The journey of a Servant-Vampire into another 2wei dimension: Young Justice, Lady Mystery and Gray.
Chapter 3: We march towards Cadmus.
Present, not even a second from the exit of Arsenal.
"Are we interrupting something?" Lady Mystery said with a strong Romanian accent.
The Justice League is trying to recruit foreign superheroes to erase the idea of American supremacy. Above all, the hypothesis that in times of war the Justice League will only help the SUA as it is largely composed of Americans.
All eyes turned to the masked girl and the relaxed old man beside her.
"Is this a bad time?" Kent asked smiling, slightly amused by the situation.
'Teacher, I hope you know how to handle this awkward situation, talking is not my strong point.' He thought
For a moment, no one spoke. Robin finally cleared his throat.
"Sooo is anyone else worried that three strangers just walked into the Hall? Or are we ignoring it for now?" Robin asked, pointing to the three mysterious people who just entered the Hall through a secret door.
"They are not strangers. At least, not one of them." Batman said, approaching Kent, but not before observing the other two.
'Girl 15 years old, of English origin judging by the visual traits. Her body language extremely says she is newbie and doesn't want to be here, besides being socially embarrassed. For the moment it is not a danger.
His partner is the opposite, woman, age unknown, the costume hides any clue of his true identity.
At first glance I can venture that it is of European origin and was inspired by Norse mythology for its armor.
Self-confident, with the air of being able to command or challenge anyone in the room. Arrogance or full confidence in his abilities?
Technology brand ... unknown?
You are a potential threat, I have to investigate once I get back to the batcave. ' Batman thought, trying to get an idea of Lady Mystery and Gray.
"Do you like what you see bat?" Lady Mystery joked, making fun of the dark detective he got caught.
"It's good to see you again, Batman." The last time I saw you was the Etrigan affair in '97 or was it in '98? The memory is not as good as it used to be. "Kent said, remembering the old days.
"Kent" greeted Batman with a nod.
"Who is she ?" Batman said, nodding to Anastasia.
"Talking about someone standing by your side as if they didn't exist is rude." Lady Mystery said, not liking being ignored and put aside.
"Who are you," Batman said, addressing Lady Mystery directly.
"What can I be but a mysterious woman." Lady Mystery said, mocking Batman, telling him her heroine name in the form of a riddle.
'Great, a woman with attitude.' Batman thought, already knowing that he will have problems with this Valkyria of Ice.
"The girl in armor is named Lady Mystery, a prodigy witch with an unusual passion for science and shimmering armor.
A little problematic as far as authority is concerned, but incredibly talented in magic. He'll probably take Doctor Fate's cloak someday. "Kent said, making the introductions, remembering that Batman isn't the most patient person in the world.
"Again, I don't want the helmet of fate, sharing my body with a weird entity is not something I want to do." Lady Mystery said, not wanting to gain a third overhead entry.
'I already shared my body and mind with an AI of alien origin and a conceptual symbiont. Adding a gentleman to the order will take me to the asylum. ' Thought the half-vampire disguised as a witch / Valkyria.
"I was hoping you or one of the members of the Justice League could show her how heroes do things around here.
She's good with the paranormal and magical problems, but not experienced in dealing with humans. "Kent explained, doing his part of the deal, giving Anastasia a good resume.
"I don't know how to deal with human beings? For six months, the Tokyo criminals have been hiding and trembling with fear at my sight." Lady Mystery said, not wanting to sound like a beginner she decided to throw a clue to the Justice League.
So the heroes will search where Lady Mystery wants. They will be so focused on Tokyo that they will not go to places where its behavior has not been exemplary.
"The other girl, the hooded one who is she?" Asked Batman, seeing the weak link in the chain he decided to hit her to see if he can get more information.
"She is Gray, my disciple, that's all you need to know Dark Knight of Gotham." Lady Mystery said by not letting Batman do anything to Gray.
"Aren't you a little young to teach someone?" Batman said, he doesn't know the actual age of Lady Mystery, but he understands that Gray is his first student and from how he acts towards her it doesn't have to be a big age difference.
"You're not that old to dress up as a bat and act like an emo." She counterattacked Lady Mystery, ready to start a long discussion with the bat.
