CoAD: Broken Mirrors

by SorifTheHunter

It was just a regular day for the Team, until the alarm went off to tell them there was a stranger in the front room. Just a spy from the Light, right? ...Right? No, of course not. The Team isn't THAT lucky. Things could never just be simple, could they? Now they had to deal with fantasy that shouldn't exist too. Beginning is being rewritten. Book 1 of the World's Collide Series

47. Chapter 47 Party in Another Dimension p1

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice (sadly); all rights go to… whoever owns it, DC Comics/Cartoon Network and whatnot. I only own the Rangers and the plot.

A/N: This chapter was actually another 10,000 words long but I decided to cut it here. Even this is incredibly long. I really need to work on making them shorter.

I've been in kind of a bad mood lately… I haven't had a proper computer, I've had horrible writer block and I seemed to have gotten in a bit over my head with this story. I'm not going to stop it, no far from that. It's just the plot and characters and everything have grown from everything I planned them to be.

I've also begun an original story (it's in pre-production). I plan on posting it on FictionPress when I begin writing it.

Anyone else sad that today is the last episode of Young Justice? I really am quite sad they have cancelled it for this year. I might write a sequel for the show after I'm done with this story. (Well it's an idea…)

Sorry for the long Authors Note. On to the Story!

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Agni rolled over in his bed trying to get comfortable as he continued to remember that day. Rest wasn't coming easy for him. He hadn't slept in three days, which wasn't unusual at all for a dark elf, but still… he was really tired.

---

5:30 PM, June 25 Mount Justice.

Everyone entered the briefing room where several Leaguers were already assembled and waiting for them.

"Took you guys long enough." Oliver grumbled as they walked in

"We had to interrogate Iivdril." Superman sighed

"Talk about it later." Batman said walking to the computer console. "We have a mission to brief right now."

"'Bout time!" Flash exclaimed, vibrating in his seat. "I've been here for… one hundred and twenty four seconds."

Batman glared at the elder speedster for a moment before typing something into the console. A large hologram of a castle over the sea appeared.

"This," the Dark Knight began "Is where the Yearly U.N. Charity Ball is going to be held. We know for certain that it will be attacked by Abaddon as a distraction."

"Distraction for what?" Green Arrow asked "A bank robbery?"

"He's going to attack the White house. While we're busy fighting everyone off from the Ball." Batman said "So I will be sending most of us to the Ball where Abaddon himself will be. A small group led by Green Lantern will be going to White house."

Agni smiled widely "I wish to go to the White House. The President and I have business to finish."

Batman shook his head "When we informed the President he very clearly asked us not to send you."

Richie snickered at the crestfallen Agni.

"He said something about you beating up some of his men last time." Superman commented, watching the dark elf carefully "Do you happen to know anything about that?"

"Of course not." Agni said firmly

"You will be going to the Ball." Batman continued, glaring at Clark for the interruption.

"I don't want to go to a party!" the dark elf protested "There are… people there!"

Superman sighed. "Agni?"

"Ya?"

"Stop being so difficult."

"I'm not being-"

"Gag mih!"

Agni was suddenly snapped silent as gag popped into existence around his mouth.

"You're welcome." Zatanna informed everyone.

The dark elf glared at everyone before his eyes settled on Zatanna

"Mmmhhmmm mhmhmh mhmhmhm!"

"Get over it." Zatanna retorted "You can't live your life being so anti-social."

"Mhmhmhmmm!"

"No you can't."

"Mhm?"

"No."

"Mrrfm?"

"No buts either."

"Mrmhmhm mrffmhrm!"

"Nope, you have no choice in the matter." Zatanna said, before looking at Batman respectfully "Please continue."

"Did they just have a full conversation while Agni was gagged?" Artemis asked in disbelief

"Damn…" Green Arrow muttered under his breath "and I thought Canary was tough on me"

Wallace nodded "The necklace translates any thought or muffled sound… something like that." He said pointing at the necklace "I might have fell asleep during Elven Culture"

"How do you guys know that?" Superman asked

"Basic knowledge of Drow and their culture." Anna said "You take in at the Academy."

"All of you went to the Academy together?" Flash asked curiously

Kal shook his head "Nah… I went to the awesome school in Atlantis. It was like, so much fun… Kinda like swimming and fighting… actually it was swimming and fighting, but I did finish my last year with Roy He's a cool guy ya know... really good with a bow and stuff."

"Agni finished three years after everyone." Wallace stated "It probably had something to do with him failing all his magic classes for three years straight."

"I told you! High Wizard Fate was boring!" Agni yelled ripping the gag off "As was everyone else that taught magics."

"Thus is the official story." Richie said "But it was more likely you refused to tap into your magic power."

The Drow spun around and glared at his best friend "Richie I swear to the gods above. I will tell Master Bruce."

Richie grinned "You know that would only get yourself into trouble."

"How?" Green Arrow asked curiously

Agni groaned and dropped his face into the palms of his hands "According to Master Bruce anything that goes wrong in a team is the fault of the leader."

"Is that why no one follows the rules?" Robin asked

Richie nodded with his usual grin on his face.

"Back to the mission guys." Batman commanded, drawing everyone's attention to the hologram "Several of the leaguers will be attending the party, including Aquaman, Zatara-"

"You mean Doctor Fate right?" Robin asked

Batman shook his head and pressed a button on the console making a hologram of Zatara and Doctor Fate appeared in front of them. "After Richie and Agni had a talk with Nabu he agreed to let Zatara out from the helmet every now and then."

"It was mostly Richie." Agni said "I was moral support."

"By that he means he threatened to crack the helmet open and torture Nabu with necromancy unless he let Zatara see his daughter whenever he wanted to." Richie said casually, winking at Zatanna.

Agni turned and glared at the young elf again "I am going to kill you… slowly and painfully."

"You threatened Doctor Fate?" Flash said in disbelief. "Jeez… that takes balls."

"I did not threaten him!" Agni protested

"He left an anonymous note that said, and I quote 'bad things will happen to that stupid gaudy helmet if you do not let Zatara see his daughter. Oh and by the way, it really hurts when you use necromancy to pull a life-force through dimensions into the materiel plane.'"

Everyone blinked for a moment

"Necromancy?!" Anna shrieked

Kal looked slightly frightened "Dude… that's like… so illegal. Even in Atlantis… which is really lenient with what they teach. Unlike they Academy. "

Agni looked uncomfortable but waved them away "Yeah yeah judge me later. Back to the mission."

Batman sighed and continued "Aqualad and… Waterboy?"

"Dude…that is like so me. I'm like the boy… of water. Richie is like the boy of shadows. Maybe we should like rename him Shadowboy."

"Waterboy, we get it. We are not complete morons like Wallace and it would not hurt you to stay on track for more than twenty seconds." Elven Roy muttered loudly

"Hey!" Kid Zoom protested

The Dark Knight continued "Will be going with Aquaman as Atlantis representatives."

"Cool… I so like hanging with my king… uh Kaldur's king…"

"He is the king to both of us…" Kaldur said to his counterpart

"CAN WE PLEASE STAY ON TRACK?!"

"Thank you Robin." Batman said, his patience looked incredibly strained "Red Arrow and… Bloody Arrow" Batman paused and looked at Elven Roy for a moment, "will be going as security along with Superboy and Berzerker. Green Lantern Stewart and Captain Atom will be accompanying you as security."

Both Roys nodded with serious looks on their face. Conner were sighed as Connie cheered happily

"Robin, Richie and Agni will be accompanying me."

"Aww why do they get to go with you?" Wally complained, interrupting Batman

"Because we will be undercover and they both know my identity." Batman retorted "And besides, they work best together."

Richie and Robin high fived each other and crowed while Agni sighed in relief

"That's good," he said "I thought I would have to put up with the speedsters all night."

"Hey! We are right here!" Flash, Kid Flash and Kid Zoom all yelled at once

"Wonder Woman will be going with us." Batman said between clenched teeth

Silence

Richie's hand slowly halted in mid high five and Agni's head shot up.

"Wonder Woman?" Richie asked, frightfully.

"As in Princess Diana of the Amazonians? That Wonder Woman?" Agni asked slowly, backing away from everyone followed closely by Richie. Both of them looked like they were being led to the electric chair

Everyone but the Rangers looked at them curiously.

"There's another Wonder Woman?" Flash asked curiously Batman "Is she just as hot and uptight as the Princess?"

"There isn't another Wonder Woman." Robin said "What's your problem with Princess Diana?"

"On second thought can I go with the speedsters?" Agni said "Or better yet, can I get a sick day?"

Richie suddenly grasped his chest dramatically and slumped to the floor "IthinkI'mhavingaheartattackandwon'tbeabletogo."

"I am assuming Wonder Woman is less then pleasant in your dimension…" Green Arrow said as Richie pretended to go into a seizure

"Nononononononono, I'm less than pleasant. Trust me Anna and Richie informs me that every day." Agni said seriously "Diana is an obnoxious, arrogant, stuck up, pompous, barbarian, did I mention stuck up?, unruly, bigheaded, feminist! Who does nothing but insult and bully males… especially dark elves like me!"

"She has a personal vendetta against dark elves…" Richie sighed getting up from his 'heart attack' and looking glum. "She calls them un-honorable, sneaky and sly and whatnot. She's so not whelmed"

"Can we move on now?" Flash asked "I wanted to catch a movie before the mission."

Batman glared stonily at everyone for interrupting him… again "Green Arrow and Superman will be going undercover alone as their… other identities."

"Why isn't anyone going particularly with them?" M'gann asked

"I would prefer to keep my secret identity well… a secret." Superman explained

"As do I." Green Arrow said

"But we all know who-" Conner began but fell silent "Never mind…" he ended as Robin purposely stepped on his foot.

"Miss Martian, Miss Phantom, Artemis and Huntress will be going to the White House to protect the president with The Hawks, Black Canary and Red Tornado." Superman said, bringing the conversation back on track for the millionth time

"What about us?" Flash demanded "Why leave us for last?"

"You're not last, there is still us." Anna muttered but the speedsters ignored her

"Zatanna and the White Cleric will be joining the party with Giovanni. All three speedsters, Green Lantern Hal and Captain Marvel will be on standby throughout the whole party." Batman finished looking around "They will be back up for anyone who needs it."

Everyone nodded and got up to leave.

"Team, Rangers, please stay." Superman said

Agni sighed and glared at the lights through his sunglasses "That's never good."

The teenagers crowded around Superman and Batman, awaiting whatever it was they wanted to say.

"We would like to talk to you guys about… your powers." Superman said

"And weapons." Batman added.

Agni looked alarmed "No. Just no. There is no way we are going to give you a full list of our powers and weapons."

"It wasn't a request." Batman growled

"That doesn't change anything." Agni growled back

"Richie?" Batman asked turning to Richie

"Not. A. Word." Agni hissed "That's an order."

Richie looked back and forth between the two black cloaked men glaring at him. "Aww common guys don't do this to me. You know I have to do what Agni says when he orders me to."

"Look Agni, it's nothing big. We just want to know your guys limits and basic powers." Superman said trying to reason

"You know our basic powers."

"Why must you be so difficult?"

"It's his nature…" Wallace said "and I think he enjoys it."

Richie sighed "I think Agni is right." He said to everyone's disbelief "Letting you guys know our full powers, abilities and limits is… dangerous for us."

"And if one of you goes rouge?" Batman pointed out

Agni snorted "He or she would be dead within a few hours. A day tops."

Superman blinked as he looked at Cursed Shadow "You're joking right?"

The dark elf shook his head "If one of us went rouge the others would kill him. Simple as that. No hesitation whatsoever."

"You guys would kill another if he went rouge?" Green Arrow asked skeptically, breaking the silence he had been in.

"We know the threat we could be if we turned evil." Agni said inspecting his fingernails nonchalantly "We all know the others weaknesses."

Bloody Arrow nodded "Quickly and simply."

