Prologue - Part 2
- - - January 2nd 2010 - - -
„Alivio!"
Her eyes were already open, but vision returned slowly.
There was dust in her mouth.
Mary coughed dryly, trying to swallow, ringing for air.
"Retaw", someone said near her. The same voice as before?
She was handed a glass of water.
Gulping down the content greedily, she began to take in her surroundings.
No lizards. No wreckage. A clean white room filled with people.
A man in a black dress suit and a top hat was standing in front of her, he had given her water.
Behind him stood a black-haired woman in a rather revealing red dress. Her arms were bare, the sultry garment hugged her thin waste and ample curves tightly.
To her left, Mary saw a man in a black and green uniform, wearing a green mask across his eyes. She instinctively classified him as some kind of military commander.
On the other side of the room loomed a tall, dark figure. A man in black armor and a cape, his face hidden by a cowl with – were those pointy ears?
Next to him sat a boy in brightly colored costume and another face mask, leaning on one of several wooden desk with white, rectangular devices on them. Fading in the background behind him stood an elderly servant, his face hidden by yet another dark mask.
They were all looking at her, expectantly.
"I believe I was sent here to report an attack", she stated hoarsely. This could only be the golden knight's doing.
Both the red-dressed woman and the green-clad officer quickly glanced at the man in the black cape, marking him as the one in charge.
"Report", he growled.
"A missile hit the central library..." She named the full address. "No detonation, but a biological weapon. Brown, four-legged creatures, at least three dozen dropped in by a single missile. Lizard-like appearance, shoulder height about three feet, lethal. Able to bite through solid oak planks. They killed the librarian. Caused structural damage to the building. I think it was about to collapse. Most civilians got out, heading for the air raid shelters."
The uniformed commander interrupted her. "Did they have tails? Horns?"
An American accent. What kind of regiment was this? Why were they all wearing masks?
"Long tails, pointy snouts, no horns."
"Folded wings?"
"No sir, none that I saw."
"Just checking." He turned to face his companions. "A Dr'uk spawning pod. They devour anything organic. But we've been at peace with the Dr'uk hives for decades..."
At peace?
"There are no current signs of an attack at that library, or any signs of alien activity at all in Great Britain", the boy chimed in from behind his desk. His accent sounded American too.
Had she somehow left England? Mary noticed that she was not wearing her plaited skirt and blouse anymore, she was dressed in a long dress made of some strange blue fabric. A second piece of the same fabric was draped around her shoulders. She pulled it closer around her.
"Who sent you?", the woman in red addressed her. She was the only one in the room beside Mary who did not hide her face.
"A single soldier, wearing a golden helmet. Blue uniform, golden cape and belt. He was… flying. And creating some kind of golden light shields? He saved one of the students ... at least that's what I hope."
"Doctor Fate", the man in the top hat murmured.
"State the exact time and date of the attack", the black-clad man ordered.
Everyone turned at her expectantly.
"First of June 1942, a few minutes past noon", she answered.
Silence filled the room.
"Air raid shelters", the man with the top hat murmured, shaking his head slowly. "Oh dear."
The one with the black cape frowned. "Baedecker raids", he grumbled.
"There might still be a Lantern record of that incident", the man in the green uniform stated. He went to join the boy at one of the desks, moving his fingers across a flat device. "Let's see what went on there. Yes, a Dr'uk invasion. Doctor Fate arrived in time to contain the affected building with some kind of light dome. The Dr'uk consumed all available organic material within, and then each other."
"Are they sapient beings?", the black-haired woman asked. She sounded concerned.
"Not at their early life stage. The first generations only act on animal instincts: Feeding and reproducing. The hive mind units only hatch when the swarm has reached a size of one or two thousand individuals. They control the soldier units, and can be rather intelligent. Apparently, Doctor Fate's shield dome did not contain enough organic material for them to begin their first reproductive cycle."
He fell silent, reading further parts of the report. Then he looked up again.
"The record names two causalities. You mentioned a librarian?"
"Yes, sir. His name was Mr Perrington, Sir."
He nodded affirmatively.
"Who is the other?", she forced herself to ask.
Please don't let it be Jonny.
