Be Salvageable

"So I know you only dragged me out here to Bludhaven because Gar is studying and La'Gann and M'gann were…..uh?"

"Hmmm."

"Yea….But seriously, Conner, what's the mission? Let me help."

"Sigh. That bomb on Malina Island looked way too alien. I have a feeling Intergang might be involved. So I've been tracking them since. Specifically, Whisper A'Daire."

On this cold night, Superboy, Blue Beetle, and Wolf opted to conduct their own investigations on what happened on Malina Island. The loss of all those Kroloteans hit many League members pretty hard, even if they were supposedly the enemy. As such, in the search of truth, these heroes were staking out a random nightclub waiting on any Intergang movement.

"You sound like you have a history with this person." Jaime asked.

"I stopped her robbing a bank a few years back."

"Ahhhh. Claro. What's she doing in Bludhaven anyway?"

"I could ask you boys the same question," another voice called out from behind.

They turned around to find what looked to be Nightwing, but the figure was clearly female. Instead of flipping or landing in an acrobatic manner, she was actually floating down and landed gracefully on the rooftop.

"Whoa," Jaime marveled, "Wait….a female Nightwing? I thought he was with Zatanna?!"

"He is," Conner answered.

"Then who's this?!"

"Name's Nightingale. Pleasure to meet ya," she winked.

"Wow you're pretty….OW!"

"Focus, Blue! And stop teasing him, Zatanna. His brain might explode!" Conner scolded.

"Wait…..Señorita Zatanna!?"

"C'mon Conner! You had to ruin the fun!," Zatanna rolled her eyes beneath the domino mask, "And Zatanna is fine, Jaime. Señorita makes me feel older than I actually am haha."

"O-ok….Shut up!" Jaime scolded his back, "It could be beating for multiple reasons! Her being pretty has nothing to do with that! I do not want to at all! You're disgusting!"

Zatanna and Conner shared confused glances before turning back to Jaime who seemed to be arguing with himself.

"You uh, you ok there, buddy?" Conner asked.

"Huh? Uh yea yea I'm fine!"

"I mean I get that I have an effect on men, but making someone go schizophrenic is a new one."

"Sorry Sorry! Sigh, look the scarab that bound itself to my spine and gave me this suit also came with some sort of AI voice thing. It likes to talk…..a lot. Parting gift from the late Ted Kord I guess."

"…Ok. It hasn't tried to control you, or anything has it?"

"No no! Of course not! I have it all under control! He's more of an advisor. Like Jiminy Cricket…but with a bad attitude."

"Well, either way, I think we should tell Nightwing. He oughta know about this," Zatanna said crossing her arms.

"Of course! I'll uh come clean when I see him next."

"Speaking of your husband, where is he tonight? Mal said he's on personal business," Conner asked.

"Uhh. Let's just say he's trying to save a friend. I'm covering for him tonight. Hence the return of Nightingale!" she announced, striking a pose.

"Ahhh. I understand."

"And he's not my husband!...yet," Zee tried to dispel the misconception.

"Uh huh…"

"Anyway, why are you two here in Bludhaven anyway?"

"We're tracking Intergang to investigate that alien bomb that blew up Malina Island a month ago. Whisper A'Daire is in that club down there," Conner explained.

"Oooo mind if I join? I've also been curious about that magic rune that was placed on that bomb."

"Sure. The more the merrier."

"Oye! Check it! Whisper's on the move. And she's with someone!"

The three heroes looked below to see the red-headed gangster walk out with a tall burly man with a mustache. Conner's eyes widened with recognition.

"That's Bruno Mannheim! He's the leader of Intergang!"

"If he's involved, this must be huge!"

"Uhhh Scarab just scanned that briefcase they got. Tech is alien but he says it's 'incompatible'?"

"Incompatible with what?"

"He won't say."

"Doesn't matter," Zatanna said, "They just got in that van. Let's tail it!"

"Hop on the Supercycle! She's the best way we can keep up with them!"

SIX HOURS LATER

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"NO!"

"Jaime that was funny like the first two hours, but now clearly you're just trying to piss Conner off."

"Grrr."

"Well I mean no one told me Whisper and Bruno were gonna drive six straight hours!? Where are we anyway?"

"Uhhh looks like Washington DC."

"That's not all," Conner pointed towards the horizon.

Everyone looked up to see the top part of the Hall of Justice peeking out over the forest.

"Sounds like we coulda Zeta tube'd here…" Jaime groaned.

As expected, Whisper and Bruno pulled up in front of the Hall of Justice with Whisper still carrying the mysterious briefcase. Conner squinted trying to scan the case via his infrared vision.

