21: Klarion, Lord Of Chaos
Skye sucked in a breath, seeing a strange looking boy walking calmly in the wind and rain to the door of the Hall of Justice - which was just above her. There was an orange cat slinking around his feet, moving in sync with the boy. Suddenly, a voice was above them. It came through the walls and rock above them.
"Is anyone hooome?" It was a sing-song voice. "I'm here to pick up something that belongs to me. Any idea what that could be?"
The voice bounced off the walls, making Skye's body tremble. Nightwing came to her side, putting an arm round her and pull Skye to his chest. He was looking up with a deadly look on his face.
"What does he want?" she ask quietly, thankful to him for coming to her immediately.
"The Necronomicon," Bruce answered her, looking up.
"A book of magic," Nightwing explained to her quietly. Skye pulled away to look at the screen featuring the front of the Hall of Justice. Dick's team finally arrived, bursting through the door. Skye gulped and looked upward at the rock ceiling. "I have to go."
"Wait! I.. don't feel safe down here. I mean, what if something happens and it… caves." Skye looked up, anxiety deep in her stomach.
"This is the safest place for you, Skye," Dick assured her. She looked at Batman, more terrified by the moment. An explosion happened and she felt the shaking. It wasn't enough to cause damage, but enough to scare her. Skye swallowed hard and looked up again. There was dust falling from the ceiling.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Skye, I promise you'll be safe here." Batman did his best to make her feel better, but it wasn't working.
She looked to where Batman stood, then almost passed out from not breathing when she saw he had taken off his mask. Bruce Wayne looked at her with reassuring eyes. Thinking for a moment, Skye realized she wasn't too surprised. It made absolute sense, actually.
"If there was any chance of this area caving in, I wouldn't have brought you here in the first place," Bruce said.
"You asked Diana to bring me?"
"Yes, I knew Dick wouldn't be here in time to get you."
"Oh." She stepped back from Dick, taking a slow breath. She heard blasts and cries from above. "Well, knowing that it's both of you here, I feel a little better." Dust fell again, but no shaking was detected.
"I'll get you if it gets too dangerous, I promise," Dick said, taking her head in his gloved hands. He kissed her hard, holding her tightly, then took off. Bruce followed him, putting his mask back on.
Skye swallowed and moved to the panel that controlled the screens. After studying it, she saw it was relatively easy to use. She pulled up the different views of the hall, seeing smoke and blasts of fire or energy. All of Dick's team, including him and Batman, were working hard. The boy had enough power to make it seem difficult to push him back, though.
The orange cat turned into a tiger-like creature, jumping at Rocket. Skye watched, wrapping her arms around herself nervously. The cat knocked down Rocket and then headed toward Dick. It jumped.
"No!" Skye cried. Dick knocked it away with his batons, and Skye let out a relieved breath. Before she could completely relax, the cat jumped again and Dick fell. Skye saw scratches on his face and upper arms, bleeding through the material of his suit. "Dick!"
She looked at another screen, where Wonder Girl and Miss Martian had been knocked out by fire balls. If she remembered correctly, fire was one of Miss Martian's weaknesses. She could be much more affected than Wonder Girl. Rocket was trying to put a shield around the demon boy, but he kept bursting the bubble, so to speak. Batman was nowhere to be found.
Robin was fighting on his own, jumping and tumbling to avoid any hits from fire balls and other energy hits. Nightwing was struggling to stand, bleeding heavily.
Without thinking, Skye turned away and rushed up the way the others had gone. She stood in front of the steel door where Batman had went through to head to wherever he had gone.
"Let me out!" she screamed, angry and terrified at the same time. Skye had to help them, one way or another. She kept hitting it, then saw a panel beside it. Touching it, a touchpad came up with the numbers zero through nine.
"What's the freaking code?" she yelled toward the panel. Nothing happened. She looked back at the screen, and saw Robin hit with an energy blast from Klarion.
What had Rocket said as they entered? Oh, yes, Nightwing had his own code and had trouble recently changing it. She had mentioned how funny it was he was kicking and yelling at the damn computer.
He had recently changed it. Why not, here goes nothing! She put in her birthdate, month, date, and then year. Nothing happened. She put in Dick's birthday - nothing. Skye felt tears in her face as she saw the hall on the screen fill with smoke. The demon boy looked up at the cameras with an amused smile on his face. It was terrifying.
"Last try… I have to get this," Skye told herself, breathing to calm down. She put in the date Nightwing and she had met, and the door slid open. "Yes!"
Running, she followed a staircase upwards a floor, then punched in the same code at another panel. It slid open and she entered a plan looking hallway. She saw smoke coming into the hallway from beyond. The door closed behind her, showing nothing but a simple wall.
Skye began to run towards the end of the hallway. At that point, the smoke was becoming thicker. She coughed and stepped into the next area of the building. Shielding her face as best as she could. She bent forward and squinted. There was fire somewhere, making it this smokey.