"A certain Mary Susan Baker", he answered.
"Ah." She swallowed hard. "That would be me."
Mary looked around at the strange, masked faces around her.
"Please, would anybody be so kind as to tell me how much I missed?"
Robin watched the young British girl intently. Alfred had led her to a chair when her legs began to tremble. Diana was kneeling at her side now, gently stroking her arm. All in all, was taking the shock surprisingly well.
"Sixty-seven years and a half…"
Hal closed his Green Lantern records and stood up, facing Zatara. "What exactly did Doctor Fate do to her?"
"Some very old magic, if my theory is correct." The magician turned towards the sitting girl. "Please, Ms Baker, what is the last thing you remember? Did Doctor Fate – the golden knight – say anything to you?"
"He did, in fact. It sounded like … Medura?"
The transformation was instantaneous.
Robin starred blankly at the stone sculpture that had been Mary Jane Baker just seconds ago.
"Astonishing", Zatara whispered. "Would anybody else be so kind to say the restoration spell? I would like to know if it works for a non-magic user. Batman? Robin?"
The young boy startled. "The one you said earlier? Alivio?"
Mary opened her eyes.
"Now that felt strange", she mumbled.
Mary had not even noticed that the masked servant had left the room, hence she was slightly startled when he re-appeared at her side. Yet when she saw the small tea tray he was carrying in his right hand, she could not help but to smile.
"Do you take sugar, Ms Baker?"
She noticed his faint British accent, and her smile broadened considerably.
"The future can't be too bad, if there is still good English tea in it", she mused.
"Quite so, Ms Baker."
Mary carefully received her teacup and saucer. A high-quality Assam. Probably not rationed anymore.
She took a deep breath, steeling herself for the next question.
"So, how did the war go?"
It must have ended eventually, right? Or was this strange secret meeting still part of the fight, an escalated battle with masks and capes and magic and a technology capable of checking the entirety of Great Britain for 'signs of alien activity' within mere seconds…
The British servant touched her shoulder reassuringly. "The allied forces of Britain, France, Russia and the United States of America won the Second World War against the axis forces. Berlin fell in 1945."
She breathed a deep sigh of relief. Still, three more terrible years…
"And was there a third one?" Her deep concern must have been clearly written on her face.
"No, Ms Baker. There were other wars, but none as large, and most of them far from Europe. There have been no more bombs dropped on England since those terrible days you remember."
"Thank God."
Following a silent command from his mentor, Robin escorted Mary and Alfred into one of the adjacent meeting rooms of the old Wayne Tech building where they'd woken her. After a round of introductions, Mary had retold her story in detail. A young army nurse in training, stranded in the 21st century – what would become of her here? The members of the Justice League wanted to discuss their options in private.
While Mary settled down on one of the many swiveling office chairs, Robin took a moment to look at her more closely. She was five years older and at a least a full head taller than him, with brown hair, green-brown eyes, and a little snub nose. She didn't weigh much for her size, and her cheeks seemed just a bit too hollow – but who would be surprised by that, knowing her past?
"So, you're a time traveler then?", he broke the silence.
"Everybody travels through time, don't they?" Mary paused for a second. "They didn't come up with a way to go back though, did they?"
"Nope, sorry, that's still pretty much impossible." Except for whatever the Flash had been doing that one time… Best not dwell on that though, don't get her hopes up.
"There are a lot of great inventions though! You have to check out the internet some day." He laughed brightly.
"Why not?" He could tell that her mind was elsewhere.
Alfred gently took her hand. "Do you hope to still find any relatives in our time? This internet Robin mentions does offer a lot of possibilities in that regard."
Robin's mood sank as he began to realize the gravity of her situation. Most people she knew were most certainly dead. She had lost her entire family, all at once.
Now, didn't that sound familiar…
"I never knew my father. My mother died when I was seven, giving birth to my half-brother Andrew. His father, my step-dad, was in the army and didn't write often, so the two of us grew up with my Grampa Charlie. Little Andrew was barely eleven when I disappeared... He wouldn't remember me, would he? If he survived the war at all, he'd be seventy-eight today… People rarely get that old, do they?"
"You will find that some things have improved since the old days", Alfred responded.