"Gah, I got nothing. Zatanna?"

"Luckily no magic emanating from it."

"Ughhhh Scarab is still calling it not compatible! Like seriously man, a little more information would be nice!"

"Blue, scan the hall. Whatever they're planning, it's going to hurt a lot of people in there," Conner ordered.

"Scan complete. It's empty."

"Well, that's one thing out the way.

The crew followed Whisper and Bruno a bit more. Soon, Bruno opened the briefcase to reveal a strange looking box with a console. It was red and looked way too advance to be Earth tech. Immediately, Sphere beeped and blipped in warning.

"What is that?" Jaime asked.

"Dunno. But Sphere's upset. Must be Apokaliptan."

"Sounds dangerous enough to me. Let's move!" Zatanna ordered.

Before Sphere could take the team closer, Bruno activated the odd machine. An antenna sprung up and emitted red signal waves. When the waves hit Beetle, he immediately froze and seized in pain. The Scarab screamed in his head saying "Not compatible! Not compatible!" Zatanna, Conner, and Wolf jumped down to face the two Intergang members.

"It's over Bruno! Shut the device down!" Conner growled.

"Or we'll make you do it," Zatanna threatened pulling out a pair of escrima sticks.

"I thought Nightwing was a guy?" Bruno asked.

"Oh he's definitely a guy. I'd recognized his ass anywhere. This one's a new player."

"Name's Nightingale! Now hand over the device!"

"Hmmm nah."

Just as Bruno taunted, the side wall of the Hall of Justice exploded. Stomping its way out into the open was a huge hulking creature. It looked like an amalgamation of a stone, crystal, and wood creature with a glowing yellow eye in the center. Reaching for the sky, the creature let out a loud bellowing roar. Bruno pressed a few buttons on his device forcing the creature to slam its fist down into the ground. Zatanna, Superboy, and Wolf quickly scattered as the creature wound itself back to a second attack. Not wanting to reveal her secret identity, Nightingale opted to fling some explosive wing-dings at the monster.

"Nrut pu eht taeh!" (Turn up the heat) she mumbled.

As the wing-dings struck the creature, the generated explosions were twice as big and caused the giant to stagger backwards. Using this distraction, Superboy climbed up the arm and slammed his fist into the crystal head leaving a significant crack. Wolf jumped onto the woody leg and started biting chunks off. Annoyed, the creature pushed everyone back with one swoop of its arm. They all stood shocked and dismayed when the creature healed itself returning to its previous spotless form. Soon, Sphere generated its own signal waves to counteract the ones from the Apokaliptan device. No longer frozen, Blue Beetle dusted himself off and stretched.

"What is that thing?" Jaime asked.

"Appellaxian Golem," Scarab answered, "This creature is highly dangerous. I suggest we plan our attack."

"I have a plan! Attack!"

Blue spread his wings and flew up into the air readying his sonic canon.

"Blue no!" Conner screamed.

Too late. Beetle had fired a sonic blast right into the crystal head of the golem. All translucent structures of the golem began glowing bright blue. With a roar, it released a massive sound wave knocking back nearly everyone in the vicinity. Supercycle was toppled over while Wolf was buried under Superboy. Nightingale was thrown back and hit a tree while Beetle fell from the sky before getting stomped by the creature.

"Can we kill them?" Whisper asked.

"Eh, we don't have the luxury of time. The League will be here soon. Let's just go."

With another push of a button, Bruno forced the golem to grow wings. The Intergang duo climbed aboard the creature and let it fly off into the night. Slowly, Conner got up rubbing his head. Wolf came over to lick his face making sure his owner was ok.

"Ugh I'm fine, boy. I'm fine."

Immediately he got up to check on Zatanna who also seemed a bit woozy.

"You ok?" he asked shouting loudly

"Ahhh talking about getting hit with the stereo!" she cringed covering her ears.

"Sorry. I'm having hearing troubles myself."

"It's ok. I think I'm adjusting."

"This thing's a pretty big deal. We may need to sub Nightingale out and Zatanna in."

"Copy that. Emitwohs!" (Showtime!)

In a flash of light, gone was the black and blue birdy armor. In was Zatanna's usual blue coat, fishnets, blouse, shorts, and boots. She pulled her magician gloves tight and stretched.

"Yea I'm fine too, guys," Jaime groaned getting up.

"C'mon! We've got some ground to cover!"

Everyone loaded up onto Supercycle and immediately began the chase.

"What were you thinking, Blue?" Conner asked.