"No regrets." Wallace added

"You wouldn't regret killing your own comrade? Even Agni or Wallace?" Robin asked, staring at his counterpart in disgust.

"If they went rouge? Yes, I would not regret killing him." Richie replied.

"If I was to go rouge then I would hope someone would kill me swiftly." Agni stated "And preferably quite painfully to knock some sense into me."

"Same here." Wallace said gesturing his fingers along his neck as if he was slicing it open "No hesitation."

Batman looked at him silently for several seconds before realizing that no one was going to tell him anything about their powers that he didn't already know. "What about your weapons? Your Ranger Weapons?"

Everyone looked at Agni who shrugged "I guess… they are not exactly a secret. Everyone knows we have them."

Richie nodded and stepped forward first. He opened his hand into the air. There was a small flash of light and he gripped a small piece of wood. It suddenly grew into a large boa staff. Its base color was dark blue with green and yellow hieroglyphs on it. The middle section was black "My Weapon is the boa staff of the Ninja… I named her 'Justice'." He said twirling it around in his hand

"Yeah, because murder is so totally justice." Robin muttered but everyone ignored him.

Nightwing glared at him for a moment before continuing "She is able of conducting electricity and lightning like a piece of metal. It is also imbued with silver… and garlic." His staff began to sparkle. He stabbed it into the ground and a shockwave of electricity shot out from around him causing a small rumble in the cave.

"Why silver?" Wally asked

"Werewolves and vampires." Anna said "They can be quite vicious at times."

"My staff was handmade for me." Richie continued "By… a monk."

"So your weapons aren't made by the same person?" Batman asked

Megg'n shook her head "Each of our Weapons comes from somewhere else, each with their own back story. They have different spells and upgrades on them that make them Ranger Weapons. It's really just a fancy title if you think about it."

"So essentially all your weapons are just normal?" Robin inquired curiously

Agni shook his head "Our Weapons are special, each in their own way, and in no way whatsoever are they normal."

Wallace walked forward next. He vibrated for a moment and two long knives slid into existence in his hands. "My weapons are the two long elven knives of the Strong. I named them Power and… well I never named the other one. I was thinking of 'thunder' or 'tornado'. It allows me to control wind around me in blasts." Kid Zoom held up two foot long knives with yellow carved handles and orange hilts. If you asked anyone in the team, they were hideous, but Wallace thought they were beautiful (but that's coming from a kid who runs around in sunshine yellow and orange for a living.)

"He just had to name it something macho like Power and Tornado." Arty muttered

"Care to demonstrate?" Superman asked

Wallace nodded and turned to Agni who nodded as well. The elven speedster flipped his knives around so the flats were lying against his forearm. He punched his arms out into the air. The air rippled through the air at Agni who raised his arms to brace himself. It tore through his defense and sent him flying onto his back, when he stood back up and lifted his arms his clothes were torn to shreds around his arms.

"Aww damn… I liked this cloak." Agni complained "You didn't need to put that much power into it.

"My knives were given to me by…" Wallace glanced at Agni for a moment "a dragon, for helping him."

"Hold on… did you say a dragon?"

Wallace nodded "Not all dragons are… well evil I guess." He jerked his head slightly at Agni who was glaring murderous daggers at the back of his head

Walking forward and whispered a spell causing a small slingshot to appear in her hand, Arty held up her Weapon "My Weapon is the slingshot of the Halflings. I named it Betty." She held up a simple cream colored sling shot with dark brown rubber string holding a piece of black leather to it.

Wally doubled over laughing at the soft name "B-b-betty?" he gasped between spasms of laughter "What kind of name is that?"

Arty mutter a very unladylike word under her breath "It doesn't have any special attributes because I do not need them, though it does give me heightened accuracy and sense of my surrounding. Unlike everyone else I made this weapon myself."

The White Cleric walked up next and outstretched her hand to her side. The air stirred and an elegant wand appeared and floated into her hand. It was long and almost pure white. It was adorned with a yellow star, etched perfectly into the middle of the wand. "My Weapon is a wand... obviously. The wand of the Healer. I named it Thorn. It is made out of a spruce tree. Kinda ironic really… I don't think I've ever had to use healing magic with it." She smiled as she shot colored sparkles around the room "It was given to me by my father. He said it was my mother's family heirloom."

Bloody Arrow stepped forward after Anna. He muttered a spell and drew a symbol in the air. A large locker began to form in the air in front of him. He opened it and removed a simple dark red and black longbow. It wasn't fancy like most of the others Weapon's, but it had an elegant look to it "My Weapon is the longbow of the Hunter. I call it the eye-seeker for that is what it does."

Elven Roy held it up for everyone to see… it wasn't strung.

"Why isn't it strung? Aside from a bow keeps better when it's only strung when in use." Green Arrow commented.

Bloody Arrow smiled and held it in the proper way to shoot. A thin wisp of red magic appeared between his fingers and a black and red arrow appeared "It never needs to be strung nor do I need to actually have arrows on me. Unless I need some tipped with potions or poisons or things that will explode or burst into smoke."

Green Arrows jaw dropped when he saw that "Where I can get me one of those?" he demanded

"They are not made anymore. There are only a few left in our world. And to have a bow upgraded you would have to become a Ranger… even then you wouldn't necessarily get one." Agni said

"Why not?"

"The person who made our weapons into Weapons… doesn't anymore." Agni explained

"Why does it sound like whenever they talk about their weapons it's with a capital 'W'?" human Roy whispered to Kaldur.

"Did he die?" Wally asked, slightly over-cheerfully

Richie shook his head "It isn't a story tale, Wally. He doesn't make them anymore because he saw what Abaddon did with his weapon."

"Agni had to beg to get his."

Bloody Arrow nodded and put his regular bow back into the locker and his Weapon over his shoulder where a magical wisp of a string appeared holding it there. "I found my Weapon in the very lowest level of a dungeon."

"What do you mean by dungeon?" Green Arrow asked

Bloody Arrow shrugged "Just a… well, dungeon. We went looting one day in just a regular dungeon. We found a secret door and went down in. Kind of recklessly really."

"Very recklessly." Anna confirmed "You broke three ribs and you almost lost your eye. Wallace almost lost his feet. Richie had a concussion and Agni got stabbed through his calf."

"Meh, that happens almost every day for us." Richie said staring off into space, reliving his memories in his mind.

The Rangers fell silent, all with a small smile on their faces, as they remembered the fun they had.

"Ahem." Superman coughed politely.

"Oh yeah right…" Richie said coming back to earth "Megg'n your up."

Megg'n stepped forward next, but made no move to summon anything "Unlike them I actually have and use my Weapon at all times."

"I thought you don't use weapons?" Superman asked

Megg'n nodded "A Ranger's weapon is not necessarily a Weapon. If you understand what I mean." She removed an amulet from around her neck that was hidden by her hair. It was a green gem set in a dark blue metal. Its chain was silvery mythral "My Weapon is the Aasmir's amulet. It has no name for truly an amulet needs none." She replaced it on her neck and bowed to everyone "It does not do much. Just enhances my senses, telekinesis and telepathy." It was given to me by the gods as a gift for a song I wrote about them."

Wally rolled his eyes "Suuuure they did."

Wallace glared at him "Do not mock the gods, human. Less they turn their wrath upon you and your kin."

"Does anyone else notice when Wallace gets angry he goes all medieval talk on us?" Robin asked

"We all tend to do that at times." Richie said "Tis is quite natural for us to speak formally in olden Standard."

"Standard is English in our world." Elven Roy said

"I noticed Dwarven is Arabic." Conner said speaking up.

Kal casually walked forward next and looked around "Dude… I bet you'll never guess my Weapon." He challenged

"Water Ring?" Robin offered

Kal's looked at the young boy oddly "Wrong. Like… why would you guess that?"

"You have an aqua blue ring on you left hand while all of the other Ranger's have their rings on their right hands."

All the Rangers suddenly clenched their hands protectively around their Ranger rings.

"It's not his Weapon." Riche said "He just wears his Ranger Ring on his left hand."

Kal nodded at this and "That is like so-o-o-o-o true..."

"Can we get on with this? I still wanted to catch that movie." Flash whined

"No one said you had to stay." Batman retorted

"Yeah… but I wanted to see their completely awesome weapons."

"That are used for needless murder." Robin scoffed

Richie opened his mouth to retort but was silence when Agni raised his hand. "Don't bother… he enjoys being hard headed no matter how many times we explain how what we do is not murder." Agni emphasized the last three words with a glare at Boy Wonder.

Kal looked around hesitantly "Should I like… still show my Weapon or should I like go sit back down?"

"Please continue." Superman said

The (seemingly) Stoned Water Elf nodded, holding out his hand in front of himself palm up and waited patiently.

"Is this going to take long?" Flash asked glancing at the clock

No one answered for several seconds until Agni sighed "There is no water around here..." and walked over to the faucet in the kitchen. "No point of breaking the pipes." He muttered as the water flowed out and straight at the water elf.

Kal nodded his thanks as the water swirled around his hand slowly forming a large golden trident. It was even more plane than Elven Roy's bow. It was just solid with a blue gem at the bottom

"Whoa…" Wally muttered as Kal grabbed the trident and held it up.

"This is like… so totally the weapon of Poseidon. I named it Tridon. Because it's like a trident… of Poseidon. It was a gift by my king. I like gifts… they allow me to spend more of my own money on other things." He said before looking around at everyone. "Do you dudes need me to explain what it does?"

"That would be helpful." Batman said looking at the trident carefully.

Forcing the water to follow his command, Kal spun his trident in one hand. The water flowed towards him and created a pillar in front of him. Everyone gazed at the pillar of water as electricity flowed through it. Kal slashed his trident through the water and it turned into ice. The ice suddenly shaped into daggers as Kal's trident smashed into it, sending the daggers flying at Agni who unleashed a wave of fire to melt them into steam.

"That is very useful…" Kaldur said thoughtfully eying the trident carefully as the trident dissolved into water and sunk into the ground.

Everyone looked at the only ones who hadn't went, Agni and Connie, for several moments in silence. Agni was suddenly very interested in his fingernails while Connie glared at the floor.

"Take your time, it's not like anyone was planning on going to the movies or anything…" Flash muttered irately

The dwarf glanced up for a moment before finally sighing and walking forward. "I don' have a Weap'n…" he said glumly

"Why not?" Batman asked

"By da time I joined, Abaddon had already gone evil and all dat." Connie explained "So I never got a Weap'n."

"How come you guys didn't kill Abaddon when he went rouge?" Robin said suddenly. "Isn't your rule when one of you goes rouge you'd kill him?"

Richie sighed "When that rule was made… Abaddon had already been rouge for a while."

Agni nodded with a scowl on his face "We made that rule after Iivdril went rogue. She never had a Weapon either."

"Dat bitch has been nothn but pr'blems." Connie grumble, evidently sore that he never got a Ranger Weapon.

Agni stepped forward next with a frown on his face. "Just know I am still completely against this idea." He said to everyone

"Yes we know." Red Arrow said dismissively

"And when we return home all of you will be severely punished."

"Dude… you've already said that to us like… twenty times this week." Kaldur said

Cursed Shadow nodded and stepped forward. "Now usually I do not show my Ranger Weapon."

"You did when we were in that illusion spell." Zatanna said

"I was not thinking correctly. Or at all actually." He said and lifted his hands "Most think my bracers are my Weapon," his hidden daggers popped out, "but they are not. They could have been, but they are not."

Agni said sticking his hand into his shadow. "There are several ways I can summon it, but since you guys insist I show it to you I'm going to show it in its truest form."

"What does he mean by truest form?" Robin asked Richie

"I don't know maybe something like dripping with blood from all the innocents we murder." Richie retorted a bit more strongly than he meant to.

Agni hesitantly took his hand back out holding what looked like a long piece of black wood with a slight notch in it.

