Itachi was staring into the water below as the members of the Team were mingling about in the Cave. It's been five days since Itachi and Batman were attacked. Most of the injuries that they sustained during his battle with Wrath and the Masked Stranger were healed after some extensive healing. Despite this, Itachi was kept on limited duty and not allowed to go out into the field. Both Superman and Canary were adamant about this and with Red Tornado watching him like a hawk Itachi knew that there was no fighting this.
Itachi worried about how he was going to defeat Wrath and the Masked Stranger. The Masked Stranger basically defeated him with just three hits and Wrath was trouble because of his Mangekyo Sharingan and the powerful jutsu that came with it. It was also their beliefs that worried him, 'Wrath genuinely believes that I betrayed my clan and that the world is broken. I can't even call him evil because I did the same thing; murdered innocents because I thought it would make the world a better place. Now all of the rage of the Uchiha is back to make me pay for it. How do I even begin to fix this?'
Artemis saw the wave of guilt washing over Itachi like a flood and went over to him. He'd been so distant towards them ever since waking up. He's wanted to go back to Gotham to find his clone ever since he was able to walk again without pain. It was difficult to get him to stay and rest up, but Superman and Canary managed to get a handle on it. It's made Itachi distant though. He doesn't speak to anyone and only comes out of his room to stare at the water and brood. Every time someone would go over to talk to him, Itachi would just ignore them or tell them that he wanted to be alone. Artemis wasn't going to accept that anymore.
"Carson misses you a lot. She thinks something bad happened to you. It's hard seeing her so worried and sad like that." Artemis said while trying to start conversation.
"Then why am I not allowed to leave and see her?" Itachi replied.
"Because we both know that you wouldn't even go to her. You'd just rush right into battle and instead of her thinking that you're dead, I'm gonna have to sit there and tell her that you really are dead." Artemis argued.
"As long as Wrath and his partner die too. The Sage of Six Paths only said that I was to defeat the threat. He didn't say that I was meant to survive." Itachi said darkly.
"I saw your memories, dummy. He said that he wanted you to live for the good of the world. You're failing. What you're doing now isn't even living, it's…it's…empty. Even before you fought Wrath…it's like you just threw yourself into being the Crow. I need you to remember that you're still Itachi." She said sadly.
Itachi kept quiet. His thoughts were only of Wrath. Itachi leered as he looked down at the water since the only image he saw was that of his clone, Wrath. He didn't know he hated more at the moment; his clone or himself.
"Come hangout with us, Itachi. We're you're friends. Plus, you've stared at the water enough. I don't think it'll hurt you." She said as a joke to try to cut the tension.
Itachi ignored her and kept staring at the water below him. He didn't have time for jokes or friends. He needed to figure out a way to find and defeat Wrath before his clone did something that would scar the world forever. That's what Batman was doing. As soon as he was up and walking, the caped crusader left to scour Gotham for Wrath. Itachi wished he could be doing the same instead of sitting here like a helpless genin.
"You can't keep ignoring us. We're your friends. Let us help you." Artemis urged of Itachi. He kept silent towards the archer hoping that she would take the hint and leave.
"We get that you want to go find your clone and end this, but you have to know that now isn't the best time for that. You almost died. When they brought you back, you barely had a heartbeat Itachi; and that was with you being 100% when you fought them. You're still recovering so fighting them now would just be stupid. Wrath hasn't attacked anyone since you fought him so why go in looking for a fight when you don't have to?" She argued.
"2,107…" Itachi said finally breaking his silence. Artemis looked down at him in sadness. She knew what that number represented, "2,107 people died because of what Wrath did…what I did. Artemis, how many people have died because of a decision that you made in the past?"
Artemis didn't know how to answer that. She just tried to encourage him as best she could but nothing came out. Itachi got up and left soon afterwards, not wanting to be bothered anymore. Artemis went to follow him since she wasn't done.
"Hey, wait up!" Conner and M'gann had just returned from picking up items requested by Batman along with groceries. "Did you get everything?" Batman asked as the teenagers started bringing out the boxes.
"Everything on your list, Batman. Plus groceries. How's Itachi doing?" M'gann asked as she saw her friend walking away, probably to his room. Wally saw that Itachi had that same unreadable look that he's had since waking up, "Still acting like the jerk he's always been. Did you happen to get cookie fixins?"
She smiled at the child like tone Wally had, "Snickerdoodles."
"Babe, you rock my world." Itachi and Artemis opened the door to see Zatanna come in. She'd been visiting more often which led to the others thinking that the young sorceress was close to officially joining the Team. "Oh, hey Zatanna. Have you joined the Team finally?"
"I don't know. My father is so overprotective. Just getting him to let me visit takes a full day wheedling. I wish he'd just give me a little space." She answered.
"I know the feeling." Itachi said as Artemis glared at him. She was just about to respond when all of the adults in the room suddenly vanished. Batman, Zatara, Red Tornado, and Itachi were all gone. There was no trace of any of them. And they weren't the only ones who were experiencing this phenomenon.
Billy Batson, also known as Captain Marvel, was in his room watching television with his legal guardian. They were praising the efforts of his alter ego when a bright flash happened. When Billy opened his eyes, his guardian was gone along with the adult that he was watching on television. He stopped when he heard a car crash into a street light. He looked outside and saw kids that were upset about their mother vanishing without a trace. He assumed that all of the adults were gone and that he needed to transform in order to get to the bottom of this.
