Night shift at Solomon Wayne Containment wasn't a bad gig, all things considered. It was twenty miles from Gotham in the middle of nowhere, so not the most accessible workplace, but that was by design. If anything ever broke out, at least there would be some cushion between the facility and heavily populated areas. Considering the customers the STAR Labs branch facility took in, they needed that cushion. Unlike Arkham Asylum, SWC handled suspects of the extreme variety, whether their nature was paranormal or metahuman.

As a result, the guards, techs, even custodial staff were all given mandatory training in the basics of understanding each for at least six months prior to starting. SWC was also the home of the Extreme Threats Research Center, a facility housed in a separate wing under equally heavy guard. The ETRC was a joint venture between STAR Labs and WayneTech meant to investigate the nature of paranormal, metahuman, and other threats standard law enforcement weren't yet equipped to handle.

Scientists and researchers from all over the country—and a few from overseas—collaborated to research ways of countering these threats by any means. A few frequent guest researchers were moonlighting Justice League members. On this particular night, one such moonlighter broke up the monotony of lab coats and sneakers with tights and thigh-highs.

"Ms. Zatara, I had a thought about the neural disruptors we use in the paranormal wing."

She glanced at the speaker, a messy-haired man with glasses who stood a good two heads taller than her. "Oh? What's that?"

"The current models consume quite a bit of power and aren't the most resilient. Wouldn't it be more efficient to just use a sonic jammer tuned to their voice? So they can't utter spells."

Her head shook, her raven hair swishing around her shoulders. "Not all magicians need to speak to use magic. In fact, the most dangerous ones—AKA the ones we need to worry about—rarely need to voice their magic."

"Even you?"

Zatanna nodded. "Even me."

"But that's, like, your trademark, the whole back-talk thing."

She chuckled. "It's a holdover from when I was learning as a kid, but I've been able to use magic by thought alone since I was a teenager."

"Huh. Cool." He shrugged. "I mean, not so much for the state of our maintenance bills, but hey, you win some you lose some."

Zatanna laughed and returned to her work. Back when the ETRC was founded, Bruce had asked her to help identifying and pacifying any magic artifacts he or Diana came across. This particular piece was a recent acquisition, a dagger with Ancient Sumerian, Greek, and Coptic engravings. Apparently, Black Bat and the new speedster had taken it off a storm elementalist they'd cornered on the docks. The same man was currently an occupant in the neighboring wing of SWC. A month had passed since his capture, and they still hadn't been able to identify him.

This dagger, though…

This was a museum piece, as far as artifacts were concerned. Carbon dating on the etching hollows measured it at close to four thousand years old. Whoever this sorcerer was, he'd gone to great pains to keep it in pristine condition. It had runes for stabilization, magnification, protection, even a psychic connection—at one point in the fight, he'd controlled it remotely. On the bottom edge of the blade was an inscription that stood out among the rest, written in Greek: Keravnós—Thunderbolt.

Zatanna frowned and wrote down a few more notes. She caught movement in her peripherals and looked up to see Doug, one of the custodians, making the rounds toward the containment wing.

"Hey, Doug!" she called with a wave.

He didn't answer or even acknowledge her. She frowned. He didn't have a headset on or music playing, that she could see. Weird. She watched him leave, then returned to her work.

The other researcher yawned hard. "I'm gonna grab myself a cup. You want something?"

"Ginger tea, thanks."

A few minutes later, Zatanna was writing down a reminder to cross-check some of the language on the dagger—ancient Mediterranean languages weren't her area of expertise. She turned back to the weapon to get a transcription and froze.

The runes were glowing.

As soon as she saw it, the glow intensified sharply.

"Nico, get behind me!" she screamed. "Etalusni!"

A blinding flash of lightning split the room with Keravnós as its focal point. A split-second later, the energy lanced outward in all directions like a spider web, washing over Zatanna's shield like a wave. Nico stuck to her like a burr as every corner of the room was flooded with electricity. Fortunately, the shield also protected their ears, or they'd be long deaf. As it was, they could only hear muffled rumbles from their end.

"Is it some kind of safety or tamper mechanism?" Nico asked.

Zatanna frowned grimly, slowly motioning with her hands to maintain the shield. "No. I placed several layers of wards on it before I started my analysis. Something—or someone—else turned it on."

Moments later, the energy scattered throughout the room began condensing into the blade, concentrating until it was aglow with azure plasma. Then it turned sharply toward a far wall and shot through it like a missile.

Her eyes widened. "A recall. He's loose!"

As soon as she dropped the shield, Nico ran for the nearest alarm. Nothing happened. Zatanna was preparing to teleport to the containment wing when she heard him start coughing. Her head whipped around to see him halfway bent over—and a nearby vent spewing thick brown gas.

"Egrup nosiop!" she cast.

A swirl of air like a vacuum surrounded his body and the vent, slowly extracting whatever gas had gotten into his lungs. Then she caught movement in her peripherals and saw every vent in the room flooded with more. Zatanna swept her hands in circles, expanding the atmospheric isolation field to both of them as she made her way to his side.