Mary shook her head again. "No, I don't want to get my hopes up, Agent A."
Robin only remembered a handful of occasions where Alfred Pennyweather had ever used that code name. He usually refused to don his mask if not absolutely necessary. Robin was secretly glad his elderly friend was not putting himself in harms way as often as Batman and he did.
Yet Gotham was dangerous enough even for unmasked citizens, as recent events had shown. Last month, Alfred had been badly wounded when the Joker crashed a 'boring' science conference sponsored by Wayne Tech.
Alfred had just gotten out of hospital a week ago. The Joker would stay at Arkham Asylum for far longer than that. Batman had not been amused.
Anyway, Alfred had been present at the gala yesterday evening when J'onn informed Batman and Diana that one of the exhibition's statues was alive. Apparently, he had taken a personal interest in the topic. When Zatara had arrived today and announced that he might know how to revive the girl, Alfred had respectfully requested Batman's permission to attend as well – in his 'Agent A' persona.
"You may not know or trust them yet, but the members of the Justice League will certainly assist you in this peculiar situation", Alfred informed the British girl. "They do see it as their mission to help people."
"Oh, I have every reason to trust them", Mary replied lightly.
"Really?", Robin cut in.
"Well, besides being grateful to them for bringing me back to life in the first place… From what I understand, it would take just a single word from either one of them – one of you – to ensure rather reliably that I did not overhear any of their top-secret discussions. Yet instead of using that spell's power over me, they allow me to sit here and enjoy my tea with you two. I am inclined to feel optimistic about that." She smiled weakly.
Robin nodded solemnly. She was right. The petrification spell that Doctor Fate had used to save her posed a great vulnerability to her. Anyone who knew the trigger word could incapacitate her instantaneously and effortlessly.
It occurred to him that this 'very old magic' had most probably not been originally intended as a life saving instrument.
"It would be interesting to know just how easily your petrification is triggered", he mused.
"What do you mean?"
"For instance, does it work if you just read that word? Or if you remember someone saying it?"
Alfred rebuked him firmly: "You won't abuse our guest for such experiments."
"Thank you, sir", Mary murmured.
She took another sip of her tea in silence. Then she squared her shoulders.
"I fear that Mr Robin is right though. I do wish to know how liable I am to the effects of this spell. Or do you suppose that your colleagues will find a way to remove it?"
Robin shook his head. "Zatara said that it is a permanent enchantment. If he has not heard of a counter-spell, we must assume that there is none. And Doctor Fate had a very powerful vessel – I mean, he was one of the strongest magicians on Earth in your time, so breaking the enchantment by magical force alone is probably impossible."
"In that case… Do you promise that you will always turn me back?"
He was aware of the gravity of this plea, of the trust she had to place in him.
He met her eyes firmly.
"I promise."
She sighed, then nodded. "Alright, let's start with the obvious. M – E – D – U – R – A… Good. That didn't affect me."
Robin took out a slim notebook and a pen from one of his belt pockets.
Spelling single letters: no effect.
"How about I write it down, and you read it?"
Medura
"No, I think it has to be a voice."
Reading: no effect.
"Can you concentrate on a memory of someone saying it?" It would be useful if she could trigger the transformation in an emergency without giving away the code word to the enemy.
Robin realized he was picturing her joining a crime fighting mission. Not a likely scenario.
Mary closed her eyes.
"Not quite. But when I try to focus on that first time, when the golden knight put his spell on me… It tingles?"
Memories: No immediate effect, but strange feeling. (Maybe consult Martian Manhunter?)
"Martian Manhunter? Who is that?"
"Let's say he is an empirical expert at cognitive science. He was the one who realized that you were still alive, even though your brain had been completely petrified. I've got no idea how he did that."
"Well, I'm glad he did."
"What about taking a pause in between the syllables?"
"Me … Du …. Ra."
Mary turned to stone as soon as she voiced the last vowel.
Pauses between syllables: petrification.
"Alivio", he said.
"Thank you." She blinked. "That was interesting. I heard you say 'alivio', so my mind must have woken up immediately – even before you finished saying the word? But it seems to take a second or two before my whole body comes back to life again."