Just as he was about to say the magic word, a thought crossed his mind, "All of the grown-ups are gone. And Cap's a grown-up. If I change, I could disappear too."
Someone else who felt this affect was none other than Itachi's clone, Wrath. He was in the Argus facility that he cleared out days ago undergoing specialized training for his bout with Itachi. He was in the training room so that he could improve his control of his Hedoro and Katamarimasu. He had a few surprises that he planned on using on Itachi when they next met. Overseeing his training was the Masked Stranger. The Stranger was there to put Wrath through the most grueling training sessions imaginable.
The Masked Stranger was already quite pleased with the result that Wrath has already achieved, but they both knew that he still was not on Itachi's level yet. Wrath has already managed to expand his range of control from five meters to fifty meters. He'd also drastically reduced the amount of chakra needed to perform his regeneration techniques. Wrath was still struggling with the ultimate endgame that he wanted to achieve. Controlling Hedoro made weapons or the Hedoro itself over a vast distance was one thing, but trying to do what Wrath has planned takes another level of discipline that Wrath wasn't getting at the moment.
The Masked Stranger saw that Wrath was getting angry and decided to give him a break on the specialized sessions. The Stranger decided to have Wrath practice on his chakra control while reading a scroll titled Three Sides of War.
"Why are you having me read this? I understand the chakra control since it will help me through an extended battle without passing out, but some scroll on warfare is meaningless to me. I'm an Uchiha. We specialize in warfare." Wrath said which got the Masked Stranger to chuckle.
"Yes, indeed my child. The Uchiha are quite well-versed in the art of warfare. They were so great at war that they lost to the Senju Clan. Over and over and over again. They lost so much that they were forced into an alliance with the Senju because they didn't know if they could ever grow strong enough to defeat them and decided that peace with them was better." The Stranger said as a slick rebuttal.
Wrath leered as he heard his clan be insulted by an outsider. The Stranger paid him no mind and continued on, "And let's not forget about their very successful coup. That was such a glorious war that the Uchiha fought against the Leaf. How long did it last? A few hours at the most. Yes, the Uchiha were so great at war that they got wiped out in one night, by just two men, one of whom was only thirteen years old at the time. The Uchiha do specialize in war…in losing them. You won't be like them because you will have knowledge on your side, and knowledge is true power."
"You're wrong." Wrath said as Hedoro began to form around the Masked Stranger. Wrath smiled as his jutsu encased his mentor from the neck down. Wrath didn't apply any pressure because he just wanted to prove his point on what power really is, "Power is power."
"You think just like an Uchiha. You had Itachi in a similar position to this when you two fought. And he still managed to nearly kill you. Not because he's significantly stronger than you, but because he has the advantage of knowledge over you and experience in combat. If he had wanted to, instead of his flames being aimed at your arms, he could've had it sent towards your head. You wouldn't have dodged it considering Itachi had you hacking off your arms to survive. Now, if he had actually set your head on fire, what would you have done? Cut your head off? I wonder if you would've been able to regrow that." The Masked Stranger questioned.
Wrath had a stoic look as the Hedoro began to unlatch itself from the Stranger and return to the ground. His mentor saw this and walked over to sit with him, "I want you to succeed in changing this world, but that won't happen until you stop thinking like a group of people that got killed off. Obviously they did something wrong or else they would have seen Itachi's betrayal coming. If you keep acting recklessly like the Uchiha, then you're going to die like the Uchiha. You must learn to consider all options and possibilities. They never truly thought that Itachi, one of their own flesh and blood, would actually betray them. It cost them their lives. Erase everything that you think you know about war. This text, if you are open to its possibilities, will help you defeat Itachi."
Wrath's face softened as he looked at the scroll. He opened it straight to its subtitle, Weaknesses and Strengths. As he started reading it, Wrath got curious about something, "How do you know that this will help me beat Itachi?"
"Because he's an Uchiha. That makes him predictable. You'll see." Wrath was about to follow up on his question when the Masked Stranger vanished all of a sudden. Wrath scanned the area and saw that there was no trace of his mentor. Wrath left the Argus base and decided to search outside, but still found no signs of the Masked Stranger. He went back inside to figure out what was going on. He turned the monitoring screens on and saw that all traditional media was offline. The only alerts that Wrath received that explained what was going on was when social media posts started emerging in great volumes and they all had the same message; all of the adults were gone.
Wrath did not like the news of that and decided to go see if this was true. If it was, then Wrath would have to figure out how to reverse it before it became permanent.
The members of the Team were scrambling to figure out what was going on. All over the world it seemed like the adults have vanished. Robin and Zatanna were currently in the Cave trying to figure this out while the others formed refugee centers for the abandoned children. Zatanna knew that this had to be magic.
"The sorcery needed to pull this off is scary big." Zatanna lamented.
"We need you to find its source." Robin added. Zatanna looked dumbfounded at him. There was no way she could pull something like that off.
"How am I-" Robin interrupted her when he pulled footage of when her father helped them to locate the Injustice League, "It's your dad when he helped up locate Wotan and the Injustice League last month."
"But the-the words, I mean, that's only part of it. The rest takes training and…Robin, I-I'm just not on Zatara's level." She said dejectedly.
"I know it's hard, but try to stay whelmed. We'll find your dad, Batman, and all of the others. That's what we do." He said to bring her hopes back up. She smiled back in appreciation of his reassuring words.