"Nico!"

He was still coughing.

"Nico, can you stand?"

As soon as he had a breath in him, he stared at his hands and started screaming. Zatanna almost jumped at the intensity of his panic, watching in mute horror as he began clawing at his own skin, as if trying to brush something off and failing.

"Hey! Hey, stop!"

Whatever was happening, he couldn't hear her. A second later, he was clawing at his arms and face hard enough to draw blood.

"Dammit," she muttered. "Peels ekil eht daed."

Immediately, Nico fell limp, bleeding from shallow cuts in his face and forearms. His head bonked on the tile floor before she could reach him.

Zatanna winced at the sound. "Sorry, Nic." She reached in a pocket of her jacket and activated her Justice League communicator. "Zatanna to Watchtower."

Mr. Terrific picked up. "Watchtower, readin' you loud and clear."

"Emergency situation at SWC—someone released a biohazard into the building's vents, possibly fear toxin. I think they're using it to affect a breakout in the containment wing."

"Copy. Hazmat is on the way."

"I think I can contain the gas, but if you have any telepaths or anesthetic specialists available, send them down—these people are gonna claw their own eyes out if we don't sedate them." Her lips pursed as she stared at the hole the dagger left. "And someone tell Batman and Wonder Woman that their suspect's free."

"Done."

…

5 minutes earlier

Doug pushed his cart down the long halls, tagging in at every checkpoint between the research and containment wings without any trouble. His head sagged slightly with the toll of the late hours. The guards that greeted him with barely a wave in return instead of his usual bright smile chalked it up to bad sleep. Doug neared the security control station and tagged in.

"Hey, Doug," called one of the pair watching the cameras.

She turned to her partner and resumed chattering. It took a few seconds for her to realize Doug hadn't replied or taken anything off his cart. The moment she turned in her seat to look, a stiletto was shoved through her eye socket. Her partner tried to scream only for a karambit to whip out and slash his throat open. The woman twitched and stuttered as her brain fired its last signals and she was irreverently dumped on the ground.

Doug took her spot and used her access card to shut down the motion sensors in the paranormal containment wing. He injected a worm into the camera system that sent a constant flow of interference, making it look like they'd blown a circuit. These two were barely an hour into their shift. By the time maintenance realized what was really happening, he'd be long gone. He retrieved the USB drive and dumped the bodies in the empty cart—where they joined the real Doug, who'd been stripped down to his boxers.

The imposter moved one of the chairs to conceal the carpet bloodstains somewhat, just in case.

A long walk to the paranormal wing took him past a great many empty cells, completely airtight and ventilated independently from the rest of the building, in case they had to sedate the prisoners. Within minutes, he reached the cell of a man with a bald head and scale tattoos all over his body.

Beep.

The identity thief's stolen access card opened the door. On the other side, the man rose to his feet and smirked at his rescuer.

"Adopting this face couldn't have been pleasant."

He sneered. "Just be grateful I came for you at all, Caephus."

Caephus grinned and stretched. "Oh, I am. Very grateful indeed." He stepped out and peeked at the cart's grisly contents. "Hm." He glanced at the other. "One last task before we leave."

The impostor shook his head. "Two. We need a distraction if we're going to get far." He moved a tarp in the cart, revealing a small canister with a biohazard sign. "Little gift from Crane that I picked up in their research wing. It'll have them eating each other in minutes."

"Then I'll perform my task while you lead on."

He glanced at Caephus. "And what's that?"

Caephus smiled malevolently. "Reclaiming what's mine."

The rumble of cascading thunder shook the walls slightly, far as they were from Keravnós' emissions. The moment they reached the central ventilation system, the ceiling melted at a single point. A split-second later, the dagger slapped into Caephus' palm. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

"Is it ready?" He asked.

The other glanced at him. "Are you ready to make us an exit?"

Caephus nodded.

The man clicked the canister open, releasing a condensed cloud of fear toxin into the vent intakes.

"Time to go," he said, standing.

Caephus followed him out of the vent room and stopped when he did.

"Doug?"

One of the other custodians had spotted them. Caephus was a good three heads taller than the heavyset woman, whose confusion quickly turned to panic when the impostor pinned her to a wall by the throat and started to squeeze. She thrashed and slapped at his face ineffectually, barely able to reach his shoulders with her short arms. As he slowly dragged her to the ground, Caephus could hear him murmuring something through his vile smirk.

"Shhhh…hush now. Hush."

…

The Batmobile was already firing up by the time Jason pulled on his armor.

"Hurry up!" Damian shouted.

"Go!" Jason called. "I'll catch up!"

"You don't go anywhere alone, remember?" Cass asked.