"Let's see if there is a time limit for the individual syllables. Just say 'Me', and then wait for a minute. And we should probably ask Zatara if he knows how it works that you can hear anything at all when even your ear drums are petrified..."
Alfred stood up to make another pot of tea.
In the adjacent meeting room, J'onn slowly faded into view.
Diana's head whipped around towards him. He could sense her irritation. "Have you been here the whole time?"
"Yes", he stated calmly.
"At Batman's orders, I presume?"
"Indeed."
The Dark Knight nodded. "Did she say the truth?"
Diana laughed out loud. "You think that girl just made that up? Being petrified by a mystical magician during an alien attack in the 1940s? Wouldn't she have come up with a more believable story?"
Bruce frowned. "If you found a man behind prison bars, princess, wouldn't he be sure to make up any tale to explain his innocence and the strange circumstances that had happened to trap him there?"
"What are you talking about?", Diana snapped at him.
Batman just gestured at Zatara. The magician cleared his throat when he suddenly felt the Amazon's glare redirected towards him.
"The Medura curse is a first-level prison spell", Zatara explained. "One of the most effective magical means to incapacitate an enemy."
And of course Batman had known this, J'onn though. He was well aware that his friend kept meticulous records of all potential vulnerabilities of the Justice League members. With enough magic behind it, a first-level petrification curse might be able to detain even a rampageous Superman.
Just another contingency plan, should the most powerful man on Earth suddenly snap.
Although Zatara had said earlier that it was a permanent enchantment, and Superman had extremely good hearing. Surely Bruce wouldn't seriously consider to subject his best friend to such a permanent liability?
What if the only alternative was a Kryptonite bullet?
Sometimes J'onn regretted knowing Bruce so well.
"The girl was not lying", he offered.
Sensing the Dark Knight's skepticism, J'onn chose to elaborate: "She remembers her story just as she has told it to us, and I did not detect any signs of false or fabricated memories. The incident matches the Green Lantern records. Do you have any reason to believe that her statue was placed at the exhibition by any outside forces, with the intent that we should find and awaken her?"
"None so far", he conceded. "The statue had been exhibited at several smaller art galleries in the US over the last two decades. Before that, it stood in a small open-air sculpture park in southern England, as part of a fountain installation. As far as I could trace it back, it was really found in the ruins of said library shortly after the war."
"She", Diana corrected. "She was found there."
Sixty-seven years as a statue. J'onn was very grateful that the girl had not been conscious during all that time. Just standing there, unseeing, unhearing, not even able to breath...
Hal frowned. "If that spell is so powerful, why have we never used it? I mean, only against top-tier villains, of course?"
"Casting it required an ancient artifact, which bore several other extremely dangerous powers", Zatara explained. "I do not know how exactly it came into Doctor Fate's possession in the 1930s. In any case, certain events at the end of the second World War convinced him that mankind could not be trusted with such a powerful weapon."
The other League members nodded in understanding.
"Hence he chose to destroy the artifact once and for all", Zatara concluded.
"As far as we know", Batman grumbled.
Hal turned to face the Dark Knight. "Now, assuming that the girl is not a dangerous villain infiltrating our ranks under false pretenses, what do we do with her?"
"What does she want to do?", Diana asked.
"What do you want to try next?", Robin asked Mary.
The notebook page in front of him was already covered in scribbles.
Person A says ME DU and person B says RA: petrification.
Person A says ME DU – person B says something else – person A says RA: no effect.
= Spell can be interrupted!
Mary says ME DU – other person says something else – Mary says RA: petrification
= Interesting! Mary can't be interrupted?
Mary says ME DU – something else – RA: no effect.
= Mary can interrupt herself
Recorded voice says MEDURA: petrification
Recorded voice says MEDURA while other person says something else: petrification
(only if Mary concentrates on the record? Maybe more tests later)
Recorded voice says ALIVIO: turns her back
=Potential safety mechanism? Get her an earphone that repeats the word every few minutes?
(will explain earphones later)
Reverse spelling (ARUDEM): no effect (for non-magic users)
Saying words with the same letters (game duration): no effect (pronunciation matters?)
Alfred glanced at the last remark. "Have you tried different languages?"
