A/N: Please read and review!
Around them, the world had changed so much during that day. The Total Tremor had done a lot of damage to the buildings, and the different attacks from who knows where had taken their toll. The city limits of Bludhaven were completely unrecognizable.
Dick felt a pang of guilt as he left the city he protected from the moment he became Nightwing. The two older men were arguing about how to get to England as they slowly moved onward.
"How long have you lived with your uncle?" He asked her.
They had one class together, but he barely even knew her. She mainly kept to herself, avoiding everyone she would meet.
"Ever since I could remember," she answered. "I barely even remember my parents."
"Ouch."
"Yeah. He's my godfather," she said, but the way she reacted it was like she might have said too much.
It was Jason Blood who stopped in his tracks, eyeing the ground and sky around them.
"We're not alone," he said for the other three to hear. "Her soldiers."
Strange almost snake like creatures melted out of the shadows. Lynn brandished his beat-up walking stick.
"Gone, gone the form of man; release the demon Entrigan!" Jason said, and in a flash of fire, he transformed into a strange apparition that would shoot fire from his hands.
"Is it just me," Elaine said, her eyes growing wide as she backed away. "Or did he just turn into a demon?"
"He turned into a demon," Dick replied. "Now get traught."
She pulled out two sai and helped move the creatures away from them.
"Elaine!" Lynn bellowed, light appeared from his walking stick. "Go! Do not involve yourself!"
She snorted and scowled, but she did listen, ducking and avoiding capture with a certain amount of skill that impressed even Dick. He knocked the creatures out of her way, and the fire turned them back into the shadows they appeared as.
"Enough of this," Lynn said in a voice that was much different from the quiet older man's.
He seemed to have changed when they left Bludhaven. Lynn was much taller, and his grey hair had actually turned snow white. The very air around him buzzed with his power, and he understood where the grudging respect that Jason had for him. His walking stick had changed as well, getting a more staff look and gnarly looking.
Lynn found a rock with a strange carving on its face and gestured for the three of them to gather around it. He hit his slowly changing walking stick on the rock, and blue light surrounded them.
"They have failed?!" Morgen demanded. "No matter. I'm far more powerful here. They will not be as lucky next time. Guard Excalibur and never let either one of the younger ones near it. We'll wait for him."
Lex Luthor watched as the chaos spread across the city. Buildings burned. People were actually rioting. Metropolis was falling. He made an impatient sound as he turned from his window.
"What's the point of ruling the world if it slowly burns away?" He asked the woman known as Mercy. "I never agreed with the choice of our new ally."
Strange bat-like creatures flew down from the dark spot in the sky, raining down fire or scooping up people before dropping them to the ground. As a part of the UN, he knew that there were very similar events all around the world, and they were all demanding one thing: help. The Justice League barely could stem the destructive tide.
"Another person died when they touched that sword," Mercy told him after awhile.
Lex rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew that their new ally was deeply bothered by the sword that appeared in England, and he learned that if it was held by the right person, their ally could be defeated.
No one has yet succeeded in pulling the sword from the stone. And the world still burned.
M'Gann was clutching her head and curled into a ball. The thoughts of the people they worked to help were making her sick. Some readily accepted their help, but a large number of them strongly opposed their actions. They almost attacked some of the smaller team members, causing a couple of them to fall back and protect them.
"They're so hopeless," she said almost brokenly. "Hopeless."
Artemis was sitting next to the young Martian and comforted her as best she could.
"Have you heard from Nightwing yet?" She asked Robin.
"I know he survived the Total Tremor, but that's it," he answered, shaking his head. "And, I do know that Batman has him on a mission. Beyond that. . ."
Kaldur was staring off into space. "When I wore the Helmet, I saw vague shadows of what will happen." He gestured around him. "This was one of them."
"Is there anything to stop this?" Artemis braved herself to ask.
"A bear was able to."
It was Beast Boy who turned himself into a bear. "Well, I can take care of this."
Kaldur shook his head. "No. A special bear. . .symbolic of someone. I think it would be someone who can pull that sword in England."
M'Gann sat up and let go of her head. "And bring us out of the Dark Ages. . .Kaldur, you're talking about King Arthur."
"Maybe. . ." He did not sound too convinced. "Back at home, we always pay heed to the old stories. Chances are they were true."
"Well. . .if the sword's real," Artemis commented. "Maybe the king is too. It's all we have to go on."
When the lights began to fade, Elaine saw that they were standing in the middle of Stonehenge.
"How typical," she muttered to herself.
"I'll distract Morgen," Jason told her uncle. "You'll find a way to get to the sword."
"She was once my pupil," he said. "I know her. She'll be guarding the sword, waiting for us. Unless. . ."
Jason was still with them, even though her uncle did not trust him at all. Elaine had to dig through some of her oldest childhood memories of him telling her old stories. For the longest time, her uncle would tell her about King Arthur in such a way that would have made one think he knew the man, but that could not be possible.
The end of King Arthur's story was always the same. One of his most trusted of nights betrayed his king and let Morgen into the castle, and Camelot fell. A knight that Merlin cursed for his treachery. The animosity between her uncle and Jason had that sort of feeling to it. Betrayal mixed with hurt and anger.
"They're going to keep at it, aren't they?" Dick asked her.
"I guess," she said.
Elaine saw him fight before they came to England, and she was willing to admit that she misjudged him which would happen to the best of people. There was one thing, though. Even she could tell that he was holding back. A lot.
She looked around her, and even England was not spared from the strange onslaught by creatures found only in a person's darkest nightmares. For some reason, everything that was happening really sickened her, and she really needed to think about something else.
Dick must have picked up on that. He started talking, and at first, it was completely pointless stuff. As they went on, their conversation grew top stuff of more substance. He helped keep her mind off of how the land was being treated, and it did help wile away the time. She found that if she would let anyone into her life, Dick was not too bad.