"A piece of wood?" Wally asked "I expected something like a sword or a battle axe from you…"

"It is a katana… or similar." Robin said

Agni nodded slowly "Similar" he said sliding it into his belt. The hilt was protruding slightly above his right hip and the tail was slightly above his left knee. A long silvery stripe ran down the length of the wooden sheath, it gleamed slightly in the cave's electric lights. "My weapon is the chokutō of the..." his voice trailed off.

"Of?" Batman asked looking at the sword curiously. He had known Agni to fight with katanas, scimitars, long swords, almost any weapon really, especially oriental but not a chokutō.

"ThechokutōoftheDragonWarrior ." Agni said quickly drawing the sword. Its blade was a little over two feet long. Its blade was a dark red with numerous runes engraved into the blade. The hilt was a plain black grip with a simple small hand guard. It was almost completely unadorned of anything except a small red dragon was on the very bottom of the hilt. It stood out against the black handle.

"What did he say?" Human Roy asked

"It's the choker of the dragon warrior." Flash translated confusedly

"Choker?" Artemis asked roller her eyes at the elder speedster.

"Chokutō." Batman corrected. "It's a straight edged Japanese sword, similar to a katana."

Agni blinked "Uh… yeah?"

Batman held out his hand

The dark elf flipped his sword around and slowly handed it to him.

The Dark Knight held the sword up and gave it an experimental swing through the air. "It's perfectly balanced, sharpened to perfection, and incredibly light weight."

Agni nodded and took the sword back. He swung it through the air a few times with a blank look on his face. "I don't use this Weapon very much. Nor do I ever use it in its true form." Before anyone could ask what he meant he held up a hand to halt their bubbling questions. "My Weapon's has several powers. It belonged to…" he hesitated for several seconds before staring at the red blade.

Richie walked up to him and put a hand on the dark elf's shoulder comfortingly. He whispered something into his ear in a language no one seemed to understand.

Cursed Shadow nodded slowly before looking up and holding the sword out in front of him. "The sword belonged to my father." He said "It was the only thing he left behind. Our Batman found it afterwards. He gave it to me when i left the Academy."

The Rangers, aside from Richie, looked at the sword in slight awe. Batman could tell they never heard that before.

"It's made from an unknown metal." Agni continued "Its origin is not known. All I know is that it was made by my mother's ancestors. It was given to my father as a dowry."

"Isn't a dowry the other way around?" Wally asked

"Not for the Drow." Anna corrected.

Agni nodded and held his sword out in front of him. It slowly shifted in front of everyone's eyes. It went from a long chokutō to small black knife then to a double edged long sword. "It's able to shape shift to other weapons at ease and it can do stuff similar to Wallace's knives."

Fire flew through the air as Agni's sword cut it. Arcs of dark blue and purple fire sliced through the wall like it was butter.

"That wasn't regular fire." Superman observed.

Cursed Shadow nodded but didn't say anything more on the topic. Instead he continued on. "I haven't named it yet. It is known as many things though… Shadow's Fang, Sword of the Dragons… many things. But it has no true name yet."

"Why don't you use your Ranger Weapon's more often?" Batman asked

Richie spun his staff around his back and grabbed it in his left hand. "For most of us, we don't truly need them here. There are no magic enemies in this world. " He answered softly "Connie doesn't have one and Agni has… issues with his."

"So what if it belonged to his father?" Wally said insensitively "It's just a sword."

Agni glared at him before sighing and looking at the sword in his hand "This is not just my father's sword. This is a sword that has been wielded by dragon warriors and the like. "

"Dude, you need to get over the fact you are a dragon, it's getting kind of old."

The dark elf suddenly looked up. His entire eyes went black and fire tingled around his finger tips. "You would never understand, human. Your world is a… walk in the park compared to ours." He snarled

"Agni, calm down." Batman commanded

Cursed Shadow's head turned to glare at the Dark Knight, clenching his hands around the sword. "I am perfectly calm. If I wasn't calm I would be tearing his arms…" Agni faltered as he realized what he said

Richie looked slightly fearful as he looked at Agni. "It's happening isn't it?" he asked slowly

Agni slowly unclenched his fist and loosened his grip on the sword. He muttered something in a language that no one understood. His eyes were slowly turning back to a normal human… elf's eyes.

Wally continued "You need to stop acting like such a victim. I bet there is nothing really wrong with you and you're just acting like that for attention."

The dark elf's eyes immediately turned back to black. The hunter part of him took over and he launched himself at Wally, roaring draconically. His fingernails grew rapidly until they looked similar to claws.

Reaching him before he took a few steps, Batman grabbed a hold of Agni and held him back. Superman zoomed forward and held Agni back with a firm hand. Agni's clattered to the floor as he swiped at Batman.

Everyone had jumped at Agni's actions and was looking at him fearfully. Anna sighed and muttered a spell by pointing Thorn at the crazed dark elf.

A green bolt hit Agni directly on the chest but failed to show any effect on him, much to the surprise of Anna and Zatanna.

Richie calmly walked in front of Agni and stood directly in front of him. "Agni, focus. Keep it hidden, keep it tamed. You know that is not who you are."

Nightwing waited patiently for several seconds before he began to look concerned. Agni was thrashing wildly roaring in an unknown language even to him.

Zatanna dashed forward next to Agni and slapped him strongly on the face. "Agni! Get a hold of yourself!"

Richie gasped and pulled her away quickly thinking Agni would lash at her next, but Agni just stopped and looked stunned for a moment before suddenly collapsing in Superman's hand.

Clark quickly let him go and Agni fell onto all fours on the floor panting heavily.

Everyone turned and glared at Wally who was looking a bit sheepish… and scared. "I stand corrected?" he offered

"Open mouth, insert feet." Red Arrow muttered

Arty, recovering from her shock, turned around and yelled at the human speedster "WHY WOULD YOU GOAD HIM?!"

"I thought he was lying!"

"That doesn't mean you provoke a person who has the magical power of a warhead!" Artemis yelled

"Jeez... am I that thick?" Wallace asked his teammates, who all nodded vigorously

Artemis and Arty continued to yell at the speedster for several minutes while Agni panted on the floor trying to retain what little dignity he thought he had left. Richie crouched down next to him and offered him a flask he removed from his belt, but Agni pushed his hand away.

Zatanna also crouched down next to him searching for words she could say to comfort him.

Agni looked up and saw her there. He quickly backed away cringing at his own words as he yelled them "Get away from me!" he yelled wobbling away. "Do you not see the darkness inside of me? I'm a monster! No one can change what I am no matter how hard I try. Just... keep away ." he said the last words weakly and almost fell to the floor again but was caught by Batman who remained grim and serious as he gazed at Agni.

Batman held him up firmly until Agni could stand on his own, while Richie walked over to the dropped sword and brought it back to its owner

Cursed Shadow picked up the sword and looked at it wearily. "I wonder…" he muttered softly to himself. "If all dracothropes had it this hard." He shifted his gaze to Wally who looked embarrassed for what he did. He slowly walked over to him sliding the sword into its sheath, contemplating every move he made.

Batman went to intercept him again but Zatanna grabbed his arm and shook her head silently.

Wally paled as Agni walked towards him.

Before he could say anything Agni was already in front of them, gazing at him silently.

"Look bro I'm-" Wally began. Agni remained silent and just put a hand on his shoulder.

Agni put his left arm over his chest and his fist over his heart. He bowed slightly before turning around and walking to the nearest chair to sit down in.

"What does that mean?" Wally asked his counterpart who was still glaring at him.

"It's the Drow sign for peace. It means he means no harm against you." Wallace said.

Agni sighed as he sat down in his chair. He closed his eyes and sunk into his own thoughts. He was increasingly worried. What he always hoped would never happened was happening more and more. He was losing control. He was giving into what he called his 'hunter senses', which was in truth his draconic part. His split personality that was always egging him to be ruthless and violent was now being freed. Slowly but surely, it was getting out.

Oh just fucking great

The dark elf looked up to see Zatanna was sitting next to him silently gazing at him. He looked at the floor and waited for her to chew him out.

"I'm not going to." Zatanna said

Oh right the necklace… duh

"I wanted to know if you are okay."

"I could have killed him…" Agni whispered so that only she could hear. "If Superman didn't hold me I would have ripped Wally's head off... literally."

"But you didn't…" Zatanna said "You can control the… other part of you."

Agni shook his head "All the rage inside is killing me. It's breaking down the walls I made to keep it in. It's like living in a nightmare, knowing at any time I could lose control and... a-a-and kill someone close to me."

"That's why you are always alone isn't it?" Zatanna asked "Why you hide yourself."

Agni nodded and went silent again, staring hatefully at his own hands, the claws were now gone and returned to their normal obsidian color skin.

"Was it your mother or your father?" Zatanna asked suddenly "Which one was a dragon?"

Agni sighed and dropped his face into his hands "I don't know… I always assumed it was my father. That's why my mother gave him the sword."

They stood up slowly and walked back to the circle everyone was standing in.

"I-I'm sorry guys." Agni said "I should not have let my emotions get away from me like that."

Everyone nodded at his apology and looked at Batman.

"I want to know about your rings." He said "They… interest me."

Agni looked at Richie and nodded.

Nightwing stepped forward and held out his right hand. On it was a black ring with a gem set in it. The color of the gem would shift everyone few seconds to other colors.

"This is a Ranger's ring." Nightwing said "It is kind of like our I.D.. Lots of people in our world have similar things."

"What does it do?" Flash asked "Does it also shoot fire?"

Nightwing shook his head and muttered a word in elvish under his breath A hologram appeared above the ring. Revolving in it was Nightwing himself, in his costume, normal clothes and Ranger cloak. Next to it was a long list of his abilities and weaknesses, but they were in a language no one could read.

"Every Guilder and Rangers has a ring like this. Only we can allow it to open. It has to be on our hands, we have to mutter the word, and it won't open if there is any sign of danger around us."

Red Arrow studied the list of symbol that represented elvish in Richie's hologram. "Elvish is an old type of Chinese." He said out loud "And I think Drow might be Japanese."

Richie's hologram disappeared instantly "Then that is all you will be able to see of our rings. They all hold information that you cannot see."

"And why not?" Flash snapped

"Because a lot of it is classified information that even some the Guilders does not have access to." Anna said, slightly apologetically. "Even Wallace knows not to show information from his ring to others."

"It doesn't matter." Said the voice of the dark elf

Everyone turned around and looked at Agni in surprise.

He waved his hand wearily. "If we are stuck here then they might as well know."

Richie blinked a few times then stared at him "But five minutes ago you-"

"Stop staring at me."

Everyone looked away from Agni and back to Richie who gulped "We're going to catch hell for this if we do go back."

"We've caught worse."

Richie sighed and gave everyone a quick look before muttered his ring's magic word and the hologram reappeared above his hand. "The rings act as teleporters or zeta-beams. They also act as a telepathic conduit for the Rangers."

"Anything else?" Batman asked

Richie nodded "The self-destruct if they are… compromised."

"That is good to know." Superman noted carefully.

Agni sighed "Anything else you would like to interrogate us about?"

"This isn't an interrogation, Agni." Superman said

"Really? It feels like one." Richie said harshly closing his ring's hologram.

"Great I missed the movie…" Flash muttered "But I bet I can make the next one if I hurry."

"Its time for the mission." Green Arrow said looking at the clock, much to the dismay of Flash "The ball starts in two hours."

Batman nodded and made for the door motioning for Robin, his counterpart and Agni to follow. Everyone else got up and began to filter out as well

Nightwing followed Robin out but Agni stopped and removed his chokutō.

He waited for everyone to leave before he knelt over his shadow and looked at the sword for several moments, several soft footsteps sounded behind him.

"Dude… do you remember when we met… it was like a hundred years ago." Kaldur said softly

Agni nodded without turning around "It was in the Academy. You saved me from being killed. Hilal was trying to drown me in the pool… You just walked up and the water emptied out of the pool and froze Hilal in a miniature iceberg. But what does that have to do with anything?"