Batman opened his mouth to answer, but the flashing lights on the nearby computer interrupted him.
The screen flashed, revealing Captain Atom on the other side.
"Captain Atom at the Justice League. There was an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."
"Let's talk later. I've had my suspicions about Cadmus, this might be the perfect opportunity to ..." Batman was interrupted by a second transmission.
"Zatara to Justice League: Wo-Tan the Sorcerer uses Amulet of Abin to obliterate the sun!" Zatara said while broadcasting yet another crisis for the end of the world.
"Captain Atom?" Batman asked.
"It's a small fire. Local authorities are in control." Batman responded, focusing on the greater threat.
"Then Cadmus can wait.
All members of the Justice League meet at the coordinates of Zatara. Batman out. "With these words, the adult heroes began to stick out, but Batman turned to the young heroes.
"Stay here," the Dark Knight ordered.
"Because?" Robin said looking angry, before the superman said:
"Because it is a fundamental championship mission that requires a full response in the championship and you are not yet trained to manage a mission of that caliber, don't worry one day after training properly, you will be ready for it." Black Canary said.
Hearing these words almost all the young heroes except Albedo and Lady Mystery, have lowered their heads, slightly depressed, that their mentors are underestimating them or looking down on them.
"You're not trained ..." Wonder Woman said.
"Since when?" Wonder Girl asked.
"You are not trained to be on this team, that's what I meant." Wonder Woman replied.
"There will be more missions when you are ready," promised Flash.
"In the meantime, stay here." Batman said as he exited the room, followed by his companions.
"I'm glad he didn't bring you ... you know who?" Green Arrow asked softly.
"Indeed," Martian Manhunter replied as he joined the others.
Red Tornado took one last look at the young heroes before all Zetas left, leaving Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Albedo, Kent, and Lady Mystery alone in the room.
Recognized: Superman 0-1, Batman 0-2, Wonder Woman 0-3, Flash 0-4, Aquaman 0-6, Martian Manhunter 0-7, Green Arrow 0-8, Black Canary 1-3, Red Tornado 1- 6.
With that, the eight of them were left, the silence did not last long.
Supergirl let out a groan of frustration.
"And I was thinking my cousin trusted me unconditionally, but he didn't lie to me about any of this." Superman's cousin said, putting her head in her hands.
Robin also seems pissed that the bat doesn't trust his abilities.
"My king ... my mate, I thought he trusted me." Aqualad said, looking betrayed.
"Trust, they don't even trust us with the basics, like knowing their space HQ." Robin said angrily, before turning to Albedo who remained calm.
"Why are you so calm, Albedo, you are not angry!" Wonder Girl exclaimed.
"I don't think I'm currently capable of protecting the whole world, I've been in this job for less than a year. I can manage Paris, but not global crises." Albedo said, showing that she is not so confident in her abilities. He can help his cousin in immensely complicated matters involving aliens or magic.
But on the other hand they just don't face big-caliber problems, the Paris supervillains are quite lacking in the force and danger department.
"What else are they not telling us?" Kid Flash said in frustration.
"I have a better question. Who are you three," Robin said, pointing to Kent, Anastasia and Gray again.
"Oh, I'm just an old coot who used to work here. I think you should worry about Lady Mystery and Gray." He advised Kent, pointing to the girl in advanced Valkyria-like armor and her hooded friend dressed in gray.
"Hi ... how are things going?" Gray said, greeting the group of young heroes, trying to be social for once.
"You didn't seriously ask, did you?" Kid Flash said, shoulders sagging.
"What are you, deaf ?. Here's a better question: why are you here ?!" Kid Flash said, leaving his frustration on Gray.
The descendant of King Arthur took a step back and approaches her teacher, they seem to the eyes of the older heroes a shy little girl hiding behind her mother or something.
Kid Flash seeing that his reaction was excessive, scaring the hooded girl a bit and decided to apologize.
Too bad Mama Bear was faster than Kid Flash's mouth.
Before anyone could do anyone, a trail of ice left Lady Mystery, heading straight for Kid Flash, freezing her legs.
Then three cracks appeared in midair around Kid Flash, three mechanical arms came out of the slots to grab Kid Flash.