Elsewhere in Happy Harbor, the other heroes were doing their best to salvage the situation. They were rescuing any child they saw that was in need and bringing them to the makeshift refugee camp. Given the circumstances, it was about all they could do at the moment. Wally met up with M'gann after finding another toddler in need and brought them inside the camp. They were welcomed with Artemis's best attempt at entertaining the children already brought in as she was singing to them. Or at least attempting to.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star, uh…yes sir, yes sir, three bags full." The kids laughed as the archer combined and butchered two songs at once in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. When her teammates got back, Artemis asked if Wally had called to see if the toddler's parents were home. He shook his head while saying that he'd been collecting kids all day and was unwilling to see anymore empty houses. Superboy walked in at the moment carrying three more children and they knew that this was only the beginning.
Billy Batson was on the move to get some answers. He figured that the Justice League mainframe would know how to fix whatever was happening. He made it to the zeta-beam booth and entered his credentials, but got rejected by the vocal analyzer. His password was for Captain Marvel, not Billy Batson. That meant that he'd have to transform in order to access it which would only get him teleported away like the rest of the adults. He had run into a dead in.
Feeling dejected, Billy walked the streets feeling utterly useless. Out of nowhere, monitors lit up and showed the faces of Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin. Billy immediately stopped what he was doing to listen to the message. They spoke on the fear and anger the kids must be feeling and urged them not to act recklessly. They promised to bring the adults back and urged the oldest of the children to step up as leaders. They encouraged them to protect each other.
Their message was spread across the entire world for all to see. Billy saw their courage and decided that he was going to do something to help them. He snuck unto an airfield and convinced a teenage girl to fly him over to Happy Harbor to assist the heroes in any way he could. Billy wasn't the only one of note who saw this message.
Over in Gotham, Wrath had just finished up bringing a group of kids to a refugee camp ran by Barbara Gordon. There were abandoned kids all over the city. Wrath used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to find and rescue as many of them as he could find. Some were stuck in cars that had crashed because the driver suddenly vanished, some he found in their homes alone and scared. He even found a boy that was wondering the streets looking for kids by himself.
Wrath brought them all to Barbara because he felt she could be trusted to look after them since she was the police commissioner's daughter. Barbara thanked him and asked who he was, but Wrath ignored her and chose to leave. It was clear she didn't know his identity and he planned on keeping it that way until the time was right. He saw the broadcast by the young heroes and decided that he could use them to help solve this problem. He knew they operated out of Happy Harbor thanks to Argus databanks and decided to head over there immediately. One of the kids ran up and stopped him though. It was the young boy who was out looking for kids alone. Wrath saw a look in his eyes that had so much rage in them that it almost reminded him of himself.
"What's your name?" Wrath asked the kid softly. The boy softened his face before answering, "Jason…my name is Jason Todd."
"Hello Jason. Why do you look so angry?" He asked. Jason's hands clenched into fists and begun shaking. It did not go unnoticed by Wrath, "I feel so powerless. I didn't find or save anyone…I-I want to find whoever did this and make them pay for this."
"Hey, don't go beating yourself up. I don't know who is behind this, but I will stop them and bring back yours and all of the other children's parents." Wrath said trying to ease the boy.
The angry look on Jason's face returned at the mention of that, "It's too late for my parents. They were already taken from me and I can't get them back."
"I'm sorry. I couldn't save my mother too. The world is cruel that way. But as cruel as the world is, I still believe that it can be changed for the better. Hold on to that anger and never let it go. Use it to make sure that what happened to your mother will never happen again. How did they pass?" Wrath asked. The answer made his soul crack all over.
"They didn't pass, they were taken. They were killed in that explosion at the Gotham Cathedral. The only reason they were there was because I was being selfish and ran away from home because I got into a fight with my mother. They went there, probably to see if I had gone there because I've ran away and hid there before. They didn't have any plans of going there that night. They were just scared and looking for me, and got blown to hell by Wrath because of it. They died because of me. I want to find Wrath and make him pay. I want to see him dead." Jason said angrily.
The air around Wrath got cold and dark all of a sudden. He was face-to-face with a victim of his war against Itachi. To know that he did this to Jason made him feel sympathy for the boy. But he knew that the only way to win this war and finally invoke change in the world was by doing the despicable things that no one else was willing to. Wrath fully believed that all this death would pave the way for new life going forward. That's why he wasn't sorry for killing the boy's parents and he knew he had to keep moving forward so all of this loss and death would actually mean something. He swore that he'd kill as many people as he had to in order to rid the world of oppression, even if that meant orphaning children like Jason and filling them rage.
'It's not personal, Jason. We're just on opposite sides of a war that Itachi started. I can tell that we're the same, you and I. We both are motivated by the deaths of our families. That look in your eyes is one twisted by rage. That's how it starts, the fear…the rage, that feeling of powerlessness that turns good people…cruel. At least, that's how it began for me when I witnessed Itachi slaughter my clan. Hold on to that feeling Jason and turn it into a tool that deals true justice to the scum of this world. I can't wait to see what you become in the future.' Wrath thought darkly.
"I'm going now. Hold on to that feeling and I promise it won't be like this forever, Jason. I can tell you're in this for the long haul." Wrath said before walking away and disappearing into the darkness. Jason stood there and contemplated his words as Barbara called him back in. Jason swore to find out the identity of the man somehow.
Back in the Cave, Wally was looking at the shelf of souvenirs from his past missions. Aqualad walked in and told him that Atlantis also had their adults taken too. Wally knew they were getting desperate as he turned to the Helmet of Fate.
"So just how desperate are we? I mean, this thing could definitely come in handy." Wally said morosely.