"Nightwing!" she cried, rushing forward. She had to run through two more hallways, filled with smoke, to find the main area the fight had happened in. She found Dick lying a few feet in front of her, cut and bleeding. His eyes were closed. "No!"
Falling to her knees beside him, she ran a hand through his hair. His eyes fluttered, and tears fell. She knew it was both the smoke and the emotions. Suddenly, the smoke was sucked out of the room, and the demon boy stood, watching them with a little surprise and a lot of amusement. Wonder Girl, Robin, and Miss Martian were tied up, still out, against the wall.
"Who are you? Are you a new recruit?" Klarion asked, tilting his head.
"Get out, Skye," Nightwing muttered, pushing himself up into a sitting position.
"I'm not leaving you," she said angrily, looking at his wounds.
"Oh, my, isn't this adorable." Klarion said it like he was disgusted. "The bird has a pretty girlfriend."
Skye turned and looked at the three tied up. She stood and moved toward them, but was stopped by Klarion appearing in front of her. The tiger-cat appeared over Nightwing, forcing him to lay down once more.
"You want the book," she said, her voice trembling slightly. Klarion stared at her. "Why don't you just go get it while their out of the way?"
"Because you showed up. Humans are boring, usually, but here you are, mixed in with the superheroes. Why?" Klarion stepped forward. He was as all as she, dark hair, pale skin, and extremely thin. His eyes were dark black, darker than anything she had seen before.
"Because they're my friends," she replied, feeling a little stronger now that the smoke wasn't bothering her anymore.
"That little show with the bird showed a bit more," he teased.
"I feel more for him. Gives me even more reason to be standing here."
"Skye, what are you doing?" Dick growled at her, trying to sit up. The big cat pressed a paw on his chest and he groaned.
She just had to stall Klarion until Batman showed up. She had a feeling he had gone to get the other members of the Justice League.
"So, you're like, together together?" He seemed utterly surprised at that.
"Yeah, so?"
"I didn't think the birds could be in love."
"Apparently they can," Skye retorted, narrowing her eyes. God, she was terrified, but she knew Bruce wouldn't let her get hurt, or Nightwing, or the others.
"I'm going to get my book now." Klarion turned away. The cat pulled away from Dick, following Klarion. Dick groaned on the floor, covering the wound on his arm with his other hand.
"Wait!" Skye cried, running to the demon. She skidded to a halt in front of him. "Why do you want the book?"
"Get out of my way human, this is a waste of my time."
"But you seem so powerful now.. why do you need it?" Maybe a compliment would keep him still for a few moments longer. Skye swallowed, her blue hair messy and covering her eyes. She shoved it out of her face and behind her ear.
"I am the most powerful demon around," Klarion said, puffing out his small chest. "But that book with make it even more so."
"If you are the most powerful demon, you don't need the book. I just mean you look like you don't need the book. Look what you did, you have all four of the guards here flat on the floor. By yourself. That's impressive."
"I know," he said, looking back over his shoulder. Klarion turned back to her and grinned. Skye took a step back, swallowing hard. "Are you impressed?"
Skye nodded, feeling herself trembling as he stepped closer. Suddenly, Klarion cried out then fell forward. A sharp instrument was in his back, shaped like the batman sign. Gasping, Skye leaned forward, hands on thighs, and gasp for air. The demon was down on the ground, eyes closed. The cat had fallen over as soon as he was hit, changing into the smaller feline from before.
Skye finally looked up and saw the Justice League members who were out working on the machine looking down at her. She stood up and shook her head.
"What did you do to make him just… fall over?"
"Magic," Zantanna said, walking close to her. She put a hand on Skye's shoulder. "You are pretty awesome."
Skye was about to open her mouth to ask why she thought that, but was interrupted by a groan and an arm pulling her into someone's chest. It was Dick, and she put her arms around his waist, holding tightly. He was getting some blood on the shirt Skye was wearing from his arm, but neither cared. Skye didn't even think about whose clothing this was as she looked up and kissed him on his bloody mouth.
"Thank God you're okay," he muttered, wincing in pain.
"What about the others?" Skye asked suddenly, turning her head to the group.
"We're okay, thanks to you," Miss Martin said, coming up from behind the league members. Robin nodded, and Wonder Girl let out a breath of exhaustion.
"I didn't do anything," Skye said, blushing. Everyone was looking at her, and Dick's arms were still tight around her waist.
"You did, Skye, you kept Klarion busy until we could figure out a way to get him down," Diana said.
"This kind of means you're one of us. Sort of," Wonder Girl said, giggling.
"Not gonna happen," Nightwing said, glaring at the girl. Wonder Girl shrugged with a grin.
"You got my clothes bloody," Batgirl said, hands on her hips. Skye hadn't even noticed her there.
"I... I'm sorry," Skye apologized, trying to pull out of Dick's arms. He held tight.
"It's fine," she answered with a small smile. "It'll get out eventually, been there, done that."