Jason rolled his eyes and used his speed to rapidly suit up. The moment his helmet was in place, he nodded to Cass, who was revving her bike. She slid her own helmet on and took off down the exit tunnel. Jason took a deep breath and took off after the others, flying parallel to them. The tunnel opened, and Jason took to the skies, keeping overwatch on the Batmobile as they screeched toward the SWC.

"I have an incoming call from Zatanna," Oracle said. "She's first on the scene. Patching her in. Zee, you're on."

"Batman, the League and first responders are already on site, and we're making our way to the scientific research wing to retrieve the latest antidote."

"Then it'll be over by the time we get there," Robin said with a hint of irritation.

"Which is why you need to go after the prisoner."

"How?" Jason asked. "If he's got his magic back, he could've teleported anywhere in the world by now."

"No," Cass said. "If he could do that, why bother coming into the city by ship?"

"Still, they have a fifteen-minute head start on us and it's the middle of nowhere," Robin said.

"I can fly over and scan for heat sigs," Jason said.

"Negative," Batman replied. "You'll be alone."

"What choice do we have?"

"A WayneTech imaging satellite will be overhead in minutes. We'll scan the forest with that and divert as necessary."

"Dad—"

"The perpetrators have already escaped. The fear toxin they left behind is the real damage, and it's being contained. I'm not risking you when there's no imminent danger."

Jason's jaw clenched. "Fine."

"You may have to," Zatanna said grimly. "Finally got a moment to breathe. I checked something I put in place when I got started with research—a trace spell."

"You slapped a magic tracer on the dagger?" Robin asked.

"I did. He must've been in such a rush that he didn't notice. As it is, I'm sensing it moving toward Gotham at a very rapid speed, like the wind."

"He displayed some control over air at the wharf," Cass said.

"If he's a full storm elementalist, you may not even be able to catch up to them in the Batmobile, especially if they've been flying since they got the dagger back. And I don't know how long it'll be before he finds the trace."

Jason glanced at the car below. "Your call, Dad."

He could almost feel Batman seething on the other end. "Track them, but keep your distance. Don't get close enough for them to be a threat, and don't get spotted. If he took a ship to Gotham, then he can't sustain flight indefinitely. Just keep eyes on and tell us where they land."

"Got it," he said with a grin.

Finally, the baby gate was down. He heard faint muttering over the call, and an ethereal compass formed in the corner of his eye, along with what appeared to be an overhead map with a moving dot. On further inspection, it wasn't a map so much as a snapshot of how the land felt from a magical standpoint. This was a projection of Zatanna's perception; he could even see faint magical ley lines going to and from the city like a web. He went supersonic a moment later, zeroing in on the actively transmitted coordinates sent by Zatanna. His silvery form whizzed over the treetops like a missile, his motion sending a faint ripple through the bare branches in his wake.

By the trace's location, they were already approaching the city proper. Jason grit his teeth and sped up. He had to assume that the escapee would discover the trace as soon as they had a moment to think. A minute later, he caught sight of a faint glow matching Cass's description of the blade. Jason looped behind a building and weaved in and out of sight, steadily closing the distance. Then he crested a particularly tall skyscraper and set down on the roof. The glow of the dagger was nowhere in sight. He glanced at the magical overlay and saw the trace had settled somewhere below him.

He saw several buildings that could fit the description and took another glance at the dot to narrow it down. His eyes widened when it started expanding and getting fuzzier.

"Damn," he muttered. "Guys, I think he's trying to unravel the trace."

"He is," Zatanna answered. "I can feel it. Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. If we lose him, there's no telling where he'll disappear to." Her voice darkened. "And we've already found several bodies."

Jason's lips pursed tightly. "Batman?"

"We're two minutes out. Get eyes on the target and make sure he doesn't leave. Do not take any more risks than necessary to maintain contact."

"Understood. They won't even see me coming."

He dove off the roof and let gravity take over, plunging toward the building closest to the dot's epicenter. Lenses snapped down over his eyes as the magical overlay vanished entirely. He sent out a sonar pulse to scan the building, finding several signatures, including one that separated from the rest. He angled himself to glide atop the building and perched on the edge of the roof, looking down to see the outlier make his exit. Jason's monocular gave him a close-up of the man's face. He took a snapshot of him.

"I'm sending you a photo of a suspect," he said. "He's leaving the building where they were holed up, but there are a bunch of others still inside."

A few moments later, he heard Zatanna mutter something. "That's Doug, one of the custodians—except, we just found him dead."

"So they have a shapeshifter too," Robin said. "Lovely."

"There's no footage of his movements after he hit the security station, but we found the night guards' bodies too. He's the most likely suspect."

"If there are others inside, then the sorcerer takes priority," Batman said. "Put a tracker on the shifter."

Jason reached for his belt and pulled out a small disc about the size of a dime, pressing its center. A set of tiny wings popped from its sides, starting to spin and suspend it midair. Lenses snapped down over his eyes, scanning in infrared as he saw the laser projected from the tracer. Then he hurled it toward its target and watched as it latched on with barely a sound and ruffle of the man's trenchcoat. The wings tucked in as soon as it was in place.