"Yea man! Sonics against an Appellaxian is definitely not the move here!" Zatanna added.

"Dude? I've never even heard of this apple laxative until today!"

"Ughh freshman," Conner groaned.

"Blue, there's a casefile on the League's first mission. The Appelaxians were an alien race of energy beings that attacked Earth over fifteen years ago. They inhabited elemental host bodies. In this case, wood, stone…"

"And crystal that can absorb and redirect sonic attacks!" Conner

"Right."

"Ohhhh," Jaime realized, "Sooo why are they displayed like museum pieces in the Hall?"

"The original seven members of the League drove the beings off world," Conner continued the history lesson, "The empty husks left behind became the League's first trophies."

"Bruno's device must have reactivated the husks somehow. Maybe it's a specific frequency that tuned into the bodies," Zatanna wondered.

"Well whatever he did, he's got control over that golem now. And we can't let that go."

"Agreed. Lead the way, Conner!"

Eventually, they came across a clearing where the golem had let down Bruno and Whisper. The poor creature looked keeled over and groaned with pain. Bruno in the meanwhile kept tapping buttons irritated that the creature was not obeying his commands.

"New Genisphere, jam all Apokaliptan signals in the area," Conner ordered.

Some sparks and flashes caused Bruno to drop his device into the snow below.

"Sehtolc ot sgnidnib!" (Clothes to bindings).

Suddenly both Whisper and Bruno's sweaters tore into strips and tied them up. They tripped over each other's feet and fell into the snow as well.

"Ahhh shit, it's one of them witches or whatever. I told you the League was on our ass!" Bruno groaned.

"I prefer sorceress or magician please and thank you," Zatanna glared at him, "Witch is rather derogatory."

Before another retort could be made, the golem loudly roared again before crushing the device beneath its feet. Angered, it flew up and smashed the Supercycle knocking everyone onboard off before slamming down onto the ground creating a huge snowstorm.

"Raelc eht ria!" (Clear the air!)

With the snow dispersed, Wolf and Superboy tried the direct approach lunging right at the creature. Sadly, a simple spin knocked them both away thanks to the golem's powerful arms. Beetle tried to ram the creature, but the stone was too thick and he fell as well.

"Guess I gotta pick up after you boys," Zatanna mumbled, "Etativel!" (Levitate).

She flew up just as the golem smashed its fist down on Beetle. Though it noticed her immediately and swung its arms trying to bring the magician down, Zee was able to gracefully dodge around its attacks.

"Seert dnib siht erutaerc!" (Trees bind this creature!)

From all around the ground, roots popped up tangling themselves around the golem's feet. The surrounding branches and tree trunks also extended themselves tying the creature's arms and pulling them nearly apart. Now almost spread eagle, the golem groaned loudly. With immense strain, the golem yanked at the trees and tore through the makeshift bindings. Shifting itself, the creature finally noticed a nuclear reactor in the far distance and began heading in that direction completely ignoring Zatanna.

"Hey! I'm not through with you! Roirraw fo Htrae ESIRA!" (Warrior of Earth ARISE!) she called out.

In front of the Appelaxian, the ground rumbled and cracked open. A stone hand reached out from the crack and pressed hard into the ground. Rising up was a giant stone soldier of equal height to the Appelaxian. Not wasting any time, Zatanna's soldier threw a haymaker right into the center eye of the Appelaxian knocking it backwards. Now angered, the golem fought back at the soldier swinging its own punches. Though some landed, the soldier remained undeterred sending some blows of its own. Back at the clearing, Superboy picked up both Bruno and Whisper and slammed them against nearby trees.

"Talk!" he ordered, "What did you do to those Appelaxian husks?!"

"The device tapped into their residual psychic energies awakening their former hosts," Bruno explained, "But you dumb heroes right screwed us over! Without the console, no one's controlling the monster. It's on the loose and it's your fault! Hahahaah"

"Grrrr Blue, pin them to the tree."

"Roger that."

Forming a giant stapler, Beetle clipped the Intergang members to the tree before following Conner towards the battle royale amongst giants. As they got closer, the Appelaxian sadly gained the upper hand. Using its claws, it sliced the soldier's head clean off before pushing the falling husk aside and continued stomping towards the nuclear power plant.

"Ok, I guess I'll have to bring out the big guns," Zatanna mumbled.

Flying quickly, she stopped right in front of the golem cutting it off from advancing. Raising her hands, she charged up her magic generating sparks and lightning around her arms. With her eyes glowing blue, Zatanna began her incantation for her strongest attack.