Kaldur shrugged and sat down next to his friend "Absolutely nothing I was just wondering. I just remember seeing a dark elf… maybe he was part dragon, but that didn't matter to him or to me. I saw a good person doing whatever he could to help the world not giving the most slightest thought of what people thought of him. Seriously you did not give a shit about what anyone thought. At all. Period. Has that person changed?" he said in a normal tone, looking at Agni with unusually clear eyes.

Cursed Shadow sighed. A small smile crept on his face "You didn't talk like stoner…"

Waterboy grinned, his eyes beginning to look dazed and sleepy again as he stood back up. "Dude… seriously? I like didn't even notice… I was too wrapped up in trying to cheer you up and stuff." He gave a small wink and exited the room.

Agni watched him leave before standing back up and slipping the sheathed sword back into its place on his belt. "I think that guy might be trolling all of us…" Cursed Shadow muttered to himself as he walked towards the zeta-tube.

Everyone else was already gone so he walked over to the control panel and stared at it. He hesitantly pushed several buttons at once.

"Activate self-destruct?" A robotic said

Agni looked alarmed "Nononononono don't do that!" he said pressing several more buttons.

"Self-destruct in 10,9,8-"

Cursed Shadow began hit the console frantically

"7,6,5,4"

The dark elf pulled a desert eagle out of his bag and shot several rounds into the console.

"3,2"

"Ye gods why do you hate me?" he said stabbing his chokutō through it several times.

"Self-destruct orders: canceled by Batman 02"

Agni's shoulder slumped as he sighed in relief. The zeta-tube began to glow as if someone was activating it.

"Cursed Shadow E01" The same robotic voice said as he stepped through and exited into the Batcave.

"Why in the gods names did it call me Cursed Shadow?! I am not a hero and that is not a hero's name!"

Agni blinked as he looked around the cave. It defiantly looked just like Master Bruce's… just with more technology and other complicated stuff.

"What did you just do?" Batman demanded

"I pressed several buttons on the console that was supposed to take me to the City of Gotham." Agni answered "Then I shot it like in the movies… and it still didn't work."

Batman looked at Robin who who asked "No more movies for him?"

The Dark Knight glared at the young boy who just grinned shamefacedly "You think?"

Richie suddenly appeared in Agni's shadow with a large grin on his face "Agni! You have got to check this place out! It's got all sorts of cool weapons in it!"

Agni's face brightened considerably.

Batman saw this and nodded "Robin give them a tour if they want, but DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING."

Agni nodded and bounded off like a young child after his two friends

The Dark Knight sighed and walked over to his computer. Agni reminded him of someone… he just couldn't but his finger on it.

Robin was bringing the two elves back towards the computer when Batman got a call from Dianna telling him she would be there in a few moments.

Agni looked at the large computer and arched an eyebrow. "Does everyone in this world have those computers?"

"Just about." Robin answered.

Cursed Shadow nodded and sighed "What am I supposed to wear to this banquet?"

Batman took off his cowl revealing a middle aged man. He glanced at Agni who was staring at him confusedly. "Anything wrong?" Batman asked

The dark elf shook his head "Nothing… it's just. Master Bruce is older."

"How much?"

"I would say a couple hundred years…" Richie said also staring

Bruce's eyebrow arched "Human's live that long in your world?"

Agni shook his head "Master Bruce is a monk… they tend to live to be around five hundred years old. He's five hundred and fifteen through. Humans usually live to be about 400. Most elves live to be around five thousand, aside from arctic elves who only live to be about a single thousand. Dwarves live to be about a thousand as well." The dark elf took a deep breath.

Bruce nodded, absorbing in the information in case it would be useful at a later date. "What about gnomes?"

"Never asked… they are pretty long lived as far as I know though." Agni answered

Several footsteps were heard behind them as an old man came into view.

"Ahh I see you have brought the guests, Master Bruce. Can I get you anything to drink or perhaps a snack? I made a lovely batch of cookies earlier." Alfred said respectfully looking at Agni and Richie "I assume they are the two guests from another dimension you were speaking of."

Agni nodded and crossed his right arm over his chest. "Greetings Master Alfred." He greeted. Richie held out his hand which was taken and solemnly shaken by the old butler

"I have brought what you asked for Master Bruce." Alfred said laying several suits on a table. "I fear to think of what is going to happen tonight that you need this for."

Bruce picked one up and help it in front of Agni "This one is for Agni. He really likes black suits. It's made out of titanium infused thread, reinforced with Kevlar and I had Richie and Robin imbued it with their magic."

Agni stared at the black suit with stars in his red eyes

"I assume you want to wear it." Bruce said

"Fuck yeah!"

"Language, Master Agni." Alfred said "I see where Master Dick has been getting his dirty mouth from."

Agni grabbed the suit and dropped into his shadow.

"He really likes anything that has to do with weapons or armor." Richie explained apologetically

The dark elf popped out of a shadow brushing his hands down the dark suit and replacing his sunglasses. "This is sooo comfortable!"

"I am glad you like it." Alfred said "It took me several hours to sew."

"Ye gods… talk about a lot of goddamned work." Agni said looking at the butler with respect

"Language…" Alfred chided "If you keep talking like that I'm going to wash out your mouth with soap."

Agni rolled his eyes. "As if you can catch me."

"I wouldn't make a bet on that Agni." Bruce warned amused "I already made that mistake"

The dark elf opened his hand, shadows jumped up to it and his sword slowly began forming in it.

"Isn't there a quicker name to summon it?" Robin asked curiously. He was removing his costume and about to dress into a suit as well.

"Of course. It's just not my style." Agni said

"What does style have to do with being a soldier?"

Cursed Shadow shrugged and he muttered a spell and slid the sword into his pocket, that he wasted no time in enchanting. "A soldier? Nothing. A Guilder, Ranger and Captain? Everything."

"That is quite the useful spell." Alfred commented

Agni stuck his hand into his shadow and pulled out his bracers. He placed them on his wrists and they closed themselves.

"Agni…" Bruce sighed

"Ya?"

"You don't need those."

"Last time you said that I was caught in an illusion spell that almost killed me." Agni replied

"He does have a point there, Master Bruce." Alfred said with a small smile.

Bruce sighed and walked across the Batcave. "Agni, come with me I want to test something in the Pit."

Agni followed slowly "What's the pit?"

"It's were we train." Robin explained following them with Richie "And when he calls one of us over there he usually kicks the shit out of us."

"Master Dick!"

"Sorry Alfred!" Robin called to the butler who was glaring at Agni

Agni dropped into the pit next to Bruce, who was wearing his cowl again. He walked over to a small closet and pulled out a sword similar to Agni's. "I want to test out the suit."

"That is the most worst fucking lie I have ever heard. You want to test my skills in the sword."

"One more time Agni and I will have Master Bruce tie you up while I was your mouth out with soap." Alfred threatened.

Batman kept the sword sheathed and dropped into a fighting stance.

Agni removed his sword and strapped it to the back of his hip. "What? Scared of hurting me?"

The Dark Knight shrugged and cast the sheath aside.

They began circling each other waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Five gold coins Batman wins." Richie proclaimed from his perch above the pit next to Robin and Alfred.

"I would bet ten on Master Bruce." Alfred countered

"Thanks a lot Alfred."Agni shouted from below them "I love that boost of confidence"

Batman took advantage of the distraction by dashing forward swinging his sword at Agni's left arm.

The un-named sword shot from its sheath and deflected the blow. Agni smirked as he didn't even bother holding the sword right side up. "You must do better than that Master Bruce." He taunted, with the blade still laying against the bottom of his wrist and arm

A small 'almost-smile' passed over Batman's face as he closed in on Agni again. The dark elf twirled his sword around in a style Batman did not know, but nonetheless he kept his ground against the dark elf.

Agni swung his moved to and fro swiftly, never staying in the same place for more than a few seconds. He ducked, weaved and parried all of Batman's attacks but wasn't able to land a single blow himself.

"Your style is quite a good one." Batman commented yet again foiling Agni's attacks

"It is unique." Agni replied dodging Batman's swing "I made it myself. I am not fighting at my best though."

"And why is that?"

"I prefer to fight with two swords or two knives. Two of anything really."

"Can you shape shift your Weapon into two?"

Agni nodded and ducked under Batman's skilled swings.

Their swords clashed again. The remained there each one leaning heavily trying to push the other back. Finally Batman gave away sending both of their swords flying into the wall of the Pit.

"That was not wise, you are now unarmed." Agni commented circling him again.

"As are you."

Agni's punch daggers shot from his bracers and smiled grandly. "I am never unarmed."

Batman's long metal blades shot from the side of his own bracers "Nor am I." he replied grimly

5 seconds later

"ARGH!"

"Ow!"

"Godsdamnit!"

"Okay okay! I surrender!"

Batman slowly got off of Agni who was laying very uncomfortably on the floor with both hands pinned behind his back, his feet tied and gagged.

"Your attacks lack strength." Batman said helping him up "You rely too much on your speed and stealth. You are a much better swords fighter than martial artist, but nonetheless you are still quite good at martial arts. Almost as good as Robin in martial arts, but a leaps and bounds better in sword fighting and stealth."

"Anyone could have told you that." Agni grumbled as he ripped off the gag and stood up stretching his arms and legs. He pulled his sword out of the wall and returned it to its sheath. "There was no fucking reason in the abyss for you to tie me up."

Alfred walked calmly over to Agni and grabbed his arm. "Remember what I said about your swearing?"

Agni grinned and sunk into his shadow. "You'll have to catch me first, old man."

Batman sighed as Alfred walked off after the dirty mouthed dark elf. He walked over to his computer and looked at the screens. Diana was almost there then they could leave for the party.

Robin and Richie followed after him and picked up the suits "On the good side the suit is better than we thought it would be. It could withstand all the blows from the sword with no damage to Agni or the suit"

The Grim Ranger shot out of Batman's shadow and slumped to the floor clutching his forehead. "Damn that old man has a good arm with that platter of his."

"Hit you upside the head with the platter?" Robin asked choking back his laughter

Agni glared at him and sunk back into his shadow.

"He's certainly feeling better." Batman observed, walking the two young boys into the Wayne Mansion to get dressed.

"Yeah… it's kinda odd." Richie said thoughtfully but shrugged and followed Robin into his room. "Maybe Kal put a relaxing spell on him. Or maybe he had another one of those telepathic conversations with Zatanna."

"Is that possible?" Robin asked taking off his mask

"Anything is possible with magic." Richie said pulling off his cloak

They dressed quickly as they could. Every few moments they could hear scuffles from the hall. Agni was still running away from Alfred who was quite determined to catch the dark elf. Several times they would look out the door into the hall way only to see the fleeing form of Cursed Shadow or the stalking form of Alfred the Butler and his trusty platter. Once they opened it and found Agni slumped on the ground cradling his head. Other times they could have sworn they heard Alfred mutter very ungentlemanly like words under his breath and he pursued the dark elf

After several minutes of dressing themselves and fixing their hair to look different from normal, the two Boy Wonders heard a knock on their room door.

"Master Bruce wishes to know if you are ready to leave, Master Dick and Richie." Alfred respectful voice said.

"Just need our bow ties, Alfred!"The Dark Squire called

"I set them aside downstairs, Master Dick."

"Then we will be right there."

Dick looked at Richie who was busy loading his extra shuriken, kunai, throwing knives, and darts into a magical pocket.

"Are you going to need all of those?" Boy Wonder asked as Richie slipped his Weapon into a regular pocket.

"Better be safe than sorry." Richie responded absently doing a mental check of his arsenal.

They exited the room together and looked down the empty halls

"I wonder where Agni is…" Dick said, the mansion was even more silent than usual.

They walked silently down to the living where Alfred was waiting patiently with their bow ties.

"Where's Agni?" Dick asked curiously as the bow ties where tied around their necks.

Bruce walked into the room with an unnatural grin on his face. "I think he's 'hanging' in the dining room." He said giving Alfred a wink

"Yes I would dare he is tied up at the moment." Alfred smiled gently.

