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I apologize profusely for the great delay of this chapter. I lost all motivation to write for a long time due to a change in employment and it took me a while to muster the energy to complete this story. Hopefully it is up to snuff, it's difficult to get back in the groove. If all goes well I will be submitting the final chapter in short order. I expect it to be on the longer side. Please like, review, and enjoy.
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Gotham, Six Days After The Gentle Man Left Gehenna
Zatanna wasted no time teleporting the small rescue party to Angela's house. As soon as they arrived she could sense the powerful magic Constantine had defended the residence with. It pulsed out from the house, energies from different spells crashing into each other making an indistinguishable sea of power. Superman and Damian felt it too, but the only thing that registered was a slight headache, quickly and wrongly attributed to the teleportation.
"Damn it, Constantine!" Zatanna yelled at the stone facade. "We don't have time for this! Why are you keeping us from Bruce and Diana?!"
The building gave no response, so Zatanna started chanting backwards. She used brute force tactics until she was able to identify one of the spells by the way it reacted to her attempts. Then she used a more targeted attack against whatever spell she identified; in this way she was able to systematically tear through the defenses. Constantine was fully aware that he could not stop the more powerful magician, meaning that all these defensive spells were merely an attempt to delay. When Zatanna realized this, she picked up her speed, fueled by rage. She could not conceive of a noble reason for keeping her friends hostage for mere minutes longer, but for some reason, such a simultaneously petty and terrible deed did not seem beyond Constantine to her.
At first, Clark and Damian had been confused as to what Zatanna was doing, but as she threw her proverbial weight at the defensive spells, some of them ignited with a brilliant glow and others crackled, hummed, and popped. They caught on and impatiently awaited the end of the light show. With a defiant shout Zatanna dispelled the last of the magic and nodded towards the door. Superman was inside before Zatanna had even finished nodding, the door standing ajar. Damian followed in at a sprint, but as he passed the threshold the house morphed into an open field, sharp mountains rising miles away in every direction forming a basin. Superman stood next to him and they were soon joined by Zatanna.
"Where are we?" Clark asked. "The sky is different, we aren't on Earth."
Zatanna gritted her teeth. "We're in what appears to be an arena, Constantine intends to fight… Constantiiiiiiine!"
A portal wreathed in a red glow opened up in front of them and out stepped Constantine and The Gentle Man arrayed in full armor.
"You don't have to shout, love." Constantine said coolly.
Clark, pressed by the urgency of the situation leaped for The Gentle Man, grabbing him by the neck. Damian took the queue from Clark and moved to disarm Constantine of whatever magical bauble he was holding. Robin's staff arced through the air towards Constantine's hand, right before it made contact Zatanna shouted, "No!" but it was too late. The small engraved stone fell to the ground.
"Oops, now you've summoned him." Constantine turned to go back through the portal.
"Oh, no you don't." Zatanna dissipated the portal with a wave of her hand and cast a binding spell on Constantine to keep him from leaving. "What did you do?"
Constantine gave no response, so Zatanna levitated off the ground to get an aerial view. As she rose her fears were confirmed, a massive summoning circle was scorched into the Earth all around them, the stone bauble was the final piece. She sunk back to the ground, fear gripping her face.
"Who, Constantine? Who?!"
Sympathy flashed across Constantine's face. "Sorry, love. But you brought him, he gestured towards Superman."
Clark had barely noticed the exchange between the two magicians as he was busy with The Gentle Man. Upon the nephilim's adamant refusal to return to Gehenna peacefully, Clark had picked him up off the ground by the neck. Julian did not appear to like this because he immediately punched Superman in the gut, which to Superman's surprise sent him hurtling backwards. He got up on his knees and looked down at where he had been struck, his suit was damaged and the area of impact actually hurt.
"Magic." Clark muttered in distaste under his breath before recovering and exploding towards The Gentle Man.
He still held back some because he had yet to ascertain this new foe's strength and killing him was not an option, practically or morally. He appeared to be faster than the armored man, but Julian was a lot faster than he expected. The Gentle Man attempted to side-step the incoming blow, forcing Clark to course correct and weakening his punch. Superman was substantially faster however, so the blow made contact and sent the nephilim staggering backwards. Strong enough for me to stop holding back it seems, Clark thought.
"You hit pretty hard for a human." The Gentle Man took his spiked flail off of his belt, letting the ball fall to the end of the chain and swing slightly beside him.
Before they could reengage, a several story tall being began to materialize in the midst of them all, they all backed up as it took form, towering above them. As the last few bits of the monster fell into place the being's gaze fell to rest on Damian.
"A mere child? Has all respect for the gods left this world?" The beast began to shrink until it stood only ten feet tall.
Zatanna looked at Constantine. "What the f***, Constantine?!"
"Ogun, Voodoo warrior god of iron."
Ogun rushed Damian with no hesitation. Damian took a step back, not sure what to do. Clark quickly intervened, catching one of Ogun's fists and landing a blow directly in the god's face. Zatanna quickly subdued Constantine, demonstrating her much greater power and managed to save Clark from getting hit in the back with Julian's flail.
"Superman, you take on that god, I'll back you up in a minute! C'mon, Damian!" She engaged The Gentle Man fully now, holding nothing back; a nephilim was not to be toyed with as Superman had.
Constantine freed himself from Zatanna's powers quickly once she was distracted, but decided not to enter the fray. There was little he could do against Superman or Zatanna, his efforts would be better spent figuring out another delay tactic. It was clear Ogun was not faring as well as he had hoped. All the old gods had been gradually losing power over the last couple thousand years, so it was not entirely surprising. Hopefully Ogun and The Gentle Man would hold out long enough though. Astra, I'm on my way.
It took several minutes, but Damian and Zatanna's combined efforts managed to get past the flail and disarm The Gentle Man. Zatanna imprisoned him and ordered Damian to watch Constantine, knowing he would have escaped by now and that there was not much a Robin could do against a god. She flew to Superman's aid.
Gehenna
Bruce crested another mountain and the suspicion he had already formed based on the many other memories collected thus far was confirmed. They had noticed long ago that the higher the mountain, the more traumatic a memory they would have to relive, and this was the tallest and the last mountain in the range. As the cornerstone of his identity, the one night that defined the rest of his life, replayed over and over again in his head, desert stretched out before them, dominating the horizon; the mountains had ended.
Bruce could not catch his breath, the endless desert before them spinning. "Diana-"
"I know, I remembered a while ago, but I thought it best to let you remember on your own." Diana nearly whispered in as gentle a voice as she could manage.
Bruce nodded, her words and compassion slowly bringing the nightmare of their reality back into focus. He started down the mountain. They could both feel their memories completed, and they were both beginning to wonder if they really wanted to go back home. Their desires had rarely played much of a role in their decision making however. There were people who needed them, and people they desperately wanted to see.
Diana saw the man's shoulders change ever so slightly, become more rigid, the weight of his mantle returning.
"Bruce-" He turned to meet her gaze and she could see it in his eyes, the Batman had returned. And with him came the abyss that laid between his face and his soul. She almost despaired, she almost gasped in fear, she almost wished he would forget again. "Do you think we can still be who we were in here, now that we remember who we were out there?"
He turned immediately and took a few more steps before responding. "I don't know…"
Her heart broke a little at this, but there was a desert to cross now. She could feel the temperature rising and the sun which gave such warmth at the peaks of mountains became an oppressive and hostile enemy.