"I only speak a bit of French", Mary replied. "How does that matter?"
Robin frowned. "Spanish might be a problem. Oh, and Italian is even worse. Let's see: Stare con me durante la notte?"
It still startled him, the way her eyes suddenly went dull.
"Alivio."
Words sounding similar (… me durante…): petrification.
= Big trouble.
"Are there many Italians living outside of Italy?", Mary asked, her voice quivering only slightly.
"More than three million", he replied. "And some colloquial Spanish terms might pose the same problem. I'm sorry."
"I really don't want to spend another few decades as a stone statue."
Alfred poured her another cup of tea.
For a while, they just sat together in silence.
Finally, Mary spoke again: "Is magic common here in this time? Are there many people who are… cursed?"
"No", Robin answered. "Magic is very uncommon. In fact, all the powers of the meta-human Justice League members are quite special, and extremely rare. Most people don't believe in magic at all, pretending it's just some kind of highly advanced technology. They are also still getting used to the idea that aliens exist, although Superman and Martian Manhunter have been around for a while now..."
"Please, if you don't mind, would you tell me more about this Justice League? I would like to know them a bit better."
Robin gladly obliged.
"We don't really know anything about her, do we?", Zatara asked calmly.
Diana disagreed. "She is a strong young woman. Did you not hear her story? There was an alien invasion at that library, but she faced the intruders and tried to protect those kids. You can tell that she has seen a fair share of the war in her time. She has courage."
J'onn was not surprised that the Amazon related so strongly to the young lady. Wonder Woman knew well what it meant to be thrown into this new world with its strange customs, cultures and technologies. J'onn himself had shared that experience when he first arrived on Earth.
"She did give us a pretty good report, right when we woke her", Hal added. "That's quite a feat, given the way she must have seen us – a bunch of weirdly dressed people in masks..." He laughed. "She isn't easily fazed by strangers, I'll give her that."
"She was very concerned for those children in the library", J'onn added. "Especially when you mentioned the two causalities. She was actually relieved to hear her own name."
Hal and Diana nodded approvingly.
J'onn glanced at Bruce. His friend's face looked as impassive as ever, yet his sharp mind was bustling with activity. J'onn could guess what he was thinking: In Batman's eyes, the girl had potential. No strings attached, no current commitments, no complicated relations to anybody who was still alive. They could be practically certain that she had never been manipulated by any of today's villains – most of them had not even been born when she last talked to another living being, except for a few notable exceptions like Ra's al Ghul and Vandal Savage. She was eighteen, legally an adult, several years older than Robin, Kid Flash or even Aqualad. She had no secret identity that had to be protected. And she was permanently enchanted with a spell that could save her from almost any direct attack. A spell that could also be used to control her, should she ever become disloyal to whatever cause he had in mind for her.
"She is not a crime fighter", J'onn clarified, locking eyes with Bruce. "She did not battle the Dr'uk, she just wanted to save those children."
"What else did you notice?", Diana asked him.
J'onn took a moment to reflect on that.
"She was scared when she asked about the war. When she was told it had ended in 1945, she was glad about the outcome, but sorrowful to hear of three more years of fighting. She was almost certain that there must have been other conflicts in those decades she had missed. I think she did not dare to hope otherwise. When she learned about the long-lasting peace in Europe, there was a lot of relieve – and something new. Optimism? I think some part of her is glad to be here. In the future, as she still thinks of it."
Mary leaned back in her chair, trying to process what she had heard and learned.
She could not go back. She had skipped sixty-seven years into the future, and now she had to deal with it.
Her step-dad, her friends and Henry were all certainly dead by now. She knew nobody on Earth who would remember her, except maybe her old little brother Andrew.
Her life had been turned upside down – once again.
She should be used to that by now.
Hadn't she felt just as lost when she had left home for the big city at fourteen, to begin her work as a maid in central London? Hadn't her life been uprooted again two years later, when the street lay in rubble? She had been lucky then to find that training post at the voluntary hospital that had become her home for the past two years.
Maybe she would be lucky again.
There were no more bombs falling on Britain. No more mutilated air raid victims suffering on far too few beds in English hospitals.
There were aliens now, and magic, and powerful people fighting crime while wearing masks.