Dick and Richie exchanged a quick looked and dashed by Bruce into the dining room.

Inside they could hear muffled shouts. When they opened the door they were stunned at what they saw.

Agni was hanging upside down from the chandelier, wrapped tightly with duck tape. He arms were bent in a way so that his bracers were pointing his own arms. His sword was laying on the table underneath him, sheathed, along with a paintball gun, a desert eagle and large stick of dynamite.

The dark elf grunted and gazed at them beseechingly.

"He's got soap in his mouth." Richie said laughing openly.

Dick chuckled and looked at the weapons on the table. "Where did he get dynamite from?"

Richie shrugged and picked it up "No idea… could be he bought it… or stole it."

"Mmrmrfmrmhhm."

They looked up at Cursed Shadow again. Contemplating over to release him or not.

Richie sighed and a kunai shot out of his hand and cut the rope that was holding him up

Agni landed heavily on his back and groaned through his duck tape gag. He thrashed around trying to get the tape off of his mouth, but Alfred wrapped it tightly around his head. Richie tossed Robin another knife and they cut him free.

When his arms were free, Agni ripped the tape off of his mouth, not caring about the hair they went out with it, and spat out a bar of soap.

"I'm going to assume you'll never call Alfred an 'old man' ever again." Robin commented as Agni gagged and spluttered

After a few moments they went back into the living room where Bruce was waiting for them

"I see you got him down." He said wryly "He got off lucky… Alfred used to put liquid dish soap in my mouth."

Agni just grumbled and slumped into a chair.

"So when are we going?" Dick asked cheerfully

"We are waiting for Princess Diana." Bruce answered looking at his watch

Agni looked up alarmingly "We can't just meet her there? So that I won't have to see her."

Before Bruce could answer there was a knock on the door across the room and Alfred went to open the door.

"Good afternoon miss Diana." He said respectfully "Master Bruce and Dick are waiting for you in the living room with our guests."

Dick turned around to look at his counterpart and Agni but there were both gone. He didn't hear them walk away or shadow jump or use any magic… they were just gone.

A tall light skinned, ebony haired woman walked into the room. She was wearing a dark purple dress with her hear in an elegant ponytail on the top of her head. The Amazonian waved and walked towards Bruce and Dick

"Greetings, Princess." Batman greeted kissing her hand much to the disgust of Dick who made a face.

"Nice to see you to young one." She said to Dick who greeted her back. "Where are the two… elves?" she asked "What were their names…"

"Haven't you heard of them yet?" Dick asked

Diana shook her head "I have been in Themyscira for the past several months. I have only returned a few hours ago. All I have heard is that they from another dimension."

Bruce nodded at that. "We called her back for today's mission." He said

"Well they are… the counter-dimensional Team I guess." Robin explained to Wonder Woman "Richie, is my counterpart he was here a moment ago but seemed to have… disappeared when you arrived and the other is named Agni… we are not sure who his counterpart is."

Wonder Woman cocked her head "That is a strange name for a parent to give a child… especially a boy."

Robin shrugged "You've probably seen him before. Obsidian skin, bursts into flames every now and then, kinda annoying most of the time."

Wonder Woman looked thoughtful "Agni… obsidian skin… fire?"

Bruce nodded slowly

"AGNI OF HELLFIRE?!" Diana screamed dropping into a fighting stance and glaring around the room. "Where is he?! I'll tear him to pieces!"

Robin could have sworn he heard Agni choke and possibly faint.

An angry Wonder Woman was not something you want to mess with.

It took several minutes for them to explain that it was just a coincidence to Diana before she calmed down and agreed to at least see him first before she swore to kill him.

"You guys can come out now." Robin said loudly

"Like hell I will." Agni's voice said from next to them

Diana spun around "Trickery! They have no warrior's honor!"

"Okay that's it!" a hieroglyph appeared next to Dick and Richie shimmered into view. "No one insults MY honor! Not even the godsdamned princess of Amazonians."

Robin caught his counterpart before he leaped at the princess. "Jeez calm down Richie." He said pulling him away "You do know she could probably squash you like a bug, right?"

The young elf calmed down and sulked silently. "She should take it back."

Diana glared at the young elf that flinched immediately.

"Forgive me Princess I spoke out of anger." Richie said quickly kneeling in front of her.

Bruce sighed at Richie's odd behavior "Agni, please remove the spell now."

"What spell?" Diana demanded "He better not have used sorcery on me!"

The air around the chair Agni was previously sitting flickered and Agni appeared on it. "I am NOT a sorcerer. I am an Arcane Archer! I use ARCANE MAGIC!"

Diana stared at the Drow for several seconds "He's too weak to be Agni of Hellfire."

Agni bowed his head and refused to look at anything but her feet. "Forgive me for disappointing you Princess Diana."

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh… you're forgiven?"

"Since that is settled can we get moving?" Bruce suggested

Everyone nodded and filed out to the car.

"Agni?" Batman asked closing the house behind them

"Ya?"

"Why are you bringing your sword?" he asked patiently

"Because we are going to a banquet." He replied "Don't you people bring your formal weapons to banquets?"

"Not in Mans World, Agni. It is quite odd." Diana answered as they reached the car. "You do not need to bring it."

"If so you say." Agni replied looking at the ground again "I do as you say Milady." He slid his sword off his waist and dropped it casually into his shadow.

Wonder Woman looked at him gazed at him confusedly again but continued into the car.

"You don't have to be so afraid of her." Robin whispered to the two elves "She's not that bad."

Agni just blinked and got into the car followed by Richie was walking slowly behind them.

In the car everyone was silent. Agni and Richie sat on the farthest side on the limousine, away from Wonder Woman, talking to each other in hushed voices. Everyone few seconds one of them would glance at Diana in fear.

Wonder Woman glanced at Bruce questioningly, but he just shrugged and mouthed 'Their terrified'

"You're counterpart in their dimension… hates them" Robin muttered

The window dividing the passengers from the driver rolled down

"Master Bruce you are going to want to see what is on the television." Alfred said "The GBS channel

Robin pressed a button on his armrest and a screen popped up. He groaned and dropped his face into his hands "It's G. Gordon Godfrey." He muttered through his fingers.

"I mean who are these 'Elves'?" Godfrey was saying "Why isn't the Leeaague giving us any answers?" he drawled on "Maybe their aliens that the League is hiding. Okay Maybe Superman and the Manhunter from mars are on the side of the angels, but how do we know it's the same case for these Elvse?!"

Agni glared at the screen "I better have misheard. If he called me an alien I'm going to rip his arms off."

Richie glanced at him and stepped on his foot discreetly and shook his head.

"How do we even know that the Amazonians or even the Atlantians aren't aliens? Maybe they came to this planet years ago and have been hiding out here. Half of this country's troubles lately have been coming from these Elves… maybe the whole story of them being from another dimension is a cover-up because they are really bad Aliens."

"We are not Aliens!" Wonder Woman said outraged "We have been here for a millennia before man!"

Richie and Agni cringed at the Amazonian's anger and slowly scooted away from her.

A clip appeared on the screen of Zatanna's and Agni's battle in the schoolyard with Batman and Robin.

"Oh I know what you're saying folks, good ole G. Gordon has lost it. What's this, the eight billionth time he's shown that clip? It's because I'm TRYING TO WAKE YOU UP!"

"Actually maybe you should rip his arms off… I'm sure that would shut him up." Richie muttered as a clip of him came on screen

"The League and their pet Eeelves are even going to be security guards at tonight's U.N. Charity Ball." Bruce shut off the T.V. when he saw Agni's eyes begin to go black.

Cursed Shadow's eyes had turned black and he was clenching his teeth and fists.

"Is he okay?" Wonder Woman asked Richie who was busy writing hieroglyphs in the air.

"Yes he is, Princess." Richie said bowing his head at her "He's just… angry."

Agni blinked several times before his eyes returned to their natural red color "More like I'm furious." He said absently tugging on one of his dark blue-dyed braids of hair.

"Ten minutes until we arrive, Master Bruce." Alfred said

Richie sighed and looked out of the window. They were by the sea or ocean. There were cars everywhere, all going to the Ball

"So what's the plan?" Agni asked

"Well…" Robin began "We had a plan that we were going to tell you earlier but we had… problems."

"Bruce legally adopted you." Diana blurted

Richie and Agni's faces were blank before they burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" Diana yelled at them

Both of them jumped and bowed their heads quickly "Forgive us." Richie said "We thought you were jesting."

"So did I when he first told me." Robin informed them

Bruce handed them both I.D. cards "The story is Richie is Dick's long lost kidnapped brother. Agni you have been taking care of him on the streets of Africa where you both grew up and I found you."

"Okay…" Agni said slowly "Is that believable?"

"In Mans world it is." Diana said

The car came to a halt in front of a large building. Bright lights shined everywhere hurting Agni's eyes. The noise of all the reporters outside the car door was hurting Richie's ears.

"Let us try to do all the talking." Bruce said "Agni the cameras are not weapons. There is no need to shoot them, stab them or smash them."

"You guys aren't going to let me live that down are you?" The dark elf grumbled but shrugged as well. If they wanted to do all the talking it was fine with him.

"Of course we aren't." Dick said with a wink and he stepped out after Bruce

Agni sighed and stepped out after them. The flashes of the cameras were seriously annoying him. The wind was ruffling his new lovely black suit and to top it all Richie pushed him forward before he snapped at someone.

Ye gods… this is going to be so horrible

Inside it was even brighter inside much to his exasperation. There was calm jazz music coming from a small band in the corner. Drinks and small stylish party foods were being offered by several people in butler suits.

"If you guys see anything be sure to radio it in." Batman whispered to them

Agni followed Bruce around for almost a full hour before he slowly slunk into the crowd and began to look for someone he knew. Boredom was the only thing he found.

After several minutes of walking idly around the three floor building, Agni sauntered back to where the dance floor was and looked around. Over by a drinks table was a reporter he clumsily knocked over several glasses of champagne. The dark elf smirked and walked over to the table and picked up a glass himself.

Boredom vanished fairly quickly after that.

Agni sipped his drink and smiled at the reporter.

"Aren't you too young to be drinking?" Clark asked, not giving away that he knew Agni in any which, way, shape or form

Agni shrugged and grimaced, it tasted like soap "My father doesn't care."

"Who's your father?"

Another smile "You know that don't you, Clark?"

The reporter's eyes widened for split second. "Do I know you?"

Agni shrugged "Possibly"

"Possibly?" Clark repeated.

"Possibly." Agni confirmed taking another glass and looking the reporter up and down casually "You know… you look better in the blue tights and red cape."

Clark stared at Agni for a moment before smiling and erupting in laughter "Seriously… slouching over and brushing your hair to the side works better than you think it would" He said with a grin

Agni "Don't forget the stupid glasses"

Clark smiled "So did Bruce tell you about adopting you?"

The dark elf nodded "Didn't really give me much of a choice."

A woman briskly walked over to them and pushed Clark aside. At first Agni thought it was Diana but when he glanced up from the floor his eyes had dropped to.

"Already interviewing him, Smallville?" she said "I thought you agreed to wait for me?"

Oh great… just when I was starting to have fun, she has to show up. What did I EVER do to the gods for them to hate me so much?

"We were just talking, Lois." Agni replied quickly

Lois Lane looked at him "How did you know my name?"

Agni saw Clark gulp

Know what? The gods probably enjoyed doing this to me

"He probably saw your name tag." Clark said swiftly

Agni nodded "And of course who hasn't heard of Lois Lane, reporter extraordinaire and her trusty paper boy Clark Kent."

On second thought…

"Miss Lane, didn't we have an agreement?" Dick said appearing unexpectedly behind her "You stay away from my new siblings and Bruce won't file a complaint to Perry White?"

Lois grumbled and stalked off towards the direction on Bruce who was talking to several important looking rich people with Diana.

