Welcome back to The Injustice Wars. Last time, Darkblood and Enchantress arrived in Hell and met up with an unexpected guest, an Incubus by the name of Adonis Donnaiolo. Darkblood gave him an offer to replace his family lost in a battle of Trigon's, which the young Incubus ultimately took. Though behind the scenes, Darkblood told Enchantress that he's just using the kid for as long as he's useful. Now though, we have to catch up with Blaze and company. So, what're they up to? Read on to discover...
(Our tale resumes on the opposite side of the City of Dis, where Blaze, Batman, John Constantine, Zatanna, and Belial Aether have arrived, trying to locate Dick Grayson.)
Blaze: (Unnerved) So... this is Hell.
John Constantine: Yeah, pretty much. Now, I hate to interrupt the awe and terror, but we need to get moving on finding the kid.
Blaze: (Knowing exactly what this is about due to Etrigan) How many demons have you pissed off?
John Constantine: Yes.
Zatanna: He means all of them.
Blaze: Then we'd really better get moving. Where's Dick Grayson hidden?
Zatanna: (Summons the image of her locator spell) The center of the city, about a mile from the Big Belly Burger.
Blaze: (Completely caught off guard) There's a Big Belly Burger in Hell?!
John Constantine: It's a really long story that we don't have time for. Let's go.
(Without wasting any time to conjure why a US based fast food chain has a location in Hell of all places, the group carries on through the ruined City of Dis. But soon enough, something appears to capture the ears of everyone involved, and far above their heads, blue lights have started to appear.)
Blaze: Does anyone else hear that?
Batman: I hear something, but I'm not sure we're hearing the same thing.
(Soon the noise in question becomes clear, at least to Batman)
Mysterious Voice: Bruce... Bruce...
(Batman hears the voice and prepares for action, but then we see some of the blue lights go into action, taking the form of familiar faces to Batman: Tim Drake and Batwoman at least)
Tim Drake: You let Zod kill me...
Batwoman: You sacrificed me...
(Batman won't show it, but he's terrified of these two images in front of him. John Constantine notices this, and soon he sees Zatanna is hearing the same thing, and from her perspective, we see, of all people, Doctor Light.)
Doctor Light: You stole my memories... made me a shell of my former self... and you did the same thing to Batman!
(Zatanna clearly has some issues here, but Blaze has taken notice of both her and Batman in this state)
Blaze: What's going on?
John Constantine: Sin-Eaters. Phosphorescent creatures that prey on mortals stuck in this dimension by making them see the victims of their greatest sins confront them and then siphon off the fear and anxiety they cause in them.
Belial Aether: Well how do we stop them?
John Constantine: You've got to act fearless. If they can't feed on you, they'll let you alone. Anyone who isn't affected can get rid of any of them.
(Belial Aether and John Constantine get this message quickly, but Blaze takes a moment, in which time a Sin-Eater targets her, taking on Dragnarok's form, trying to torment her)
Dragnarok: You let me die... You caused Darkblood's existence!
(Blaze is trying to be strong, but ultimately, she breaks down into tears, fully believing at least that latter sentence to be true. Thankfully for her, Belial Aether is there to drive away the creature, while John Constantine does the same for Batman and Zatanna)
Belial Aether: (Seeing Blaze is still caught off guard) You okay, Blaze?
Blaze: (Recovering herself a little bit) Yeah, yeah I'm okay. Just, damn those things know how to pick a memory to mess with you.
John Constantine: They've got to be good at it, since that's how they hunt. But now that we've frightened them away, they won't target us anymore.
Batman: That's a relief.
Zatanna: You can say that again.
John Constantine: We'd best get moving, our target should be straight ahead.
(As the guys press on, Blaze requests Zatanna linger with her for a moment)
Zatanna: Everything okay, Blaze?
Blaze: I'm fine. Are you though?
Zatanna: Yeah, why?
Blaze: I could've guessed those things would go after Bruce and I, but why you?
Zatanna: Let's just say I've got my secrets. (Looks towards Batman) Ones Bruce would kill me if he found out about. (Thinks about that statement) Or I guess, recalled would be a better choice of words.
Blaze: Recalled? You're being more cryptic than I'd expect from a mystic, Zatanna. What's going on?
Zatanna: I'll tell you some day. But today is not that day. We've still got to rescue Dick Grayson, remember?
Blaze: (Not liking that Zatanna is trying to brush this off, but going with it because she's technically right) Right.
(With that, Zatanna and Blaze hurry up to pick up with the others, as our tale ends for today)
And that looks like a good place to end for today. Admittedly, not much to go off of. I figured the Sin-Eaters were an interesting concept, if one that we'll probably never use again. I just wanted to place into mind something that'll be important later. And if the fact that it involves Zatanna, Doctor Light, and Batman doesn't ring any bells as to what secret the backwards magician is hiding, I'd do some research. It gets really fascinating and really disturbing really quickly. And it's going to come into play in this tale pretty soon. So be ready for that. Next time, the confrontation in the City of Dis. So be sure to tune in for that! Same time... same channel!