"Yes, but we both know that anyone who dons the helmet and allows Nabu to possess them may never be released by Doctor Fate." Aqualad warned.
"But last time, didn't Itachi help get it removed?" Wally asked.
"Yes, but I believe that was a onetime occurrence. Nabu made it clear to us that he wouldn't be so lenient again." Aqualad revealed.
"So no, not that desperate." Wally said.
"Not yet." Aqualad agreed. Zatanna walked in and told them that she was finally winning to try and use her father's locater spell. The heroes all converged into the Cave mainframe and watched her chant the spell, "Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!"
"Roanoke Island! You did it!" The heroes quickly got ready to head to the island to stop whoever was behind this spell.
Billy was flying over Gotham in a plane with the girl from the airfield. Turns out she had a pilot lessons and could help get Billy to Happy Harbor so he could help the others. Amber couldn't believe she let a little boy convince her to do something so stupid.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Amber lamented.
"You did the right thing, Amber. I know I don't look like much, but I have to get to Happy Harbor to help." Billy said in gratitude.
"We're almost there. We should arrive just after midnight, on my birthday." Amber revealed. Billy's face went pale.
"Wait, please don't say that you're turning eighteen at midnight?" To Amber's credit, she didn't say it. But that's because midnight had passed and she turned eighteen, which meant that the spell took effect on her and made her disappear.
The plane started to descend at a fast pace. Billy scrambled to get to the pilot's chair to stop the decent. After a lot of shaking by the plane, including one huge on the roof, Billy finally got control of the plane and kept it on course for Happy Harbor.
"I take that as a yes."
Way back before the disappearances, everyone was back in the Cave. Itachi was heading back to his room, with Artemis in tow, and M'gann and Conner had just returned from getting items for Batman.
She smiled at the child like tone Wally had, "Snickerdoodles."
"Babe, you rock my world." Itachi and Artemis opened the door to see Zatanna come in. She'd been visiting more often which led to the others thinking that the young sorceress was close to officially joining the Team. "Oh, hey Zatanna. Have you joined the Team finally?"
"I'm glad you brought Zatanna over, old friend. Does this mean you'll allow her to join the Team?" Batman asked of Zatara.
"I do not know. Zatanna's so…my only child. When I heard she and Artemis crossed paths with Wrath, especially after what he did to Gotham, you, and Itachi, I felt so useless. I wish I could get used to the idea that she's…growing up." Zatara replied sadly.
That's when all of the young heroes disappeared from the Cave. Conner, M'gann, Aqualad, Wally, Artemis, Robin, and Zatanna all vanished. Itachi, Zatara, and Batman all looked around in worry as no traces of the children were left.
In this reality, instead of all of the adults vanishing, now it was all of the children that were gone.
Back in their hideout, the Masked Stranger was speaking words of wisdom to Wrath when he suddenly vanished. The Stranger knew who was behind this.
"Klarion, I told you not to move without my permission. If anything happens to Wrath, you will suffer great consequences." The Stranger warned before leaving the Argus facility.
There were riots throughout the world. Scared adults were in a panic and willing to do anything to get their children. They even attacked police departments and science facilities to get answers. Villains like Lawrence Crock and Riddler used the distraction of the riots to steal since everyone was so preoccupied to notice them. The public faith in heroes was already fragile thanks to the attack on the Gotham Cathedral and GCPD, having all of the children in the world disappear didn't help things at all.
Back in the Cave, Batman, Zatara, and Itachi were in the room of souvenirs that the Team had gathered in their past missions. One of those souvenirs was the Helmet of Fate that Zatara was staring at.
"So, how desperate are we?" Zatara asked.
"I informed the watchtower you located the focal point at Roanoke. But the rest of the League is deployed to avert the chaos. Tornado, you, Crow and I are on our own." Batman replied.
"I would do anything to get my daughter back," Zatara said. Itachi felt sympathy for him. At the end of the day, Zatara was a father who only wanted for his child to be safe. But using that helmet was out of the question. Nabu made it perfectly clear what the consequences of using it would be, "I want to find them as well, but there are many ways for you to lose her. That helmet is one of them."
Zatara turned to look at Itachi, "So, not that desperate. Not yet. Is the entire League unavailable, Batman?"
The three of them walked out of the room. "All except for Captain Marvel. He's missing."
Billy was struggling between flying the plane and risking transforming to save Amber. He was in Happy Harbor finally but he knew that letting her die was wrong, he just was hesitant to risk him dying too.
"I can't. If I say it, I'll be an adult. And maybe disappear forever! Captain Marvel may have the Courage of Achilles, but Billy Batson…has the courage of Billy Batson. Shazam!" Lightning flashed before Billy was transformed into Captain Marvel. He soon found himself into the adult reality and was glad he didn't disappear.
He heard a scream and remembered that Amber was falling from the sky. He quickly flew down and caught her before she hit the ground and got her to safety. Captain Marvel then flew to the Cave to reconvene with the adults. Batman, Zatara, and Itachi looked in shock when he flew in out of nowhere.
"Alright guys, I'm here to- you're back! Is it over? Where's the Team?" Marvel asked as he flew in to hug the trio. Itachi tried his best not to hold it against the demi-god, but Batman was openly glaring at Marvel. The hero quickly realized what he had done and put them down before he embarrassed himself anymore.
"Haven't you heard?! Every child in the world-" Zatara was angry and yelling at Marvel. Batman cooled him down before he said something that he couldn't take back. Itachi was curious about Marvel's whereabouts, "Marvel, where have you been?"