Agni's shoulders slumped and he sighed

"Reporter extraordinaire?" Dick chuckled

"Paper boy?!"

"Sorry Smallville, I had to appease her." Agni said with a small smile

"Clark, get your butt over here!" Lois barked

The superhero in disguise sighed and waved as he followed Lois away.

Finally tired from circling around the party, Agni went to sit down at one of the tables. He looked around at all the people surrounding him. Just a bunch of weak commoners…

Agni sighed and stood up walking over to the middle of the large room where many people were dancing to the music, he spotted Zatanna at the far side next to who must have been Giovanni.

The magician abruptly looked up and met his eyes from across the room. A smile spread across her face and she motioned him to sit back down and wait.

On the floor above them casually watching them with a mixture of annoyance and possible jealously was another magician.

Anna watched as Zatanna navigated through the crowd towards Agni. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why it was bothering her. Whatever it was it was in the back of her head. A long lost memory perhaps.

"Watcha looking at?" a voice said next to her.

She turned around to see Dick grinning boldly. She smiled back and shrugged. "Nothing really just watching the party."

Dick's eyes scanned the floor below them for several seconds "Agni and Zatanna, eh?"

"What?"

"Zatanna and Agni are together I see." Dick said

Anna shrugged "So?"

"It doesn't bother you?" Dick asked

"Maybe…" Anna answered truthfully

"Well I know something that you'll love." Dick stated

"Oh?" Anna beamed at him "What is that?" she asked

"The view of the city from the roof." Dick answered "You can totally feel the aster up there and you are going to come with me."

"Then you might just be right." She looped her arm in his and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

Boy Wonder flushed a deep red and walked her away towards the stairs leading to the roof. Several other couples were walking in the same direction. The roof itself was large and slightly windy with several table spread all around its wide surface. They strolled over to the edge and stared off at the city.

"The stars are the same in this dimension." Anna said suddenly as she watched the sky "But you only have one moon."

"How many do you guys have?" Dick asked

"We had three, but one of them was blown apart by Nabu. Now we half two and a half."

"Doctor Fate blew up a moon?" Richie asked in skeptically

"No I said Nabu blew up the moon."

"Aren't they the same person?"

"No. Nabu is a demilich that needs the helmet and a host. Wizard Fate is what my father and Nabu call themselves."

"How did he blow up the moon?"

"I think someone took his drink." Anna said uncertainly "There are several stories on how it happened. That's just the official story"

"If he's a demilich how does he drink?"

Anna shrugged "Absolutely no idea whatsoever"

Back downstairs Zatanna crossed the large room to where Agni was standing.

"Greetings, Mistress Zatara. A fine night, is it not?" Agni hailed, standing up to greet her "Aside from the many people who keep on insisting on talking to me about matters I frankly could not care less about if I tried."

Zatanna smiled at him and gave him a quick hug "How's it going? You haven't tried to kill anyone have you?"

"I did almost stab a waiter boy because I thought he poisoned my drink. But Bruce stopped me." Agni said with a smirk. He pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit

"You were trying to get him to send you away weren't you?" She questioned

"But of course I wasn't. If I was sent home then I would miss the opportunity of enjoying your company." Agni replied audaciously

Zatanna laughed and sat down. Agni pushed the chair in and sat down in front of her. "My, you do look quite beautiful tonight."

"Why thank you, Agni. If only you were always this polite and nice." She responded

"I'm not always this nice?" Agni asked "Well you must forgive me. I have had… things on my mind."

The raven headed girls rolled her eyes and laughed "Is that what you're calling it?"

"Would you prefer me saying I have a problem controlling my anger that sometimes turns me into a raging fire dragon?"

"Shhh!" Zatanna shushed him "Not here!"

Agni nodded "Sorry."

They sat in silence for a few moments listening to the music playing next to the dance floor. "What are you going to do if I ask you to dance?" he said suddenly

Zatanna arched an eyebrow and looked at him in surprise "I would say; who are you and what have you done with my friend?"

Agni chuckled and stood up holding out his hand "Would you like to dance?"

Zatanna took his hand hesitantly "I don't exactly know how to dance."

The dark elf shrugged "I wish I didn't know either. I was forced to learn… I hate being a noble."

"It couldn't have been that bad." She said walking with him to the dance floor

"I like so wouldn't bet on that, dudette. Being a noble is hard and stuff. Kinda like being a tuna fish." Said a familiar voice

Zatanna turned and saw Kal dancing with human girl.

"How does that have anything to do with a tuna fish?" Agni asked placing a hand, very hesitantly on Zatanna's hip

"He talks about water and fish so much." The girl with Kal said "He knows everything about the ocean."

Kal winked and whisked off across the dance floor.

"So what do I do?" Zatanna asked

"Just follow my lead. It's not too hard." Agni said

It was several minute before Zatanna got the hang of it.

"This is actually quite fun." She said

"What is?" Agni asked guiding her slowly to the music

"Dancing with you."

"I'm flattered. Anna told me I was a horrible dancer." Agni said honestly

Zatanna leaned in closer to him as they continued dancing.

Agni smiled. He was unusually happy and if it wasn't that they were waiting for an attack he would call it one of his favorite memories.

He was slightly startled when she kissed him. No that's an understatement. He was incredibly shocked. He slowly kissed her back, unsure of exactly what to do.

When she let him go, Zatanna stared into his eyes to see his reaction. For a moment she could have sworn he was in shock, he definitely was surprised.

"You know I really like you-" Agni said softly

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming next?" Zatanna asked

"-but your father is standing a few feet behind me. And he might be about to murder me." Agni finished quickly.

"Damn."

"Damn is right young lady." The stern voice of Giovanni Zatara said behind the dark elf

Don'tkilmedon'tkillmedon'tkillmedon'tkillmedon'tkillme Agni thought to himself frantically. He swiftly let go of Zatanna and turned around slowly, worried Giovanni might blast him into smithereens or possibly turn him into a duck then punt him across the room.

"Agni. A word?"

"Uhh… think I can hear… someone calling me." The dark elf said quickly "I really should go see what they want." He started backpedalling to get as far away from the magician as he could without attracting too much attention to himself, but he was grabbed firmly by Zatanna

"Don't worry. He can't do anything to you in public… I think." She whispered into his ear

"Thanks for the reassurance." Agni retorted, being pulled away by Giovanni.

After being shoved into a chair and being glared at by Giovanni for several seconds, Agni began to think of what to write in his will.

"So you're dating my daughter?" Giovanni asked

Agni racked his brain for the best answer. He didn't get human culture very well so he went with what seemed to be the safest answer. "We're not."

"So you just kissed her but you're not dating?"

Damn…

"Look Gio… I'm not exactly sure how it works in this dimension. I was going to ask permission from you but I was told it isn't needed."

"I heard you gave her a necklace."

"You heard truth. It's an ancient Drow tradition. One of the few I keep."

Giovanni gazed at Agni silently for several moments. "Nabu also told me what you… threatened."

The dark elf smirked "Yeah sorry about that."

"No apology is needed. I thank you for getting him to let me go every now and then."

Agni nodded "It was the least I could do."

Giovanni looked over his shoulder at his daughter who was waiting "I should tell you if-"

"I break her heart you'll turn me into a turkey and run me over." Agni finished

"Exactly."

"Then we're on the same page." Agni said smiling cheerfully "Now if you don't mind, Zatanna is waiting for me." He pointed to where she was sitting down watching them

Zatanna arched an eyebrow as the dark elf returned. "Well you are still alive. There aren't any traces of magic around you. Are you smiling?"

"I dare say he likes me." Agni said sitting down next to her, the smile disappearing "I never smile. I smirk."

The magician smiled at Agni as he told her what he said.

"So essentially, if you break my heart Conner will break your arms and my father will turn you into an animal and run you over?"

"Anna might make me implode as well." Agni added

Zatanna smiled at him and put her hand over his "And your fine with that?"

Agni shrugged and held her hands in his "I've had worse threatened to me, even so its little price to pay."

"You are so sweet." Zatanna complimented

"No I'm not!" Agni protested "I'm despicable and unpleasant."

"You enjoying being annoying don't you?"

"It happens when you live with Richie and Wallace."

Zatanna giggled at the dark elf that was completely serious in what he said.

Bruce frowned from across the room. Relationships in teams never worked out. Well there was Superboy and Miss Martian… still. He sighed silently, it was hard to enjoy himself when he knew they could be attack at any moment. He had the whole league and team standing around and still he was uneasy. Batwing the Batplane was on standby along with the Batmobile and the Batboat. The Whitehouse was secure. Red Arrow and Captain Atom just reported that the perimeter was completely safe. Miss Martian reported from the Whitehouse everything was completely silent. Why was he so nervous?

Diana walked up the worried billionaire and stood next to him "Any news?" she asked quietly

The Dark-Knight-Incognito shook his head "Nothing amiss."

"Not what you expected?" she asked

"I expect the unexpected." Bruce replied icily

"Anything could be unexpected." Diana scoffed

"Exactly."

---

Black Canary glanced down the halls of the Whitehouse "All is clear on inside." She thought through the mental link

"The skies are clear." Megg'n thought back "Unusually clear."

"The front grounds are clear as well." Hawkman said through the link as he watched the grounds

"As are the back grounds." Hawkwoman said "I'm starting to think this whole thing was just a false alarm."

"The President is safe." Artemis said peering through the window of the Oval Office. Arty was busy glaring at the president still angry at what he did to Wallace

"This is so boring." Arty said out loud "Why did we get stuck watching over the king?"

"I'm the president not king." The president said

"Same difference."

The President sighed "I don't see why my own men couldn't be here. They are just as well trained as you heroes."

"They would stand no chance against anyone from my dimension." Arty said pacing the room restlessly "You have absolutely no defenses against magic. Your men wouldn't even see Drow coming until they were being stabbed through the heart or getting their necks slit." Arty drew her fingers along her neck slowly. "They are better off waiting as reinforcements."

"We do have radars." The President said "They wouldn't be able to get fifty miles around here without us knowing."

"Radars don't work on the, Mr. President." Artemis said moving away from the window and going to the door "Their magical auras block it out, it makes them wonderfully invisible to any radar."

"Heat?"

"Unless one of them uses fire magic. Which Drow usually do not." Arty said absently counting her magic stones "Elves can see heat signatures with Infravision. Drow use cooling spells so they cannot be seen coming."

"Why are you so sure that it will be Drow?"

"I could tell you, but Agni might not like it." Arty said now fiddling with her slingshot "We are under orders to protect you from anything that attacks. Even if it was Agni himself that attacked you would be safe."

"You are quite loyal to this Agni." The President observed "But you are still wary of him."

Arty looked up and contemplated what he said and whether she should stab him for saying that. "You might be right." She said at length "He is still a dark elf after all. Not to mention we just found out he's a necromancer."

Artemis looked at Arty in surprise, but the Halfling just shrugged

"It's the truth…" Huntress muttered staring at the floor "We are all terrified of him. No one knows when he might flip like he did earlier."

"Earlier?" The president asked

Arty waved her hand dismissively "A minor incident."

"Guys I'm picking up on a large group of people heading your way." M'gann said suddenly.

Shots rang out in the Whitehouse's front lawn.

"We are under attack!" Hawkman screamed through their minds "I repeat; we are under attack! I am taking heavy fire here! Arrows, bullets, magic, everything!"

"Calling for reinforcements!" Artemis shouted "Arty, keep the president safe!"

Huntress nodded and slip a rock into her sling

"What are you going to do with that?" The president asked, it wasn't clear whether he asked sarcastically or out of curiosity

"I was thinking of boulders…" Arty muttered absently, while keeping her eyes on the door "Maybe molten rocks, but I usually need Agni or Anna for that."

Dark shapes were moving in the front lawn, bullets peppered the pillar where Hawkman was taking cover.

The ground shifted in front of the Whitehouse. It opened up slowly and several large turret guns popped out.