Jason checked his gauntlet pad. "Tracer's active."

"We'll run him down after we recapture the prisoner," Batman said. "One minute out."

"Let me know when you're close. I'm gonna breach from the opposite direction a few seconds before, see if we can't take 'em by surprise."

"Agreed."

"Yes, agreed."

The new voice prompted Jason to swing around, fist already flying. The face he was aiming for shifted sideways at the last second. His fist landed in the man's open palm—and couldn't move. The man smiled malevolently.

"'Leave nothing to chance,' she said," he said in an accented voice.

The Knight swung with his other arm, going for the ribs with an uppercut. The man kneed him in the gut before he was halfway through his swing. He used the trapped hand to flip the Knight over his shoulder and plant him back-first into the rooftop's gravel. As soon as Knight touched down, he kicked up and windmilled his legs to create space and stand. His attacker withdrew only a step before lashing out with a push-kick.

Knight dropped to one knee and caught the leg on his shoulder, wrapping his arm around it. Then he stood and pushed up, flipping his attacker ten feet through the air. He managed to stabilize his falling arc on the way down, but TK tackled him off the roof before he could land. Knight felt several elbows slam into his back and grit his teeth against the pain as he flew away from the building, then arced back and flew at the wall full-speed. They crashed through together, Knight's attacker groaning hard as he was hurled into a stack of wooden pallets. Looked like the sorcerer decided to hole up in another warehouse.

With a lot of guys with guns.

They all stared at him for a good five seconds, then opened fire. Knight's arms became indistinct gray blurs as his gauntlets shattered a dozen rounds a second. He kept dashing in zigzags to further throw their aim off and buy time. By his calculations, Batman and the rest were only twenty seconds out.

He just had to hold out for twenty—

Knight swept his left arm out to the side on a surge of pure instinct. An instant later, a massive lance of lightning struck his gauntlet, surging across the Promethium like grasping fingers. Keravnós flew at his face right after the blast. Knight twirled around another burst of lead and slapped the dagger away with his other gauntlet. It spun and arced around the room, coming back at him again. He spotted the sorcerer and snarled as he flew straight for him. The man from the roof intercepted him and grabbed his arms, hurling TK sideways.

He twist-flipped through the air, still pursued by gunfire. TK deployed his shield and hunkered down behind it, seeing some of the shooters reload while the others maintained short bursts to keep him suppressed. They were layering their fire to make sure they didn't run out of ammo all at once. Smart. If Batman's hunch held true, these were Red Claw as well. Which made him wonder why none of them had juiced up yet—the man on the roof hadn't shown any signs of ΔV injection, yet he'd managed to almost match Jason for strength.

Plus he'd somehow managed to sneak up on him—which was not an easy thing to do—and somehow heard Batman speaking in Jason's earpiece. All this, plus the circumstances of the sorcerer's arrival, could only mean one thing: whoever put the bounty on his head was working with both aliens and creatures of magic.

He had all of three seconds to contemplate this before the wall to the left of the gunmen exploded into them. Three forms rushed through the smoke and tackled different sections of the crowd. Black Bat had learned from last time and brought Damian's gift—her sword slashed through the gas block and barrel of two rifles before they could be brought to bear. Monomolecular blades were no joke; an edge only a molecule thick meant they could cut through most weapons with ease if struck at the right angle.

For the team, it also meant they required extreme precision not to accidentally shear through bone and vital organs.

The two Cass had disarmed immediately withdrew a step and dipped their hands into their jackets. She lunged at one and tackled him, pinning his hand in place and repeatedly slamming his head into the ground. The other was fast enough to inject himself with ΔV before she could get up. As the shooters' attention was diverted, Knight used the opening to charge for two trying to line up on Batman. One was slammed with his shield, the other took a batarang to the hand.

A woman on his left unloaded a pistol at him, meeting only his shield. A cable snapped taut around her shoulders, pinning her gun arm, and Robin dashed past with a flying knee that laid her out. He rolled when he hit the ground, using his momentum to throw his tied quarry into a man with a baton. Light as she was, he still staggered under the weight of the impact. A shuriken lanced through his forearm, making him drop the baton. Before he could spring up, Robin's feet left the ground when a Venom soldier yanked his cape and hurled him toward a support column.

Knight intercepted him midair, catching him by the shoulders. "Ready?"

Robin grinned malevolently as Jason hurled him right back at his attacker. Robin planted both feet on the man's face, using one to kick off into a backflip as his sword cleared its sheath. The man was barely stunned and lunged for him as soon as Robin's feet touched the ground. He dodged the passing swing, ducking beneath the arm and slicing upward to cut through the inside tendon of his elbow, then down and back as he passed, cutting the man's hamstring. This attack hadn't been as effective during the ambush, but he'd been holding back then since that same amount of force might've cleaved down to the bone on a normal person.

But he had it gauged now, and Venom or no Venom, a severing cut that deep wasn't healing instantly.