"On a world without grownups. Holy molly! There are two worlds." Marvel realized.
"Two dimensions. One for adults-" Batman started.
"And one for children." Itachi finished.
"And you can travel between them?" Zatara asked.
"I think I can…I know I can. Shazam!" Captain Marvel was now Billy Batson and was back in the world of children. He turned around to see all of the members of the Team staring at him with confused looks.
"Where did you come from? Who are you?" Aqualad demanded. Billy was glad to see them again, "Quick, read my mind."
M'gann used her powers to shift through the boys mind and saw that the boy was really Captain Marvel. Wally and the others weren't as convinced as she was though. Billy saw this and brought up when he used to bring Wally nachos and pineapple juice to the speedster. That pretty much convinced everyone that he really was Captain Marvel.
Outside of the Cave was Wrath. He had hitched a ride on Billy's plane when it began to descend near Gotham and rode on its roof in secret. He figured that some kid who managed to actually fly on a plane must have been associated with the heroes of this world somehow. And as it would turn out, he was right.
When lightning struck the plane, Wrath jumped off and landed safely on the beach as the plane fell into the water. He scanned it and saw no trace of the passenger that was navigating it and decided to head to his original objective. Now he stood outside and waited for the young heroes to make a move.
Back in the adult world, Marvel, Zatara, Batman, and Itachi were all going over what the plan would be going forward.
"There will be threats in both dimensions, and we may not be familiar with our opponents." Batman started.
Captain Marvel was back to Billy Batson in the child world. He was tasked with coordination the plan with both the adults and the kids.
"But the key to this mission is a coordinated, simultaneous attack." Aqualad said. Itachi agreed with the plan in the adult world, "I agree. The best chance of stopping this sorcery is to strike fast, disrupt their efforts, and hope the two dimensions merge naturally back into one."
Klarion was in the child world keeping his end of the spell going when he felt attacks heading his way. He quickly turned and defended against it by conjuring up a shield. He smirked at Artemis and Robin as they stared in shock.
"Is that the best you can do?" Klarion asked before blasting the two of them with his magic. He saw Kid Flash, Superboy, and Aqualad try to pincer him in from three sides. Klarion easily dispatched them with his magical shield. Zatanna decided that she would fight magic with magic.
"Etativel mih ffo eht margatnep!" Klarion scoffed at her weak attempt of an attack. "Baby magic. Fi ehs stnaw ot etativel os yldab tel reh!"
Zatanna was lifted up and flung away. Conner moved quickly to catch her before she hit the ground hard. M'gann tried using telekinesis to throw giant rocks at Klarion, but his shield was too great of a defense to be affected by her. He shot out fire from his mouth which made Miss Martian have to retreat. Kid Flash ran to Artemis to reformulate a plan of attack.
"Listen, when Nabu possessed my body, he defeated Klarion by attacking the cat." He revealed.
"Good, I'm not much of a cat person anyways." Artemis said as she shot her arrow at the cat, Klarion saw this attack coming and turned the arrow into a ball of yarn, "Show them what a familiar to a lord of chaos can do, Teekl."
The small cat turned into a big saber-toothed tiger that lunged at Conner. It would have stayed on the attack, if not for a gigantic fireball that set it on fire before Klarion used his magic to douse the flames. He angrily searched for whoever launched that attack.
"Who did that?!" Klarion yelled. A figure emerged from the trees and revealed itself to the battlefield. Zatanna and Artemis went pale at seeing who this person was as his features became clearer, "That would be me. Wrath has come for you."
The Team was really on the defensive. Robin cursed at their luck, "We have to face this magician and Itachi's clone. This is bad."
"What do you want, Wrath?" Aqualad demanded. He really wished that Itachi was here right now to back them up. Wrath turned and addressed the Atlantian, "Right now, I want to stop Klarion."
The adult world saw that the rest of Klarion's partners were chanting to keep the spell up on their end as well. Their identities were Wotan, Felix Faust, Wizard, and Blackbriar Thorn. Suddenly, Batman, Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, Zatara, and Crow landed to immediately launch attacks. Batman threw a batarang at Thorn, but missed and got attacked by vines. Itachi moved quickly to get him loose using the Phoenix Flower Jutsu to burn the vines away. Red Tornado shot wind blasts at Faust, but the fire attack he launched easily overpowered the wind and struck the android. Zatara used a spell to strike all of the sorcerers with lightning. The magical gem in the center of the pentagram they were standing in absorbed the attack and channeled it into the child world for Klarion to use.
"You teamed up with the grownups. How overrated," Klarion said as he shot the stored lightning at Wrath. Wrath made no attempt to move as his Hedoro shot out of the ground and shifted into a barrier that protected him. When the barrier dropped, Wrath stared stoically at Klarion.
"You're going to have to do a lot better than that if you're going to defeat me." Wrath said as he used his Mangekyo Sharingan to create his Shinigami Scythe. Klarion gulped as Wrath slowly started to walk towards him. The others watched with worry as the same thought ran across all of their minds. If Klarion won, he'd turn his attention to them and kill them all. And if Wrath wins, knowing that they are friends of Itachi, he'll turn his attention to them and kill them all.
Zatanna saw that either way, they were outmatched by both opponents. She mustered up all of the conviction she could before revealing the hidden Helmet of Fate.