Hawkman could hear a chant being recited at the far end of the grounds. A wave of dark energy flew at him, tearing chunks out of the walls.

"Everyone get down!" Megg'n thought forcefully "That's a High Wizard!"

"This is Green Lantern Hal; Captain Marvel and I will be there in a few minutes. The speedsters should be there… now.

There was a shout by the Drow and a woosh as the speedsters sped in by them.

The turrets began firing a barrage of blasts at the attacking Drow. Giving them some cover.

"There are a lot of them." Flash commented to Hawkman as he got out of behind his barely standing pillar "We are going to need some big hitters."

"That would be me." Black Canary said "Until Marvel gets here."

One of the turrets was blown into pieces and Flash flinched slightly "We need a plan."

"They aren't going to hold up long." Wallace said "Hey KF you still got that invisibility potion Agni gave you?"

"How do you know about that?" Wally demanded "We were alone when he gave it to me."

"Please, I'm a genius... and he told me." Wallace replied "I have a truly idiotic plan that will work perfectly."

"I'm not using it." Wally protested

"Then give it to Flash. He's faster anyways." Wallace said shrugging "He'll be able to keep up with me."

Flash arched an eyebrow behind his mask "You mean you will be able to keep up with me. Because I'm…"

He was cut off as Hawkman stepped strongly on his foot.

"I'm just as fast as you!" Wally shouted

Another turret blew up showering them with sparks

"Flash, we are going to need a big distraction."

The Fastest Man Alive grinned widely "Big Distraction coming up!" he said zooming off

"I assume that you want us to attack after you take down their spellcasters?" Black canary asked skeptically

Wallace shook his head "Nope you guys are going to rush in head on right after us. Like a second distraction."

"They'll be too busy with you and Hawkman to see GA and Captain Marvel coming." Wally continued, catching onto his counterparts plan "Then Miss M and Miss P can hit them completely by surprise." He looked at Kid Zoom who nodded

"And Hawkwoman will get anyone trying to get away." Wallace finished

"That is a stupid plan…" Black Canary said "Just stupid enough to work."

---

Agni and Zatanna finished dancing again and were going to get something to drink when a bald man intercepted them.

"Spare a moment, Agni?" Lex Luthor asked politely

A hidden blade shot out of Agni's sleeve where his bracers were hidden. He was about to stab the man through the heart, but Zatanna grabbed his wrist and pushed it down. The blade slowly returned to its hidden place as she motioned him to go. He followed the bald man through the crowds to a deserted corner.

"Five reasons why I shouldn't stab you right now." Agni grumbled

"I know what Abaddon is planning and where he is." Lex said

"And you also work with him."

"You are correct, but lately he has been… asking for much."

"And you are going to sell him out?"

"Let's just say I'm going to disappear in a few minutes and Abaddon is going to show up with…"

---

Anna and Dick walked back down into the Ball room with smiles on their faces. Anna was smiling shyly as she held Dick's hand; Boy Wonder had his usually cheeky grin as he directed her to the dance floor. They saw Agni and Anna sitting at a table next to the floor, waving them over. The Dark Squire and White Cleric strolled over and sat down with them.

"How's it going?" Agni asked casually

"Very nice." Anna said smiling at Richie.

"Has anyone seen Richie?" Dick asked "He disappeared right before I found Anna."

"We saw him dancing with a redhead." Zatanna said "I think her name was Barbra or something."

"And a brunette." Agni added "I think I saw him with an Atlantian as well."

"Berzerker was on the roof." Anna said "He wasn't very happy about it."

"He hates heights." Agni said absently gazing at Zatanna

Everyone was silent for a few moments

"So what did you guys do?" Anna asked

"He taught me how to dance." Zatanna replied

"But he's horrible at it." Anna respond

"Agni can dance?" Dick asked

"Surprising ain't it?" Agni smirked

"Then my father saw us." Zatanna continued

"Agni is still alive so that's a good sign." Anna said

"He's actually a nice guy. Stern, yes, but nice as well." Agni said solemnly

The music stopped by the dance floor and everyone began to clear off of it. It seemed the band must have gone to take a break. Across the room they could see Bruce sitting down with Diana and Aquaman. Kal and Kaldur were nowhere to be seen.

They was a loud tap on a glass cup from the second floor. On the balcony was standing a tall young man with nut brown hair. He was dressed in a dark red suit. His left hand was hidden in his pocket and his right was holding a glass of champagne.

Abaddon…

Zatanna turned just in time to see Robin shadow jump and Agni drop into his shadow. She turned her head just to see Diana and Aquaman disappear as well. Even in the far side of the room Lex was silently making for the exits.

"They do that a lot don't they?" she muttered

"Abaddon has been sighted." Batman said over her comm. "Berzerker, Superboy and Superman: be at the bottom floor ready for him. Everyone else be ready for whatever he has brought with him."

"I propose a toast!" Abaddon said raising his glass. "To me! Your worlds new ruler!"

Everyone began muttering. Even a few laughs could be heard. It was obviously thought to be a joke.

"But don't let me get ahead of myself." Abaddon continued "I'm going to have to kill you first." He clapped his hands with a smile on his face.

There was a shatter of glass and several large monsters entered the room. They had huge bodies of large spiders with long spindly legs, their waist were grotesque and swollen. They had two arms, some of them were holding axes or large crossbows, that were dripping in green slime, most likely poison. They had obsidian skin like Agni and other drow. They came in followed by demons of many kinds, all of them ugly and disgusting.

"Driders!" Berzerker hollered from the roof as he began descending "Demons! Demons of Lolth Godess of Drow!"

The people began to panic and to rooms erupted into chaos. They tried to flee but were cut off as the monsters and Drow blocked the exits.

Abaddon smiled from his perch, he clapped his hands again and loud whirls of helicopter blades sounded outside

Where were Batman, Robin and Agni?

*Zip*

They was swoosh though the air as Batman swung down from behind the half-demon and landed a two feet kick on his back.

Abaddon flew through the railing of the balcony and soared through the room before landing with a crash through several tables into the dance floor.

A brown blur dropped down and landed on top of the dazed half-demon

Berzerker rolled off of him with a smile and hefted his axe. "Damn dat is so much fun."

Green Arrow dropped down next in full gear with a look of slight fear in his eye "We're completely closed off, they're everywhere."

Abaddon groaned and slowly stood up clutching his chest. "If you do that one more time, I swear-"

He was cut off as Batman sunk his fist into the half-demon's chest.

"I seem to remember this happening before." Abaddon said standing tall with a sinister smile "It ended with you letting a young angel take a blade for you."

Batman snarled and swung his fist at Abaddon's face.

The half-demon jumped back and glanced around his shoulder. His monsters and Drow were surrounding the heroes and humans at all sides. What fun…

"Superman hold Abaddon here while GA gets those people out of here. Someone find Agni and Doctor Fate." Batman

"Where is Robin?" Anna asked worriedly

"Doing what I told him to." Batman replied,

"And Richie?"

"With Robin."

"Thanks for the reassurance, Batman." Anna muttered sarcastically

"Agni is with them, I assume." Green Arrow said "I passed him on my way down from the second floor."

There was a rumble behind them and Wonder Woman shot through the wall and landed next to them. A feral roar followed her, stomping loudly as it dashed to the wall it just blew her threw followed by several beams of green.

"Diana?" Superman asked helping her up

"What in Hera's name is that?!" she demanded pointing at the wall.

A red hand shot through it, tearing off a chunk large enough for a twenty feet beast to climb through.

It had a face that looked canine. Two of its arms were humanoid with two others that looked like large crab claws. A lone horn stuck out of its forehead.

White Cleric paled

Berzerker's jaw hit the floor

Bloody Arrow sighed

Waterboy grimaced

What did Richie and Agni do?

No one knows because they weren't there.

"BALORS!" Waterboy shouted "Dudes… we are like so going to be needing back up and stuff!"

Even Batman looked slightly worried as three balors entered through the wall. "Batman to Captain Marvel, we need reinforcements, where are you?"

There was a slight buzz over his comm. For several seconds.

"Captain Marvel is down, Batman. We are getting hit really heavily here. We were just about to plead for you guys to head over here." The voice of Arty said "The reinforcements are barely helping."

"Captain Atom?" Batman called over his comm

"They are on the roof too, Batman. We are taking it hard up here, requesting assistance." Captain Atom replied

"Coming with back up." Aquaman said. Batman could swear he as smirking "I'm three minutes away with Kaldur."

"I'll be there in a moment." Green Lantern said "These things hit hard."

Before Batman said anything else the speakers in the room cackled. Violins and drums were playing.

Zatanna looked around briefly "Is that soundtrack music?"

One of the people behind the heroes piped up "It's the soundtrack from Lord of the Rings."

"Is this some kind of joke?" an elderly man demanded "We are all about to be killed by monsters and someone is playing music to it?"

Everyone looked at Abaddon who shrugged bemusedly "Isn't me."

The lights in the room flickered off, dropping everyone into near pitch blackness. The music kept on playing. Several people screamed loudly

The music suddenly changed, it was more sinister, quieter.

A dark laugh, or maybe a dark chuckle, echoed throughout the room. It laughed almost hysterically. All around the room people could see shadows moving.

"Who is that, sir?" a dark elf asked Abaddon curiously

"You do not know who I am?" The voice asked gravely, "I was once your Lord."

The dark elf looked up with widened eyes

"I am naught but a shadow on the wall." The voice continued darkly "And a curse upon my enemies..." it paused for a second "Which just happens to be you"

The room suddenly blared with bright light, it surrounded the innocents, ankhs formed around them, red hieroglyphs followed, before the lights disappeared again.

The voice laughed darkly again.

"B-b-but… that can't be." The dark elf stuttered

Batman caught a glance of a shadow moving slightly towards his left. He signaled it to wait.

"Enough of this." Abaddon growled "I do not have time to deal with your dramatics."

Another laugh echoed throughout the building, this time more cheerful. More childlike.

Trumpets blew through the speakers. The music turned louder and more triumphant.

"Prepare to die." The voice whispered, its voice riding along the sound waves.

The lights returned.

The people, everyone who was not a hero was gone. Standing in their place was Giovanni Zatara, placing the Helmet of Fate on his head.

"It seems our plan worked." Doctor Fate said

Robin shadow jumped in next to Batman with a grin on his face. "All civilians are secure. Captain Atom is still on the roof trying to hold them back.

An insane laugh racked the building

Boy Wonder looked with wide eyes "Was that?"

The Dark Knight nodded

Abaddon smiled sinisterly "Well enough talk." He turned to his minions "Take care of them."

The monsters and Drow roared as they charged the small group of heroes.

"Supmeran and Wonder Woman, take those balors, I'll hold off Abaddon with Doctor Fate, archers; get higher up and cover us. Waterboy and Red Arrow, go see if Captain Atom needs help on the roof."

"And the rest of us?" Zatanna asked

"Do I really need to tell you what to do?" Batman asked rhetorically

"Erif nrub, nordlauc elbbub!" Zatanna shouted, slowing down the advancing monsters.

Superman leaped into the air and slammed a balor with a haymaker and tackled it to the ground, he flipped it over. Wonder Woman dropped from the air in a strong elbow crush. An arrow shot from a balcony and hit the monsters stomach, covering it with foam.

"That won't hold it for long." Green Arrow called, already firing arrows at the Drow.

Robin bounded over a table and planted his feet into a Drow's chest before leaping off and smashing another in the head with his eskrima stick. Several birdarangs flew from his hands into several Drow, knocking them senseless.

He dashed over to Batman who was steadily fighting his way to Abaddon. The half-demon was chilling behind his monsters calming smoking a pipe.

"Erif emoceb eci!" Anna shouted, creating a large lake of ice, tripping more of the Drow.

Arrows flooded down from higher up, taking down several squadron of Drow with foam and knock out gas.