Two huge arms pinned Kid Flash's upper limbs, while a thinner, more feminine third arm grabs Kid Flash's throat.
"Raise your voice again with Gray, and I promise you he froze you, then I'll break your frozen legs into a thousand pieces or if you wish I order my dolls to break you into eight parts." He threatened, Lady Mystery, walking towards Kid Flash with his arms folded behind his back.
"I understand, I'm impulsive and stupid, sorry, a thousand excuses." Kid Flash said, slightly ... very scared of Lady Mystery.
"For now I forgive you, but next time I'll break you, y'know, Kid idiot (stupid)" said Lady Mystery, turning and walking to the Justice League computer.
Without moving or saying anything, the ice that covered Kid Flash's bottom half melted into the water, and the mechanical arms went back where they came from.
The room returned in silence, the young heroes exchanged glances to decide who should speak with Lady Mystery.
The winner of this contest is ... Acqualad, who unwillingly approached Lady Mystery to speak.
"I know Kid Flash shouldn't be shouting at your… friend, but you might leave it seems like an overkill method of getting an apology." Acqualad said, not knowing much about Lady Mystery's personality. He decided to be discreet and stopped.
"Maybe you're right, I'm too used to freezing idiots to make him talk and understand who's in charge." The vampire disguised as a witch answered, turning to Acqualad.
"I am Lady Mystery and my disciple is called Gray." Lady Mystery said, extending her hand to Acqualad.
"I'm Acqualad, my company are Robin, Kid Flash, Supergirl, Wonder Girl and Albedo." Acqualad said, shaking Lady Mystery's hand.
"I admit you are a colorful group and some of you show that you have slightly above average intellect.
So he asked me why all of you, except Albedo, have a badly known desire to die, especially you, Kid Flash. "Lady Mystery said, thus earning a glare from all the young heroes except Albedo.
The heroine of Paris was not in the least affected by Lady Mystery's harsh words.
'I understand what she meant with Lady Mystery she can't deal with people.' Albedo thought, realizing that he is about to meet another tactless, antisocial magical person.
" What do you mean !" Wonder Girl said, angry, feeling offended as a warrior by Lady Mystery's words.
If Albedo is the more mature, calm and patient woman, Wonder Girl is her opposite, the younger, more impulsive girl, ready to fight.
"Teacher, please try to explain what you mean, without pissing anyone off." Gray said, not feeling comfortable with strangers and possible superhero laughter.
"To put it simply, the odds of all of you returning from a mission that requires all members of the Justice League to be present are zero." Lady Mystery said, gained the full attention of the young heroes.
" Explain yourself ?" Supergirl asked, wanting to know Lady Mystery's reasoning.
"A problem so big that they need the entire Justice League. It's easy to imagine how dangerous it is, if that amulet can obliterate the sun, what else do you think it could do ?.
Supergirl and Wonder Girl are bulletproof, but they are not magic-proof, neither of you have any resistance to the paranormal.
Except Albedo and perhaps Acqualad, your magical aura should give you a slight advantage against magical enemies. "Lady Mystery said, bringing valid arguments.
The younger heroes began to think and reason, soon they realize the truth of Anastasia's words.
"Thinking rationally, you have met and fought each other a couple of times before.
The Justice League can't rely on inexperienced members, who don't know how to work on a team.
With something as important as world security, you will be in the way, a shovel in the foot, what a help. "Lady Mystery said, telling the harsh truth.
Once her speech was over, Lady Mystery went back to work on the Justice League computer.
"It takes too long, I have to speed up the process." Lady Mystery said, placing her hand on top of the computer, ready to use her magic.
"Hacking reality: Code veritatis" said Lady Mystery, a small magic circle appeared in front of her hand from which tentacles of runes and numbers came out, which entered the computer.
"What are you doing?" Supergirl asked, crossing her arms, giving her a confused look.
"Are those Runes combined with computer codes?" Albedo asked, recognizing what the light tentacles of Lady Mystery magic make up.
"Do you know Rune, Albedo?" She asked Lady Mystery, wanting to know what remained in Albedo's mind from his last magic "lessons" done with his true identity.
"My brother taught me some tricks with the Runes, not enough to use them in a fight, but enough to identify them. Your Runes are different from his, longer and bigger, with more different geometry." Albedo said, not identifying the Runes used by Lady Mystery.