On the adult world, the Leaguers plus Itachi were still fighting off the group of sorcerers. Marvel and Crow were fighting off a barrage of giant rocks being thrown by Magician. Itachi was using his Susanoo to crush the attacks as Marvel prepared to blitz him with a swift attack. Just as Marvel was about to go, Zatara stopped him.
"Captain, wait! That mystic gem, Ambre Jour Verdu, is the conduit of this sorcery." Zatara revealed. Itachi agreed with the sorcerer.
"He's right. Without that gem, they won't have the power to separate the two dimensions. We need to get it out of their possession. We're facing four of them, and since their on a pentagram, that means that the others are only facing one. They have a better chance of getting to that gem than we do. You have to relay the message to them. We'll handle the sorcerers here." Itachi said as he blocked a rock from crushing Batman with his Susanoo.
"You can count on me. I'll tell the Team. Shazam." Lightning struck Captain Marvel and brought him to the child world as Billy again. He looked and saw what he believed to be Itachi walking towards Klarion with what he thought was a weird weapon in his hands. When he got out of his shock, he went to call out to Itachi but Miss Martian stopped him.
"Itachi, it's the-" She covered his mouth before he could be heard by either of them, "Don't shout, Billy. I've linked you telepathically to the others."
"That's so cool…I mean it's the gem at the center of the pentagram. Destroy it and we win. Got that, Itachi?" Billy thought telepathically. His face scrunched back up into confusion when Itachi showed no signs of acknowledging what was just revealed.
"Why didn't Itachi say anything? Can't he hear us too?" Billy asked. M'gann gave him a serious look before responding, "That's not Itachi."
"What are you talking about? Of course that's Itachi! He must have figured out a way to travel between dimensions with me. We have to help him before-," He got cut off by some of the scariest words he's ever heard.
"That's Wrath, Itachi's clone. This is very serious. We need to get the adults back fast before Wrath turns his attention on us. " She thought.
"Oh no. This is bad." Bill thought. Zatanna heard their conversation grabbed the Helmet of Fate. The others yelled to stop her but it was too late. She donned the helmet and took on the entity known as Doctor Fate, "No, this is Fate."
Billy returned to the adult world as Captain Marvel after seeing Zatanna become Doctor Fate so that he could warn the others. To say that Zatara and Itachi were livid after hearing the news was an understatement.
"She did what?! Go back right now and-" Marvel knew what he had to do. Itachi was also worried about what his clone might do to the others, "Marvel, we have to end this on our end fast before Wrath hurts any of them. Use your speed and strength to tunnel underground. They can't defend against an attack they don't see coming. We'll keep them distracted topside."
"Got it." Marvel used his speed and powers to spin at great velocity to force his way underground. When he emerged, it was with the gem in his hand which he quickly threw to Zatara.
In the child world, the battle still ensued. "Klarion, this ends now!" Everyone looked on as Fate leered down at Klarion. M'gann quickly told Billy to inform Itachi and Zatara about what just transpired. Billy shouted Shazam and went back to the adult world to relay the news as Klarion and Fate clashed. The other members of the Team went to try and destroy Klarion's shield but it proved too powerful for them. Even Fate couldn't break it. Klarion laughed as he saw that Doctor Fate was struggling to maintain his form.
"When the world divided, the helmet split too! You're not all here Nabu! And you're about to lose along with that poor, soon to be dead girl! She sacrificed herself for nothing." Klarion taunted.
Wrath stopped in front of the barrier and plunged his weapon into the ground. He looked down and saw the cracks in the ground from the force of it reach and extend past Klarion's barrier. Klarion laughed at the clone, "Is that supposed to scare me? Nothing can break my barrier!"
"You talk too much. Let's fix that." Wrath said. Klarion was about to chide Wrath more when something emerged from the ground below him. Everyone saw that it was another Wrath that popped out of the ground and grabbed Klarion by the throat. Klarion had a shocked and scared look on his face.
The Wrath that was outside of the barrier dissolved into Hedoro. Klarion was almost at a loss for words, "What's going on?"
"Shut up and I'll tell you. The Wrath that was outside was a clone. The real me has been underground almost the entire time." Wrath revealed.
"But when? I had my eyes on you the entire time." Klarion said as Wrath's grip on his throat tightened. Wrath smiled as Klarion was gasping for air, "Not the entire time. When you tried to hit me with the lightning attack, I created a barrier to defend against it. That wasn't the barrier's only purpose though. It shielded me from your field of vision and allowed me to hide underground until the perfect moment to strike."
Everyone saw that steam was being discharged from Wrath's hands, which meant they were healing themselves. The smile on Wrath's face was replaced with a chilling look, "The next time you make a barrier, make sure that it extends underground. I noticed the flaw right from the beginning. Form when I first walked out, I saw how the shield laid perfectly on top of the ground without a single crack. When the opportunity was right, I decided to dig underground and wait for my clone to confirm it. That's why he drove my scythe into ground; to see if the cracks would extend past the shield and to signal me for an attack. You're arrogance has cost you."
"Pots mih htiw-" Klarion tried to cast a spell to get Wrath away from him. Wrath used some Hedoro that he still had on his hands and hardened it with his Katamarimasu ability. The added force caused Wrath to crush Klarion's Trachea so that the sorcerer couldn't speak anymore. Everyone watched as Klarion started spat out a lot of blood as a result. It also caused the barrier around Klarion to disappear finally.
"You're done talking. This chaos that you've caused…the children who got hurt because of you, I won't forgive it," Wrath then dropped Klarion on the ground. Everyone looked at the scene in confusion, "Fortunately for you though, I made a promise not to kill anyone until my fight with Itachi."