Batman was laying into another Venom soldier with his electric knuckles, targeting the shoulders and steadily disabling his opponent's ability to fight. TK wasn't worried about him. After first contact, Batman's gear and tactics usually adapted well enough to make any subsequent fights almost trivial. The real issue was—

Knight braced behind his shield as a massive impact reverberated through his entire body. The man from the roof had charged into him shoulder-first and was still pushing with one hand around the edge of his shield. Jason felt himself skidding back across the concrete floor, out the hole he'd made, and into the lot outside. He snarled and slammed his palm into the lower half of the shield. The impact shunted the shield up and sideways, bashing his opponent in the lower ribs and throwing off his momentum just enough for Jason to turn his hips and dump him into the ground headfirst.

The man didn't even flinch. He just rolled with it and came right back at Jason. Another sizzle, another flash of instinct, and Jason threw his right arm back to catch another bolt of lightning. A barrage of heavy punches battered his shield as he fended off one lightning strike after another. Then his arm jerked to a stop, and he looked to see a lash of electricity wrapped around his forearm. TK yanked on it to no effect, since the sorcerer was also anchored to the ground with similar electric cables.

The shield was grabbed and twisted until his arm was almost behind his shoulder. Knight hissed at the uncomfortable position and kicked at the man's legs but found his own trapped between them. The man twisted his body and used that momentum to trip Jason, taking him to the ground face-first. The sorcerer pulled and retracted the lash, dragging Knight across the gravel as he tried to dig his fingers into the ground. Jason collapsed his shield and reached for his sword to try and make an anchor.

The man from the roof caught his hand and twisted it behind his back, then curling his other arm beneath Jason's trapped one and wrapping his hand around the back of Jason's neck. Before Knight could react, the lash was gone, but he was being hauled up off his feet by his arms. He tried to fly upward and break loose, but they moved all of six inches before he heard a hiss from behind and their motion stopped abruptly. Jason had no time to think about what that could be.

The sorcerer held Keravnós in front of him, tip pointed to the sky, with his offhand making arcane motions as he chanted under his breath. Thunder rumbled as the skies swirled with stormclouds.

"Farewell, Jason Wayne," hissed the man holding him.

Jason's eyes doubled in size. Decembrists?

"Our mistress sends her regards."

Mistress? So…not Decembrists?

A bolt of lightning streaked from the sky, striking Keravnós and forming something like a javelin, with the dagger itself as the handle. As he brought the weapon up, Jason heard a cry from the building as Batman leapt from the hole and ran at them full-tilt.

The sorcerer snapped his hand to the side, channeling some of the excess energy into a separate bolt—a bolt that became a stream after Batman dashed to the side the moment before it left his hand.

"Dad!" Jason screamed as Batman collapsed under tongues of lightning.

The armor's new piezoelectric outer layer would insulate him from most of the damage, but it couldn't hold up to an extended blast. The Knight grit his teeth and popped his shield. The rapid expansion shunted his captor's hand off his left wrist just long enough for him to throw it at Batman. The Nth-metal shield arced and twirled vertically, cutting into the ground between Batman and his assailant and staying there. To Jason's chagrin, his captor managed to secure his freed arm a moment later, putting him in full nelson.

"Don't worry," the man whispered. "He's next."

The Knight braced himself. The lightning javelin struck.

The only other time he'd been hit like this, Jason had been in a Kryptonian battlesuit. He never realized until now just how much it had absorbed. The pain was indescribable—it felt like his skin was melting off. Logically, with his physiology, he knew it was just his pain receptors firing in a panic. There was nothing logical happening in his head at that moment. The only thing he knew was that Batman was barely moving—and these two bastards would follow through on their threat.

Amid the burning needles digging into his nerves, a familiar fire crackled to life. His screams rapidly turned from pure agony to avenging rage. He snarled and roared at the top of his lungs, shifting his arms the little they could move to position his gauntlets as far forward as possible. All around him, the wind whipped into a tempest, scattering dust and gravel in all directions beyond what the impact of the lightning alone had accomplished.

And the incoming tongues of electricity started to divide.

It wasn't all of them—most still managed to strike him dead center, but many others began to part and flow into his gauntlets, like water around rock. Jason didn't know how long he could keep this up, but if he could somehow manage to shift that energy into the bastard holding him, or maybe discharge his gauntlets…

The sorcerer's output intensified sharply, and all that went right out the window. The little breath he had left was scorched from his lungs. The tempest vanished. What seemed like double the lightning flowed into his body, frying him from the inside out as his body thrashed wildly. For all that it lasted a second, it might've been an eternity to him.

Then it all stopped.

It took Jason a moment to open his eyes and see through his blurry vision. When he did, his eyes widened and blinked rapidly in disbelief. The lightning wasn't just dividing, it was curving straight upward. His eyes followed its path, all the way to the point where the azure arcs turned to blinding gold. Then he saw it: the silhouette.