'Not surprising to me, when I created Lady Mystery, I decided that I would never use Mystic's techniques and magic.
So instead of using my Celtic Runes, I use Nordic Runes recently learned from the last invoked Servant Lancer.
It was difficult to learn a second set of Rune, but the more different the magic and style of Lady Mystery, the better it is for my real me. ' Thought the vampire disguised as a witch.
"Maybe your brother and I use different sets of Runes, precisely I use Nordic Runes combined with math riding to increase their power." Lady Mystery explained, pulling her magical tentacles from the computer.
"What did you get from the Justice League computer, maybe I don't know much about magic, but I recognize a hacker." Robin said, acknowledging what Lady Mystery did.
"I went into the system to get every Megabyte of information on Cadmus." Lady Mystery said, showing a holographic screen full of Cadmus data.
'In addition I have installed the world's first computer virus of magical origin in the database of the Justice League, write a binary code by introducing Rune you get an access key for every computer secret in the world.' Lady Mystery thought, smiling devilishly under the mask.
"But Batman said we should stay." Aqualad said, looking as confused as the rest of his friends.
"You said it yourself, we are not ready for the safety of the world." Albedo said, trying to figure out what Lady Mystery wants.
"There isn't a man who can tell me what I can or can't do. Batman and the Justice League are your teachers, not mine.
If you don't want to be treated like mere lackeys, you have to show your mentors what you are capable of. "Anastasia said earned positive points with the young heroes who are starting to smile.
"A little fire on eight heroes, what bad can happen?" Gray said, trying to get the rest of the group to come with Lady Mystery. Unaware that she broke one of the Lady Mystery rules: Never challenge the universe.
"Gray, never, never, never say those words again, challenging the universe will bring trouble, get it." Lady Mystery said, putting her arms around Gray's shoulders and pulling her close to her, to make them feel her scolding better.
Gray just nods, mentally noticing that she doesn't repeat those words, especially when she is alone with her teacher.
If Tamamo-no-Mae or one of the other girls would have seen how close the two of them are, it would pose strange ideas and trouble Gray or his teacher, maybe both.
Lady Mystery satisfied for the moment from her short lesson, she approaches the exit.
'Time to put my A-rank Charisma to use.' She thought Lady Mystery, wanting to at least get Albedo and Supergirl with her.
Keeping her cousin / sister close and gaining the trust / friendship of a Kryptonian is at the top of her priorities on this infiltration mission.
Lady Mystery turned to the group of young heroes, saying, "As for you, come with me in search of glory and respect or stay here and depress each other."
"Count on me in Sister!" Wonder Girl said slamming her fist into her open palm.
Some of the young heroes chuckled slightly at Wonder Girl's energetic attitude.
"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice, with this we are a team with a mission at hand." Acqualad said smiling.
"Lady Mystery, my friend, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Wonder Girl said, wanting to prove her worth and find something to beat up.
"People are in danger and they need help, I'm coming, with you." Albedo said, wanting to participate and help the innocent.
"So what are we waiting for, I began to get bored, let's go and discover the secrets of Cadmus." Supergirl said, leaving the room followed by the rest of the young heroes.
'Teach, when you want you can be a great leader.' Gray thought, seeing how distrustful strangers united under his banner within minutes.
"I'm either left alone with a retired old hero or join a madwoman who not five minutes ago tried to freeze and strangle me." Kid Flash said, finding himself alone with Kent in the Hall.
"If you don't want to go with friends, you can stay and hear my stories about my heyday," Kent said, knowing how to get Kid Flash to go after his friends.
"I'd love to, but a true hero never leaves his friends," said Kid Flash, running his super speed to his friends, leaving Kent alone in the room.
"Good luck young heroes, you will need it, fighting alongside Alex Vier Brunestud in disguise does not change the fact that he is a magnet for troubles and oddities." Kent said, walking out of the room in time to see Lady Mystery steal the Batmobile, with Robin, Acqualad, Albedo and Gray on board.
'Stealing the Batmobile is becoming a bad habit of Zelretch's ward.' Kent thought, imagining Batman's expression when he finds out he's been robbed.