on the back of one of the mages and hits him upside the face, shouting nonsense the entire time.
"Your sister's a wild card," I comment. I look next to me to see Triumph's already at the prison cell.
"Wow, uh, meeting in person. Cool," he shakes his head. "Now's not the time. Let's do this," his hands grab two bars, and they glow with a blue-green energy before getting sapped into Triumph's arms.
While he's fighting Morrigan, Aimeric finally notices. "No! You lied!"
"Yup," I reply, popping the 'p'. I then shoot some finger guns at him, and two mana bullets hit him in the shoulders, letting Morrigan knock him away with a conjured bowling ball.
"GOAL!" Morrigan shouts.
"It's "strike!" actually," Raven corrects.
"STRIKE!" Morrigan corrects.
Silver Bolt then runs through the chaos and grabs the cell door as Triumph steps away. He pulls again, and this time he tears the door off of its hinges, freeing Mom.
Triumph quickly runs in and picks up Mom and runs on the spot. "Okay, now we need to get out of here."
"Please tell me you planned an escape route," I ask in worry as Raven narrowly dodges some spikes.
Triumph scoffs. "Of course I did. In fact, they should be going off in three…two…"
Explosions go off, one after another and the fighting stops. Aimeric slowly puts Silver Bolt down and glares at Triumph. "You. What did you do, abomination?"
"Me? Oh, just planted some bombs here and there," he replies nonchalantly. "Don't worry, they only went off in the inner circles, and I made sure to stay away from residential districts."
If looks could kill, Triumph would've been dead. Again. Dammit, Zee, poor taste. But all in all, Aimeric looks livid.
He takes a deep breath and turns around. "Come, we need to make sure the inner rings are fine."
"B-but the prisoner," one of the guards stutters.
"Let her go," Aimeric says. "We'll get her back eventually."
The two mages share a glance before following after Aimeric. The three fly up the elevator shaft, leaving us in the bottom floor of the prison.
Mom sighs deeply, with a deeply sad look on her face. "Oh, Aimeric, always beholden to your duty."
"Hey, Abuela, that anchor spell you gave Zee, could it take us all to my place?" Triumph asks.
Morrigan nods. "I'll just need to increase its range."
With that, everyone stands around me. Morrigan then puts her hands on my shoulders, and I feel the anchor glow. "Abaeo Exorior."
A magenta dome appears around us, and we're teleported away from the Hidden City.
Seattle
Eric
The dome takes us back to my place and closes in on itself just above Zatanna. Everyone let's out breaths of relief and I drop down on the couch with Sindella. "I promise to never go anywhere on my own for the next year," I claim.
"That's a lie," Esmeralda snickers. She then frowns a little before sitting next to me. "Hey, Er? When you blew those Anam bombs up was that an act of terrorism?"
Everyone else's eyes widen as they share nervous glances.
I just chuckle and shake my head. "Nope. Those were blank bombs."
"Blank bombs?" Rachel asks after taking her hood down.
I nod. "Yeah, all the properties of a bomb except for the destruction. Great for distractions like earlier."
"What about that explosion from earlier?" Zatanna asks.
At that, I sheepishly chuckle and scratch the back of my head. "Yeah, that was me. Some mages had me cornered, they would've killed me, but I released all of my Anam in an explosion. Knocked them out, but I definitely left my mark on that city."
"Looks like we're both on the run then, huh?" Sindella chuckles.
Things get quiet when she finally speaks up. Zatanna and her dad look at her, tears welling in their eyes. Abuela and Esmeralda have little smiles on their faces and Rachel looks conflicted.
Esmeralda and I both get up at the same time. "Hey, I'm gonna take a shower," she tells me, already heading upstairs.
"Are you gonna use mine?" I ask in annoyance.
"Master bathroom's the best bathroom, duh," she counters, already up the stairs.
I sigh deeply and pinch the bridge of my nose before I see Morrigan and Nova (back in his natural form) at the door. "We're going for a walk. It's been some time since Nova and I have been together."
"And I will make the necessary repairs to my body," Silver Bolt says, his fingers gingerly touching the burnt circle in his torso.
I scratch the back of my head. "I guess I'll-"
"No, stay, Eric," Sindella interrupts.
"Staying."
Sindella then gets up and slowly walks towards Zatara. Once in front of him, she reaches up and wipes some of his tears away. "You were right, Giovanni, you do age like a fine wine."