And the glowing lasso, crackling with electricity and twirling like a dynamo.

Mom?

A black blur slammed into the sorcerer from the side, tackling him into an empty dumpster then vanishing inside the building. While Jason's captor was drawn to the sudden motion, that lasso whipped around his neck and snapped tight.

"Merde," was all Jason heard from behind.

Then he was the one screaming. Surprisingly, Jason didn't feel any runoff from the electric strike, only the relief of finally being freed. TK practically crawled away from his attacker, whipping his head around to see him grasping at the noose around his neck, teeth bared. Teeth that were actively getting sharper.

"Oh what the f—"

The man's neck tripled in size as Jason watched his features warp and shift. A protrusion emerged from his back, flesh turning to fur before his eyes. Jason finally realized what had anchored them to the ground earlier—a snake-head tail.

"Chimera," he gasped. "He's a goddamn chimera."

On the chimera's back, a goat bleated vilely, mouth wide, as the arcs of lightning steadily flowed down its gullet. At the front, the lion's paws curled around the lasso and pulled. The silhouette at the other end pulled back harder. The chimera's rear paws left the ground. The snake tail was holding on for dear life for all of two seconds before its fangs were ripped from the ground. And then the creature was airborne for the three seconds it took to hurl it in the direction of the sorcerer.

The sorcerer himself leapt from the dumpster, narrowly avoiding being pancaked by his much larger comrade. TK decided it was past time he stopped watching and made for Batman's still-prone form. He ripped his shield out of the ground and hauled Batman to his feet, standing between his father and the two creatures of magic. The chimera and sorcerer took one look at each other, then at their Red Claw allies still being dispatched by the two inside. The sorcerer muttered something under his breath, and the magical storm struck at their location.

"No you don't!" came a woman's voice from above.

The flying silhouette streaked toward them in a golden blur.

Lightning struck the dumpster bright enough to blind even Jason. When he could see again, the pair was gone. He quickly scanned the area with sonar. Nothing. Then he turned back to the dumpster and the two feminine figures kneeling at the blackened ground, one dark-haired, one blonde.

"You should've held onto him," said the dark.

"I know," the other sighed in annoyance. "I just figured—" Then she turned and saw Jason staring with eyes that still hadn't fully recovered. "Hey." She stood up and jogged over. "How are you feeling?"

Jason blinked rapidly, trying to clear out the blurriness. When his vision stabilized, he flushed with relief. "Oh my God, it's you."

Wonder Girl froze for a second as he hugged her tightly. Then Cassie giggled and hugged him back. "Hey, kiddo. Sorry it took us so long to finally meet."

Behind her, Donna Troy strode up to them and jerked her thumb toward the warehouse. "They're just about wrapped up in there."

Jason's eyebrows rose as he let go of Cassie. "Already?"

Donna nodded. "I helped."

Batman gave her a nod. "Appreciate the backup."

"Did Mom call you two?" Jason asked.

They exchanged a look, gauging Jason's response to their answer.

"In all honesty," Donna said, "we've been watching your back from afar since you discovered that contract."

"But it was her idea," Cassie added.

Instead of being offended at the idea of secret babysitters, Jason found himself laughing. "What the hell took you so long? Ya get stuck in traffic?"

Cassie grinned.

Donna arched a raven eyebrow. "Actually, Diana warned us not to intervene unless you encountered a situation you couldn't handle." She smirked. "Figured you'd be less of a brat about it if you had reason to be grateful."

Jason blushed. Well that seemed a little unfair. He wasn't Damian. But considering how he'd behaved since landing in the past, she…wasn't exactly wrong.

Cassie's smile vanished when she looked back at the scorched ground. "But it looks like you've got bigger problems than a bounty."

"Yeah, I doubt magical creatures have much use for money," Jason said.

Donna's face turned grim. "I'm afraid it's much worse than you think."

"How so?"

Batman shared her expression. "A sorcerer or chimera alone might've been one thing, but the two worked together—and the chimera had a human form."

Jason's brows knitted. "So?"

"There's only one puppetmaster in this dimension who controls both mages and transforming creatures," Cassie said uneasily. "The creator and mistress of all Bestiamorphs."

His blue eyes widened. "Circe." He glanced at Batman. "Why would she be after me?"

"More likely," Batman said, "she's targeting Diana, and you're just a means to an end."

"But why?"

He sighed and frowned. "Years ago, before we were together, Diana stopped her from performing a ritual that would've sacrificed hundreds of people for a chance at accessing the Pandora Pits."

"The what?"

Donna chimed in. "The Pandora Pits are a purgatory of sorts, a pocket dimension in the Underworld where runoff from the unleashing of Pandora's Box landed. To gain her immense power, Circe unwittingly sacrificed her soul to the Pits and has been trying to get it back ever since—by any means necessary."

"Including human sacrifice," Jason filled in with disgust. "You think she's targeting us for that?"

"Maybe so. Maybe it's just for revenge. Hard to say."