Wrath began walking away as the heroes jumped out of their stupor and got on the offensive, "Stop where you're going, Wrath! We're taking you down now!"
Wrath shook his head at Wally's words. They were going to make it hard for him to keep his promise to Itachi, "Go home, Kid Flash. I'm out of your league."
"That may be true, but I do know someone who is in your league." Wally said as he sped forward and retrieved the gem. He threw it to Doctor Fate, and alongside Zatara in the adult world, they chanted the spell to fix reality.
"Yam eht owt emoceb eno ecno erom!" The two worlds became one once again. Wrath was greeted with the sight of Itachi who was staring him down. Klarion's fellow sorcerers were defeated, which meant the group of heroes were now focused on Wrath.
"Finally recovered from that beating you took, Itachi? I took care of thing over here, and I didn't have to kill a soul." Wrath said while motioning to Klarion. Itachi saw that, thought the sorcerer was in bad shape, he indeed was still alive. The sorcerer was scrambling to get away from Wrath. Even though he couldn't speak, he still had the awareness to summon Teekl back over to him and use him to open a portal as a means of escape. Wrath did nothing to stop Klarion, as his attention was solely on Itachi.
"That's what happens when you let the villains live. They escape, come back later on, and go back to killing more innocents." Wrath warned.
"Why did you come here?" Batman demanded. He was on high alert after his first encounter with Wrath, "It wasn't for any of you fools. The children needed their parents returned to them, so I decided to be the one to do it. That's all."
"Surrender now!" Aqualad demanded as he got his weapons ready for a fight. The others joined him as well. Wrath shook his head before addressing Itachi, "This is what you chose over the Uchiha. What you chose to kill innocent women and children for…pathetic. This is the peace you're fighting for?"
"Itachi fought for peace, but the Crow fights for justice." Itachi said as he ran towards Wrath, who met him in the middle as the two exchanged blows. Wrath saw Itachi summon his skeletal Susanoo and knew that Itachi was dead serious.
"Not too bad, but I can do better!" Wrath countered with his skeletal Susanoo as the two behemoths knocked each other back. Wrath shook his head before deactivating his Susanoo. He'd seen enough, "You're not ready to face me. You don't have the look in your eyes. You still don't want to kill me. When our true fight happens, it will be a battle to the death. Itachi, I see now that I've been going about this the wrong way."
"Yasaka Magatama!" Itachi didn't care about Wrath's proclamations and went to end this now. Wrath used his Hedoro to form a giant wall and his Katamarimasu to harden it. The result of the clash was that Itachi's attack wasn't even able to dent Wrath's defenses. Wrath withdrew his wall as Itachi tried to formulate a new means of attack.
Wrath turned to see batarangs and arrows being shot at his blindside. Batman, Robin, and Artemis used Itachi's frontal attack to maneuver around and get a good angle on Wrath. This was also to prevent him from making a clone in secret like what he did against Klarion. Wrath made no attempt to dodge and took the attacks as the projectiles lodged themselves into Wrath's body.
Wrath slowly plucked each one of them out as steam would emit from each wound. They couldn't believe that Wrath healed himself form their joint attack almost instantaneously. Wrath picked up the batarangs and arrows before looking at the three heroes.
"Here. I think you lost these!" Wrath yelled as he threw them back at the trio. The speed there were thrown at was so fast that none of them would be able to avoid them all. Thankfully, Kid Flash and Captain Marvel were fast enough to catch them before serious harm was done. But then the paper bombs that Wrath placed on the weapons went off and the group was caught in a giant explosion.
Aqualad charged ahead and tried to attack Wrath with his weapons. Wrath toyed with him for a while by dodging and weaving around the attacks, but ended things swiftly when he kneed Aqualad in his midsection. Aqualad stopped in his tracks a Wrath grabbed him by the arm and threw him right at an inflight Miss Martian to knock her out of the sky.
Conner got really mad at that and rushed right into Wrath. He figured that Wrath wouldn't be able to hurt him since he was pretty close to indestructible; big mistake. Wrath dodged and parried all of Conner's wild attacks thanks to his Sharingan. Wrath saw Conner throw a wild cross and parried it down with his left hand. He then shifted his body so that it was perpendicular to Conner's so that his attack angle was perfect, summoned Hedoro and had it cover his entire right hand and used Katamarimasu to harden it, and delivered a devastating counter blow that knocked Conner several feet backwards.
Superboy landed in a heap right in front of Itachi. Conner tried to get back up, but his body was still in shock from the magnitude of that attack. It was definitely the hardest he's ever been hit in his life. He fell back down in a heap as Itachi saw Wrath stoically looking at the scene. Pretty much all of his teammates were soundly defeated, 'He's gotten stronger since we last fought. This isn't good. The others are no match for him. I have to end this.'
"Itachi, if you're not going to go all out against me, then there's no point in me staying here." Wrath said as he walked away. Itachi wasn't done though as he shot a Fireball Jutsu at his clone. Red Tornado used his wind powers to enhance the size of the fireball exponentially. Wrath grabbed his Shinigami Scythe from the ground and used it to slice the fireball in half. The flames were split before it made contact with him.
Itachi couldn't believe it, 'That scythe of his wasn't able to do that last time. To be able to slice through an enhanced version of my Fireball Jutsu takes incredible skill and precision. He's getting better at utilizing his Sharingan.'