Zatara cups her face with a smile, wiping away her tears in return. "As do you, Sindella."
The two kiss and after a few seconds Sindella pulls back and then goes to stand in front of Zatanna.
What light makeup she does wear is ruined by the tears streaming down her face. "Mama…" She then pulls Sindella into a tight hug and cries into her shoulder.
Sindella rubs circles on Zee's back and pats her head a little. "Oh, my Little Witch, not so little now, huh? Look at you, you're so beautiful, and you've got a handsome man to boot. When can I expect adorable grandchildren?"
Zatanna chuckles with a blush. "We'll see about that, Mama."
Sindella pulls back from the hug, kisses Zatanna on the forehead, and then stands in front of Rachel. "So, you're the new addition to the family. I'm Sindella, and you're Rachel, yes?" The girl nods mutely, not making eye contact. "Eric's told me a lot about you. He says you're one of the few Teen Titans he can trust to not accidentally lock themselves in a Javelin, whatever that means."
Rachel looks up at her in surprise before looking to me. "Jaime, Esme, and Damian are close seconds," I shrug.
"I- uh- yeah, that's me," Rachel whispers, rubbing her arm in nervousness.
Sindella sees this and pulls her into a hug, and Rachel slowly melts into it. "I'm happy to meet you, and excited to make new memories with you."
As Rachel mulls over the new future ahead of her, Sindella walks over to me and brings me into a very tight hug. Huh, a lot stronger than I expected for someone who's been imprisoned for ten years.
"And you, Eric, thank you for not listening to me," she says. "For getting me out of that hell and letting me live the rest of my days with my family. I can never repay you."
I hug her back with a smile. "No need to pay me back—someone was in trouble and I had to save them. Besides, what did I say? I always triumph."
She pulls back and stares at me blankly. As do Zee, Zatara, and Rachel. Wow, Sindella and Zee do look a lot alike.
"And you ruined the moment," Sindella sighs with a smile.
Zatanna stands at her mother's side, holding one of her arms. "It won't be the first time, Mom. These clothes are raggedy, come on, you can take a shower here, I have some clothes left over I can give you, we're about the same height so they should fit fine."
Zatanna leads her mom to the other upstairs bathroom. Rachel looks less uncomfortable and nods up the stairs. "Esmeralda's got a room here, right?" She asks. I nod. "I'm gonna go mess with it."
Zatara and I watch as she runs upstairs.
"Esme's rubbing off on her," I sigh.
Zatara laughs, it's a loud one I've never heard before. "Right you are, Eric. A few days ago, she rearranged all of Zatanna's books. Zee's in for a surprise when she comes home."
I smirk. "This I wanna see."
Zatanna hates when her books aren't in order. Once when we had a meditation session, I put one book ahead of another because I was tired, and she nearly tore my head off. With how loud she was screaming at me I also went deaf for nearly an hour. That was fun.
Zatara sighs and puts his hands on my shoulders, catching my attention. He then pulls me into a hug and slaps my back a few times. "Thank you, Eric. You've done so much for my family, and I can never thank you enough."
"Heh, it's no problem, Giovanni," I reply. "I alwa-"
"Don't ruin the moment," he interrupts.
I pull out of the hug with a slight glare before deactivating my armor. "No one ever lets me have fun."
Zatara shakes his head in amusement. "Eric, you don't let you have fun. Let loose a little, enjoy life. I know I will."
I flop down on the couch and stare up at the ceiling.
Let loose a little, huh?
Screw it, why not?
But tomorrow, I'm really tired right now.
And with a deep breath, I fall asleep.
And that's the end of the mini Sindella Rescue Arc! It was a journey to write this chapter, but once I got to the prison words just wrote themselves, ya know?
And as you've obviously guessed it, this won't be the last time we see the Hidden City or Aimeric. Speaking of that evil uncle, he was originally gonna be Sindella's ex-lover, who she had left for Giovanni, but as I was writing he became her brother somehow, and now I have an idea about how to play with that in the future.
Now we're nearing the end of season one! The next three chapters will be Wake the Dead then the Once and Future Thing chapters. And as I've said before, I'm really excited for part two of Once and Future Thing, you won't expect it at all.
Well, that's all from me. If you have any questions or want to leave a constructive review you know where to leave 'em! Remember to stay awesome and see you next time you beautiful people!