"TLOBREDNUHT DNA GNINTHGIL!" (THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTNING)

A surge of blue lightning fired from her hands. Almost like a beam of pure energy, the blast struck the golem right in the eye piercing easily through the stone and out the back. Superboy actually have to close his eyes and cover his ears with how bright the light was and how loud the thunderous cackling proved to be. Soon, Zatanna ceased her attack and gently floated to the ground where she collapsed on her knees. Up above, the Appelaxian stumbled a bit. There was now a giant hole in the center of its body still glowing red after being melted by the lightning. Zatanna almost let out a sigh of relief until she saw the rock cooling. Moments later, the stone reconfigured itself and repaired the giant hole. The eye glowed again and the creature pressed onward like nothing happened.

"You ok?" Conner asked helping her up.

"Yea. That was a lot of magic, but I still have some left in me. How the hell did the League take these guys down!?"

"Let's worry about that later. We need to protect that power plant!"

Panic erupted at the Arlington Nuclear Power Plant. The alarm was blaring deafeningly as the workers scrambled around trying cool down the reactor as quickly as possible. The golem did not care as it bulldozed its way past the gate ignoring the guards firing on it. Despite bursting through the initial walls, the creature was stopped as Supercycle fired lasers upon it. Superboy leapt up and smashed the golem right in the center again. Blue supported by ramming its legs and knocking it down.

"Knis otni eht Tnemec!" (Sink into the cement!).

All the cement around and under the fall golem suddenly melted allowing the giant creature to sink down. Once it was thoroughly covered in the wet mixture, the cement quickly hardened trapping the beast under the ground. Unfortunately, this did not hold the Appelaxian down long. Its arms smashed right through the concrete, freeing itself. Superboy and Wolf tried to jump at it to knock it down, but they were easily swatted away.

"Ezeerf ni Ecalp!" (Freeze in place!)

Gradually, ice started to form at the feet of the golem and climb up the leg. More and more of the frosty sheets were forming all over the Appelaxian's body slowing its movements. It was practically a statue once more when the ice reached up to its torso and arms. Everyone around started to relax as the golem stood still with its arm in the air. A few seconds later it might've smashed through the reactor walls. There was almost a celebration, until Blue Beetle came forward with his sonic canon.

"Blue stop!" Conner called out, "It's frozen. Zatanna got him!"

"Hang on! Scarab thinks we can talk to it!"

Extending his arm, Blue fired a sonic signal at the creature. Moments later, he screamed in slight pain after receiving a signal back.

"Blue stop what you're doing! You're hurting yourself!" Zatanna came over to pull the canon away.

"No! It's not my pain! It's his! His trying to communicate his pain!"

Suddenly Blue's eyes turned yellow, and his tone and demeanor changed.

"Where is the stillness of wood, of stone, of crystal, of metal?" he said, "All this noise, all this life, is pain. We sense the power in this place. Power enough to destroy us, to end the pain, and be still again. Free me and let me end my misery."

"Is-Is that the golem talking?" Zatanna stood in shock.

"We can help you," Conner said aloud.

"What?"

"I mean, look at him Zatanna. It's unnatural and he knows it. He just wants to be natural and normal again."

"I didn't think of it like that."

Before anyone could make a move, and enormous sonic blast fired from behind and struck the Appelaxian's crystalline head. Cracks formed all over its body as the crystal portions crumbled. Its woody arms and legs began unravelling while its stony body continued cracking and breaking apart. Moments later, the whole golem exploded in a flash of light sending debris of stone, wood, crystal, and ice everywhere. Blue Beetle was knocked back right into Zatanna's arms. Quickly, Conner turned around to scan the forest for the source of the blast but found no one.

"It was alive…" Beetle groaned, "W-what killed it?"

"….Someone ugly." Conner growled.

Nearly midnight, Zatanna unlocked the door to her and Dick's apartment. Dick laid sprawled out on their couch still in his Nightwing gear much to her annoyance. But she was also exhausted and not really in the mood to scold her boyfriend. So, she knelt down to gently caress his cheek and kiss his forehead. Slowly he stirred.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey yourself."

"Mmmm thanks for covering for me, Nightingale."

"Any time baby. How'd it go with Roy?"

"Ugh…..not well," he groaned now sitting up.

"I'm sorry," she kissed his cheek after sitting down next to him.

"He's just so stubborn, I guess. I feel like he has this tremendous weight of guilt on him, and he won't let it go until he finds the original Roy."

"Hmmm? Someone who takes in all the guilt and burden by himself? Sounds like someone I know."