Cassie nodded. "Circe's been pretty quiet since then, though that could just be her keeping a low profile so she can have the element of surprise."

"Then she'll have to try harder."

Jason turned to the new arrivals, to a scuffed-up Robin whose gauntlets looked a lot worse for wear. Black Bat was in much better condition, though her cape now had a few tears in it.

Jason turned back to his brother and tapped his own lip. "You got uh…"

Robin frowned and wiped a few beads of blood off his face. "Sucker punch."

Jason nodded. "So what now? We track down the shapeshifter?"

Donna turned to him. "Shapeshifter?"

"Yeah, like a legit shapeshifter who mimicked one of the custodians. I put a tracker on him right before I got ambushed." Jason looked between her and Cassie. "Can…Bestiamorphs not do that?"

"No," Cassie answered. "Usually, they only have one humanoid form and one or maybe two beast forms." She jerked her head at the dumpster. "That chimera is someone we've seen popping up here and there, mostly in the Mediterranean. Name's Léon Dechamps."

"And the other?" Batman asked.

"His face isn't familiar, but his magic—and that dagger—are." Cassie's lips pursed. "It belonged to my nephew, Lycus. We had…words last year." She sent Bruce an apologetic look. "That's why I missed the wedding." She visibly shook off the memories. "I managed to capture him, but that weapon vanished after the fact."

"Until a few months after the wedding, when a fishing boat beached itself on Themyscira," Donna said. "All hands lost, charred to a crisp."

Jason frowned. "Boats don't just float into Themyscira."

"No, they don't," she agreed grimly. "There was one clue found at the scene, a name etched into the hull: Caephus."

"Circe's sending a message to Hippolyta," Batman said.

Cassie nodded. "'Stay out of this, or else.'"

"Is Caephus really enough of a threat to make that message effective?" Black Bat asked. "Lucas and I took him down on the docks, easy."

Donna frowned and shook her head. "More than likely, he was restraining his power to not tip his hand."

She shrugged. "Why? What would he have to gain?"

"Look where he ended up," Robin said. "The effect of this breakout alone will shake faith in our capacity to contain threats like him."

"It gets worse," Batman said.

Jason rolled his eyes and muttered, "Of course it does."

"Whoever broke Caephus out stole more than just one canister of Scarecrow's fear toxin."

Jason stared at him. "How much more?"

Batman's grim expression was answer enough.

"The real question," Donna said, "is whether Circe is enough of a threat to challenge the Amazons."

"Is she?" Jason asked.

"When last we heard of her, no, but that was years ago. If she's been secretly building the ranks of her Bestiamorphs since then…"

Jason looked between her and his father. "Well, don't leave it hanging."

Donna glanced his way. "She has a propensity for enslaving powerful men of all walks of life. And she isn't known for letting grudges go. Put it this way: if she wants to make Diana suffer, Caephus and Léon Dechamps could just be the tip of the iceberg."

"We can try and interrogate some of their Red Claw allies," Robin offered. "Maybe it's time the Lasso of Truth got back in the field."

Cassie put her hands on her hips and gave him an amused look. "You volunteering?"

Damian crossed his arms. "Why not me?"

"We'll figure this out later," Batman said. "Gordon's SWAT unit is coming to pick up our suspects. Secure the area until then."

"On it," Jason said, flying to the roof and keeping an eye out for any signs of movement.

On a whim, he pulled up the tracker data on the shapeshifter and frowned. According to the system history, he hadn't moved for the last ten minutes—and was only a few blocks away.

"Batman," he said, "something's off about the shifter's coordinates. He's just standing there."

"Oracle, pull up the satellite view of that location."

"On it, boss," she said.

A few seconds later, the feed was sent to Jason's gauntlet projector.

"There's nothing," Jason said. "No signs of anyone nearby, or that there was ever anyone there."

"Must've found the tracker," Oracle said.

Jason sighed. "It was kind of a longshot anyway. I mean, the bastard was smart enough to get into SWC undetected."

"Yeah."

"If these Red Claw mooks don't have any more intel," Cassie said over comms., "there may be an alternative to at least figure out what we might be up against."

"I'm listening," Batman said.

"The Amazons have tangled with Circe before, and since Themyscira's been slowly opening to the outside world, they've sent out rangers to scout for any potential threats. If Circe's thralls have been making moves, those rangers would've brought back any information to the archives on Themyscira."

"You think Penny could help?" Jason asked.

"You mean Penelope?" Donna asked with an amused note.

"Yeah."

"She lets you call her that?"

"…yeah? Is that weird?"

She chuckled. "No, just a little surprising. And yes, I think she could help."

"Good," Batman said. "You three can go to the archives on Themyscira while we interrogate the prisoners."

Jason grinned. Maybe he could actually pay a visit to the forge this time, get his sword and shield looked at. Then a thought occurred.

"Hey, Donna—or Cassie, whoever can answer—um, do you think the Amazons would kill me if I brought a guest?"