And she could turn into stone.
It could be a protection. It had saved her life against those brown-skinned spawning pod creatures. She could turn to stone whenever she was in danger.
She could not turn back on her own accord.
The spell that transformed her was a ridiculously easy combination of three simple syllables that she might just happen to overhear in an Italian or Spanish conversation.
If she left, and turned to stone somewhere, who could guarantee that she would ever wake up again?
Anyone who knew the petrifying word could use it against her. She was entirely in their power.
As long as her ears still worked.
The spell seemed to be centered around hearing. If worst came to worst, being deaf and free might be her last resort. Although – if she lost her sense of hearing, would that mean she could also never ever wake up again, if somebody did manage to petrify her after all?
She chose to discard that idea.
The people who woke her, the Justice League of America, they knew about the spell. Her fate was in their hands.
Yet at least the masked boy – Robin – had reliably turned her back alive several times by now.
She had occasionally glanced at the clock on the wall beside her while they were performing their experiments, to ensure he had not left her in her petrified state longer than a few moments.
He had not, as far as she could tell. It was still only half past noon.
Although of course he could have easily changed the clock.
She had to trust him.
And she did. For some reason, she did trust him, as well as the injured butler, Agent A, who had grown up in England after the war. They had both shown her kindness.
Did she trust the rest of this Justice League? Neither Robin nor Agent A were actual members.
The one with the funny black ears was Batman, and not officially the leader of the team. Agent A worked for him as a servant, and Robin was his 'sidekick', although he told her that he did not like this term. It meant the man dressed like a bat was his mentor, training him to be his assistant and perhaps one day to succeed him.
The lady in the indecent dressed was actually royalty, known as Wonder Woman, a warrior princess from a mystical island of Amazons. Robin had looked at Mary incredulously when she had asked if all women wore such revealing garments nowadays.
'But that's her ambassador's outfit, you haven't even seen her uniform yet!'
Many things were different, here in the future.
The one in the top hat was called Zatara, a powerful magician. He was the one who had figured out how to turn her back to life.
The soldier with the green mask was known as Green Lantern, a member of a special task force that struggled for peace in the galaxy, dealing with extraterrestrial beings on a regular basis.
Robin had mentioned that even normal humans had flown to the moon in a type of plane called a rocket ship. Without magic. He had seemed disappointed at her lack of reaction.
She had simply accepted that pretty much everything was possible today.
Two extraterrestrial beings were also members of the Justice League, one from Mars and one from a far-off planet called Krypton that did not exist anymore.
Then there were two hawks, and a very fast man, and a very strong man who could fly (but who was probably not an alien like the other two), and an archer, and a woman with a dangerous voice, a second Green Lantern, a man who was apparently made entirely of energy, and – on top of all that – the mereman king of Atlantis.
No, she would not even try to process that today.
But she had understood that at least two of these League members, the Lanterns, went on regular missions to other worlds, in order to keep peace in the galaxy. And they had forged a peace treaty with the extraterrestrial hive mind leaders of those brown-skinned creatures that had attacked her and her students, preventing them from ever trying to invade the Earth again.
That should be enough, shouldn't it?
"Agent A, I would like to ask you for a job."
In the adjacent room, J'onn could not contain a burst of laughter.
Everybody stared at him incredulously. He was not know for strong displays of emotion.
"What happened?", Diana asked.
"The link with Robin...", he was still chuckling.
Diana glared at Bruce. "You told him to listen in on their conversation?"
"With Robin's permission", J'onn clarified.
"What happened?", Bruce demanded to know.
J'onn smiled at Diana. "You reminded us earlier that we should ask what Mary herself wants to do with her future."
He turned to face Bruce.
"She just asked your butler to become his sidekick."
Author's note:
Dear readers, welcome to my very first fanfic! This story is actually complete already, so don't worry about any writing delays. It will span a bit more than forty chapters, I will be uploading them in rather quick succession. Don't worry, it's not really a OC-centered story - after a few chapters focussing on Mary (and Alfred and Robin), we will quickly catch up with the rest of the team.
Did she make a good first impression, though? Please let me know what you think! Reviews are highly appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or the Justice League.