"Har har. I know. It's just he looks tired. He stole money from someone he saved today. He's so obsessed with finding the original Roy. I don't even know if there is an original Roy anymore."

"Well, you at least have to admire his perseverance. He's been through a lot questioning his own existence. You feel for the guy because clearly the only thing he has going for him is the hope that Speedy is alive."

"Yea, but we were trying to show him that he has his own life and that there's more to it than just finding his original."

"You've done all you can. All we can do now is hope he'll listen to at least someone."

Dick shifted a bit so that he was leaning against the couch and let Zatanna rest her head on his chest. She curled up her legs and got comfortable hugging his torso.

"How about you?" he asked, "How was your night."

"Kinda long to be honest. I tagged along with Conner and Blue Beetle."

"Oh?"

"Yea. Conner suspected Intergang might have been behind the bomb on Malina Island. So we followed Whisper A'Daire and Bruno Mannheim."

"Huh. Not a bad lead actually."

"Yea well, they had some sort of Apokalitan device and reanimated the Appelaxian husks from the Hall of Justice."

"Wait, you fought Appelaxians?!"

"Well sort of. I blew a hole in its face."

"That's my girl."

"Anyway, I kinda felt bad for it. As it turns out, the golem just wanted inner peace. But something disrupted its natural frequency or whatever and it fell apart. Someone killed it. And we have no idea who."

"Sounds like you and I both finished the night unresolved."

"Yea. Sounds like it."

"That's ok," he reassured her while running his fingers through her hair, "Tomorrow's a new day. We'll figure something out."

"Hehe tomorrow is today. It's past midnight."

"So it is haha."

At that moment, Pocus hopped up onto the coffee table holding something in his mouth. He dropped it gently and rolled it towards Dick and Zee using his nose. Leaning in closer, they both realized that Pocus had given them a strawberry in the shape of a heart.

"Ohhh Pocus that's so cute! Where did you get…..POCUS! I told you to stop playing in Mrs. Vartebedian's garden!" Zee went from cooing to scolding.

"Hahah c'mon Zee. I think he's trying to remind us of something."

"And what might that be?"

Reaching over to his wrist computer, he pushed a button revealing the current date.

"Ohhh," she realized.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Zee."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Baby."

They leaned in for a quick kiss before Pocus thumped his foot and jumped into their laps.

"Hehe, and Happy Valentine's Day to you too, Pocus," Zee scratched the little bunny's head.

"Thank you for remembering, little guy."

After some mild family cuddling, Zee got up and grabbed an apple from the fridge. She cut it up into slices before putting them into Pocus's feeding bowl.

"A good boy deserves a good treat. Come to mommy, sweetie," she gestured.

Like a little white blur, Pocus dashed towards his bowl eager to enjoy his sweet treat. Dick also got up making his way towards Zee. He hugged her and buried his nose into her hair, taking in a mix of sweat but also her sweet perfume.

"And what about me?" he teased, "Does this good boy get a treat?"

"Oh, definitely," she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, "Carry me to bed, and you'll certainly earn your treat for the night."

"As the lady requests."

As if on cue, Zatanna jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Following her lead, he shifted his hands to thighs to support her before walking towards their bedroom. Kiss after kiss after kiss were exchanged all along the way and neither could stop expressing their love for each other. Pocus looked up from his meal when they slammed the bedroom door behind them. He shook his head in understanding and shrugged before diving back into his apple.

Hours later in the morning, Zee slept soundly on her side facing Dick. He had just barely woken up minutes before and was happy to admire his girlfriend. His hand smoothed out her hair before gliding across her bare back.

"I don't think I've ever told you how lucky I am to have you," he whispered, "Or if I did, I certainly haven't said it enough. You're so strong, and courageous, and kind. You're my everything, Zee. You motivate me every day by just being you. I love you so so much."

He rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling. Despite all the warm and fuzzy feelings, guilt was gnawing at him. He looked over again to Zee's sleeping form trying to remind himself of his purpose, his ultimate goal. His phone vibrated from the end table. He picked it up to read the new message.

Unknown: Meet tonight. New info

He put it back down sighing.

"I hope you can forgive me one day…"

AN: Heyo! Back with another episode from Season 2! I decided to skip over the intervention with Roy because there isn't really anything I would change there. So instead I figured a little adventure with Zee, Conner, and Jaime would be fun. I like trying to showcase Zee a bit more and just writing her to be all powerful but with certain limits. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm doing more traveling this week so I won't be updating until probably next week-ish. Till then, hope you all are well and Happy Summer! Thanks again for ghostpainters_real on Instagram for the amazing artwork.