"No?" Cassie said. "Who's the guest?"

"Caden Drake." When they didn't immediately answer, he rushed to explain. "I know it's really out there, but he's a linguistics expert and he can speed read like no one's business." Jason frowned. "Circe isn't the only magical threat we need more intel on, and I'm worried I might miss something."

Donna hummed. "They wouldn't dare mistreat one of our guests. As long as he remains with one of us, it should be fine."

"But, like, I pretty much just got credibility with the Amazons, and I'd rather not nuke that by using that position to break the rules."

"Well, it might go over better if Diana vouches for him. Her word carries the most weight."

Jason cringed. "Yeah, that's…kind of a problem."

"Why?"

"I don't think she's even talked to her mom since my powers got nixed last year."

"…well, maybe it's time she stopped being stubborn and got over it."

"I hope you don't expect me to tell her that."

Donna chuckled. "I'll talk to her. We need all the help we can get, especially with her out of the field, and she knows that."

Comms. went silent until the sirens of approaching police split the air.

"I'll meet with Gordon once they secure the area," Batman said. "The rest of you get back to the cave."

Robin's voice perked up. "Does this mean I get to drive—"

"No."

"…"

Jason grinned. "Does the little princess need a pickup?"

"Get shafted."

Nevertheless, Robin didn't resist getting picked up and flown all the way home. Jason never stopped grinning the whole way.

…

A scalpel rasped over a whetstone as a nearby phone vibrated. The hand not holding the scalpel put it on speaker.

"Elliot," said an irritated woman.

"Speaking," answered the man with the scalpel.

"I understand you left Caephus and Léon to handle their pursuers alone."

Elliot sneered. "You asked me to spring him from containment, not to stick around. Lucky I didn't; they had supernatural backup on the way. And they put a tracker on me."

"Did you—"

"Of course I ditched it," he scoffed. "I'm not so much of an amateur that I'd get collared on my first job." He grinned faintly as he tested the scalpel's sharpness. "And you can tell him I said that."

He could feel her seething on the other end.

"Your assistance is much appreciated," Circe said, venomously sweet.

"Just as long as you hold up your end of the deal."

"I am a woman of my word, if nothing else. You will have your blood—and your skin."

"Good. I'm about sick of wearing this fat bastard's face."

He heard a faint sigh as the space next to him lit with violet sparks. "I want you to know I find this whole gruesome process of yours barbaric."

"And I want you to know that I couldn't give less of a shit," he shot back. "Long as it gets the job done, what do you care?"

She didn't answer, just completed the teleportation spell and left him with a tray filled with clippings of high-end polymer and bits of human skin harvested from her thralls' victims.

"You're certain this is the way to wear them down?" she asked.

Elliot smirked. "Completely. Bruce Wayne projects an impenetrable persona, but he's soft on the inside. You just have to know where the gaps are." His smile widened as the scalpel cut into his face. "Fortunately for us, I've known those chinks since we were children. It's just a matter of time now."

His knife traced along pre-drawn surgical lines, the sting of pain mixing with the euphoric buzz of anesthetic to create a delicious cocktail that let him work in the mirror without dulling his focus.

"Does Caephus know where to look for the next component?" he asked between cuts.

"He does. It shouldn't take more than a week or two."

"That slow?"

"If we wish to avoid suspicion, yes. We've made more than enough ruckus tonight."

Elliot tapped the scalpel on the edge of a beaker to shake off excess. "Then I'll keep drawing their attention." He glanced at the nearby collection of fear toxin. "Between me and Black Mask, Bruce won't even notice your man."

By her answering tone, he could tell she was back in a good mood.

"Then I look forward to our continued partnership, Thomas Elliot."

With that, she hung up and left him to his bloody work. Tommy reached for his phone and turned on his surgical playlist.

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word…"

Tommy hummed along as he resumed cutting. With every sting, he felt the ghost of his mother's fingernails on his face. The memory brought a smile to his lips. His eyes drifted from the mirror to a newspaper clipping stuck to the wall with a knife. Just below the blade hung a photo taken by paparazzi of the newlywed Waynes. His gaze drifted from their smiling faces to the woman's pronounced belly as his voice came out in a whisper.

"Hush, little baby…"

AN: Thomas Elliot has been a favorite character of mine since I read "Heart of Hush" in my teens. Everything about his persona screams "Hannibal Lecter if he was a narcissist consumed by envy." Massively intelligent and meticulous, a highly trained killer capable of giving Batman a run for his money, and ruthlessly willing to get what he wants by any means. I decided to lean just a little into his more unhinged persona from the Arkham series since this is meant to happen some time after the events of this universe's "Heart of Hush"—meaning he basically has nothing left to lose.

Hope you enjoyed this one. More to come soon, I hope.

Formatting notes:
– Internal Thoughts/Flashback
– "Super-Hearing/Surveillance"
– Telepathy/Divine Speech
– "{Translation}"
– [Text Message]