Wrath quickly weaved hand signs to use the Phoenix Flower Jutsu towards Red Tornado. Red Tornado tried to evade the attack but was too slow as the volley of fireballs hit him head on and blasted him out of the sky. Wrath glared at Itachi as the two stared each other down, "The gap between us is shrinking, Itachi. But as much as I want to cut your head off right now, I know it's neither the time nor the place. When I kill you, Gotham and the whole world will witness it. I'd stay, but I see that you all have more pressing matters at the moment."
Itachi turned to see Zatara speaking with Doctor Fate. He was begging the spirit to release his daughter. Itachi deactivated his Sharingan as he knew his clone was right. Wrath teleported away as Itachi looked on. Itachi didn't follow him because he knew that his friends were more important than Wrath at the moment.
When the members of the Team recovered, they ran to help Zatara persuade Nabu to release Zatanna. Batman, Captain Marvel, and Red Tornado all stood off to the side near Itachi and watched the scene sadly.
"Great Nabu, please release my daughter." Zatara begged.
"…no. The world needs Fate, especially with the day of golden light quickly approaching. The child sent by God is not yet ready to take on this grave threat. This girl's natural affinity to the mystic arts makes her the perfect of for me to defend against the golden light." Nabu answered definitively.
"You can't do that!"
"She has her own life to live!"
"Kent would never allow you-" Nabu had heard enough of their protests, "Kent Nelson did object, strenuously. So I released his spirit to the afterlife. He is gone."
Things were looking bleak and their chances of getting their friend back were fading fast. Zatara knew what needed to be done and spoke to Nabu again, "Take me instead. My skills are already at their peak. My body is physically stronger and better able to withstand the strain of your power."
"All true, but if I remove the helmet, what guarantee have I that you will don it?" Nabu asked.
"Mine," Everyone had shocked looks on their faces as Itachi stepped forward. Itachi knew what needed to be done in order to free Zatanna, "I was sent by the Sage of Six Paths to save this world, so my word should have weight behind it in your eyes. I will make sure he puts the helmet on once you remove it, not that I need to. No father would truly let their child be taken when they have the power to do something about it. I've faced the great threat…and I know that we will need all the help we can get if we're going to be able to defeat it."
Nabu silently agreed as he dropped to the ground and removed the helmet from Zatanna's head. The father and daughter hugged after being reunited finally. Zatara sadly kissed her forehead and told her that he would always love her. Before donning the helmet, he addressed the others.
"Please, take care of my daughter." Zatara begged.
"You have my word. I won't let this be in vain." Itachi replied. Zatanna begged her father not since she knew that this was her fault, but he ignored her. He donned the helmet and became the permanent vessel of Doctor Fate. Fate then took control of the apprehended sorcerers and teleported them to a secure location, leaving everyone behind to cope with what they just lost.
Once the world went back to normal, most of the young heroes went home to either check on their parents or help Zatanna move her things into the Cave. She was still grieving from the loss of her father because she knew that it was her fault it happened. Once her teammates helped her unpack, Zatanna was left alone to try and get past the pain she felt.
As the others were helping her, Itachi was in a meeting with Batman. He relayed Wrath's ending message to the vigilante and together they began working on a strategy to defeat the clone once and for all. And since Itachi was now medically cleared to fully resume his duty as the Crow, he knew that now was the time to strike back. Itachi also knew that with the rapid improvement that Wrath displayed, he too would need to begin training for their inevitable clash. Itachi swore that he would win and finally end the cycle of hatred that has cursed the Uchiha.
In a hidden location, Klarion was meeting with his contemporaries. The mission he set off to accomplish went off without a hitch. Though him getting his throat crushed wasn't how he would have liked it to end, he still was able to create a big enough distraction that was able to pull away attention from Sportsmaster and Riddler as they secured a very important item from Star Labs. The only one who wasn't happy was the Masked Stranger.
"Klarion, you deliberately disobeyed me. I told you to wait until I gave the order before creating the distraction. Because of it, Wrath was exposed to the Justice League before he was supposed to." The Stranger said to Klarion.
"Hey, it all worked out. We got the item and the clone made it back alright. I'm the one who should be mad. The bastard crushed my throat!" Klarion responded angrily.
The air around the sorcerer got cold and he found that breathing was a lot harder to do all of a sudden. He really got scared when the Masked Stranger spoke again in a dark, threatening tone, "Wrath is more important to me than all of your wretched lives. If you ever disobey me like that again and put Wrath at risk like that, no spell alive will be able to fix what I do to you."
Klarion gulped before nodding excessively. Everyone watching also got the terrifying message that the Stranger wanted to convey, "The day of golden light is almost upon us. We cannot afford slip ups like today. I've already planned out everything. All you all have to do is do what I say, when I say it. Once Wrath destroys the Justice League and kills Itachi, the world will finally kneel to the Light."
That's it for this chapter! This was probably the hardest chapter I've had to write so I don't know what the reception to it will be. I hope you all enjoy it though! Wrath and Itachi's big fight is only two or three chapters away and I promise it will be epic. Also, I like how Itachi inspired Tim Drake while Wrath has inspired Jason Todd. I can't wait to write how that plays out in the future. Thank everyone who followed or favorited my last chapter along with all of the reviews and PMs. I'm thinking about answering review questions/comments that you all send me at the beginning of next chapter in an Author's Note section so shoot away with any questions you might have. If you like this chapter or think I could improve in certain areas; let me know in the review/PMs and I'll happily reevaluate and adjust when needed. Thanks again and I'll see you all next chapter! Till next time guys and gals!