"Gotham!" Richie shouted cheerfully as he unexpectedly appeared in the midst of several demon, brandishing his Weapon confidently "Batfamily!" he shouted again before spinning his Weapon around taking down several demons. And disappearing to the second floor.

"Superclan sayoufu lakan jamiyeah!" Berzerker 's dwarfish battle cry rang through the building with the clash of metal against the Drow weapons. He swung his axe and hammer in wide arcs taking them quickly. A hammer blew by him, blasting holes in the Drow defenses, followed by a bolt of lightning. Conner stood triumphantly over several downed drow and smashed his hammer into several more.

Over by the magicians, the Drow were beginning to get an upper hand. Bloody Arrow was firing several exploding arrows to help them, but every dark elf that fell, another and a demon would take its place.

Zatanna ducked under a swing from a dark elf and blasted a spell bolt into its chest sending it flying into several of its buddies. A balor flew by her, taking several drow with it, followed by an enraged Wonder Woman followed, punching savagely every few seconds. The White Cleric stood back-to-back with her counterpart. She summoned several golems that thinned the demons. She even used clerical magic to cause many Drow to implode.

But even after all of that they were surrounded. The White Cleric created an ice barrier in front of them and blew it at the Drow ranks, slowing their advance somewhat. Zatanna behind her had firewhips lashing out in wide sweeps, taking drow off their feet and hammering them aside.

A stealthy Drow circled around them waiting for an opportunity to attack. He found one when a demon leaped forward and both magicians had to turn and blast it away. The Drow soldier lifted his claymore over his shoulder to decapitate her.

Zatanna turned just in time to see him coming, but not quick enough to place any shields around herself.

A dark shadow dropped from above her and landed on the dark elf, dropping it completely to the ground. Blood squirted from the dead Drow, creating a puddle on the floor, as the dark figure stood up and shook his dark blue braids out of his eyes.

"Did I miss anything?" Cursed Shadow asked cheekily, his hands were on the Drow's neck.

Zatanna broke into a smile as Agni stood up (and discreetly removed his hidden blade from the dead Drow's jugular,) she sent several spell bolts at the Drow "Only some weird music, that's still playing, and some weird voice creep out the dark elves." She replied

Agni spun around and slashed his blades through several drow before turning back to her "Drow." He corrected "Not dark elves."

"There's a difference?" she asked blasting a fireball over his shoulder.

"In most cases? Yes." He replied removing his sword from his pocket and strapping it expertly to his waist in its usual place "I was helping Captain Atom on the roof." his tomahawk found its place on his leg and his bow and quiver found their place on his back. His punch blades shot out and punched several wounds in a few Drow as he smirked "And that was me. I was just trying to buy some time."

"For?"

Windows on the east side, next to the ocean blew open, along with most of the wall. Kaldur dashed through with his water-bearers in shape of sabers. He immediately dashed at the demons flanking Abaddon.

Octopus legs suddenly shot through the windows and holes in the walls. It grabbed Drow and demons and pulled them through into the ocean. No matter how many were taken more kept on coming.

"That." Agni responded whipping out his bow and picking off several Drow.

A kraken, visible through the broken walls, shot halfway out of the water and grabbed several demons swallowing them back into the water. A sea serpent shot out next, it dove through the building, snapping a balor in half with its large maw. Bony spikes coming out of its back impaled several Drow and Demons before it sullenly sunk back into the ocean for the time being.

"Actually no, not that." Agni corrected himself as he fired several exploding arrows into a pack of skeletons, which must have just descended from the roof, boding not well for Captain Atom.

Large clawed hands shout out of the water. Tip of wings with a span much larger than a dragon's flapped out after. A huge scaly and rubbery bulbous head, with a mouth that sprouted kraken like octopi legs followed. The monster had large three clawed feet.

And Aquaman was sitting on its head.

"Is that what I think it is?" Robin asked Batman casually as he swept Abaddon of his feet and dodged a demon's sword by jumping off a wall and throwing several birdarangs at it.

The Dark Knight just growled as Abaddon manage to score another hit. The half-demon's glee didn't last long as Batman slipped a pair of brass knuckles onto his hands. They were crackling with electricity.

Abaddon snarled and swung his large sword at Batman.

"That." Agni confirmed, reaching for another arrow but finding his quiver empty. Cursing under his breath he pulled his tomahawk off of his leg, not having time to pull another quiver out of his Bag of Holding.

"Why are you still wearing that suit?" Zatanna asked ducking under a demon's axe and blasted it across the room

"Because I look completely awesome in it." Agni answered easily

Anna snorted from behind them where she had erected an ice wall and was blasting chunks of it into assaulting drow. "You keep telling yourself that."

The Grim Ranger chuckled. He parried a swing; his foot lashed out and kicked the Drow's feet out from underneath him, in midair he hit the Drow with the back end of the tomahawk.

Robin leaped over the unconscious dark elf and tackled one behind Agni.

"How's it going?" he asked Agni smacking several Drow at once with his eskrima sticks. He grabbed one by its shoulders leaped over it throwing it into another attacker.

"Quite easy actually." Agni said "I haven't even taken out my sword." he leaped backwards to dodge the ocean monstrosity that was rageing through the banquet hall.

They heard several clicks of crossbow bolts shoot out from the shadows towards them. Agni waved his hand in front of him and most of them burst into flames and incinerated. Robin leaped behind a fallen table as several of them thudded into it.

Anna and Zatanna were both hit but only Anna shrugged it off after a few seconds, while Zatanna stumbled taking a single small bolt out of her skin.

The White Cleric dashed over to her and held her up "Agni, cover us! She's been hit by a Drow crossbow it was tipped with poison!"

Cursed Shadow nodded and raised his hands, fire burst from them; flaming purple fire surrounded them scaring the demons and Drow away. He twisted his hands and it turned bright red. It began to chase after them savagely.

Anna pulled a flask from her belt and handed it to her counterpart "Drow crossbows are small and always laced with some kind of poison. I always take antidotes before battle."

Zatanna nodded and drank the potion quickly. She almost immediately felt the nausea leave her.

"Guys we have a problem." Captain Atom said over the comm " The Joker just arrived."

"Superman, take care of Abaddon. I'll deal with the Joker." Batman yelled backing away from the half-demon and sprinting away in the shadows

"And I might have seen Sports Master" Captain Atom continued "I cannot pursue him; the skeletons up just keep coming!"

Agni looked up from the Drow he had pinned down. "I'll take care of him!" he yelled to Batman

Batman glanced at him briefly but nodded all the same.

The Grim Ranger swung his tomahawk, cutting through Drow as he dashed to the second floor. Several birdarangs flew over his head knocking down a few demons on the stairs. Agni made a mental note to thank Robin for it later.

He flung his tomahawk at a Drow, striking it in the heart; he spun out of reach of an axe and placed his hidden blade neatly in its owner's neck. Picking up his tomahawk he replaced it on his leg's straps. Halting for a moment, he considered what weapons to use. His crossbows came out along with his long knives. A smirk adorned his face as he burst into the second floor.

Unlike the floor beneath him and the two floors above him, the second floor was silent. The lights were off and it was completely deserted. There were knives and darts stuck in the walls. Richie had definitely been there.

Agni shut his eyes and reopened them in Infravision, he slowly turned around to see if there was anyone around.

"A chokutō? Didn't expect that of a dark elf." An unfamiliar voice said.

Cursed Shadow spun around seeing a figure quietly in the corner. The lights blared, causing Agni's eyes immense pain as he leaped behind an overturn able to dodge several bullets.

Eye's back to their normal red, Agni peaked over the edge to see a man in dark armor with a black and orange mask on his face, covering one of his eyes. Oh and he just happened to be holding a gun pointed at Agni.

Great… here we go.

A shot rang in Agni's ears causing him to wince in pain, but what hurt more was the bullet almost piercing the suit.

"Aww common!" Agni moaned as he rolled out from behind the table, foreign several bolts at the old man "I was coming to fight the creepy blonde guy. Not some idiot with a handgun."

"The name is Deathstroke." He said firing again just barely missing.

The Grim Ranger halted before firing again. "Slade?"

Deathstroke's eye narrowed "How do you know my name?"

Agni gulped and slowly stood up "In my dimension… you were a… mentor of mine." He could have sworn Deathstroke arched his eyebrow. He barely dodged the next bullet "Guess it doesn't matter." He muttered pulling his knives out.

Leaping at Deathstroke took the mercenary by surprise. Agni swung his knives with finesse that Deathstroke envied. Even so he still was quite better in hand to hand. The knives barely made a difference.

Deathstroke ducker and weaved out of several Agni's strikes and managed to put enough room between them to whip out his sword.

Agni knew he would be at disadvantage, but little things like that really didn't matter to the dark elf.

His skills with a sword were on par with Batman's. Agni noticed this right away and unless he could get an edge in their fight; he wasn't going to win it. Cursed Shadow blocked the one-eyed man's blows, but he wasn't getting anywhere.

Almost tripping on a table, but still stumbling, Agni felt something slice into his arm. He managed to back away enough to look at it clearly. The wound wasn't deep, but it stung like a bitch. And even worse… it cut his suit.

No it wasn't the pain that enraged Agni. It was Deathstroke cutting his completely awesome suit.

"Adamantium." Slade commented "The Drow leader, Riddle, gave it to me as a thank you. He was the leader of the Brotherhood. Didn't you used to rule that?"

Agni's eyes turned black rapidly as the shadows in the room began to vibrate slowly.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Deathstroke wondered out loud, before spinning his sword and leaping at Agni again. "Riddle said if i brought your head he and Abaddon would triple my pay."

The shadows shot from the walls around them and blasted Deathstroke through the wall, past the balcony and into the dance floor below them, before enveloping Agni in their embrace and sucking him into the void.

Batman had just dodged a crowbar to the face when Slade landed on top of the crazed clown. A second later Sportsmaster fell along side them. He wondered momentarily if it was raining mercenaries.

Several daggers and shuriken pinned the sport themed mercenary to the ground. Richie leaped down and landed double feet kick on Sportsmaster with a cackle of glee.

"Gotcha!" Nightwing said adjusting his mask before looking up at Bruce with a simple smile "How's it going, Batman?" he asked backflipping off and sending a dart into a neck of a demon that was passing by.

The Joker groaned and rolled Deathstroke off of him.

Batman turned momentarily to throw several punches at a charging Drow, sounds of cracking ribs were heard followed by several screams of pain. The Dark Knight kicked his feet out from under him and knocked aside a sword that was aimed for his face. His knuckles, crackling with electricity, smashed into a skeleton, causing it to crumble.

"Snopaew nrut onti tsud!" Zatanna chanted across the room. Several Drow and demons weapons crumbled in their hands

WHAM

The air rippled as Abaddon soared through the air only to meet Wonder Woman's fist and then the chest of a Balor.

A purple portal opened across the room. Agni casually stepped out. He was garbed back in his Cursed Shadow costume. He had left out the scythe and instead had his Weapon on his waist. As his cloak rustled in the wind that blew through what was left of the building, many weapons could be seen attached to his body.

"Come to me, Beowulf, my companion. My friend" He whispered softly.

Beo came charging out of the portal. He turned to Agni and cocked his head at his owner curiously. "You know what to do." Agni muttered to his pet.

The bear held up his paw to his owner who gently knocked his own obsidian skinned hand against it, suspiciously like a fist-bump. A quick sniff was all Beo needed before charging off after a pack of skeletons.

A Drow was foolish enough to try and attack Agni as the portal closed. The Weapon flash out of its sheath and back before the Drow could blink. He dropped to the floor, blood seeping out of his neck.

Agni turned and looked at Abaddon who was getting up as Superman and Wonder Woman were distracted fighting off several Balors

Zatanna strode over to him, blasting a demon out of her way as she reached him.

The dark elf smiled and dropped his hood revealing his elvish features. He looked around the battlefield and narrowed his eyes

"Rangers Unite!"

Does anyone still even read this? I'm almost tempted to stop writing because I'm not sure if anyone reads this anymore…

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