Mist of Shadows
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Myst in DC part 2
🕑 Added 2019-07-08 22:25:56 +0000 UTCCyborg smiled as everyone poured out of the van. “How was the mission?”
“The mission was great,” Starfire said enthusiastically as she floated off the ground, happy to be able to stretch.
“The drive back was less than fun,” Raven grumbled, looking at Beast Boy.
“If the radio was working, it would have been fine,” Beast Boy complained.
“What was wrong with the radio?” Cyborg asked as he glanced between the strange ball composed of a gel like substance that Starfire was holding and the leather bound tome that Raven was holding.
“It kept changing stations and turning itself off,” Beast Boy complained as he gave the van a glare.
“That’s because you have bad taste in music,” Myst said, seeing no point in forcing Cyborg to tear apart the radio to fix a problem that didn’t exist.
Beast Boy turned to look at Myst. “What is wrong with my music?”
“I could give you a list but I have no hands to write it down and it’s a long list,” Myst joked.
“You could have said something,” Beast Boy pointed out.
“The first couple of songs were fine, some of those indie bands… I believe my exact words were, ‘I’ve heard cats fuck with more harmony,’ so yeah, I mentioned it and you still wouldn’t change the station.”
“None of the girls complained,” Beast Boy argued as he glanced between the girls.
“I used a spell so I didn’t have to hear it,” Zatanna admitted with a shrug.
“I just figured it was a cultural thing,” Starfire admitted, having found some of the songs less than pleasant.
Beast Boy glanced between Zatanna and Raven. “Come on, my taste in music isn’t that bad, is it?”
“I’ve heard five year olds with more rhythm than some of those bands,” Raven pointed out.
Beast Boy grabbed his chest dramatically. “That’s harsh.”
“But fair,” Cyborg said, familiar with Beast Boy’s taste in music. “Does that mean I don’t have to fix the radio?”
“Correct, I was practicing with my telekinesis,” Myst explained.
“Seriously?” Beast Boy asked, a bit annoyed with himself that the slime had managed to prank him without him suspecting anything.
“I’ve had awesome magical powers for less than two hours, of course I’m going to experiment with them.”
“You really shouldn’t use your powers to mess with your teammates,” Robin warned Myst.
“Does that mean that you shouldn’t have used your sneaky ninja skills to turn off the radio a couple of times?” Myst asked with amusement as a teenage girl with red hair and a movie star quality face walked into the garage with Kid Flash. “Hello.”
Megan smiled at the talking slime, thankful that Robin had sent the group a text message about the new recruits. “Welcome to the mountain.”
“What are you?” Kid Flash asked as he glanced between Myst and Sabrina.
“I’m a magical slime,” Myst replied as he studied Kid Flash.
Kid Flash shook his head. “Magic doesn’t exist, it’s merely energy manipulation and trickery.”
“Huh, yeah, you can explain that to Klarion the next time you run into him, see how far it gets you.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s magic, merely extraordinary energy,” he argued.
“Considering you have three magic users on the team, you’re an idiot,” Myst replied, not sure why Kid Flash insisted on insulting his teammates or why none of the League had called him on it.
“Not to mention Beast Boy violates several laws of physics and so do you, from what Raven said,” Sabrina pointed out.
Beast Boy shrugged. “What can I say, I’m awesome.”
Kid Flash blinked as he looked around. “Who said that?”
“Don’t worry, you’re obviously hearing things, magic isn’t real after all so magical talking books can’t exist,” Zatanna said cheerfully as she headed toward the hallway.
“Quit while you’re behind,” Raven cut in, more than a little tired of the accidental alchemist that refused to understand that the elixir he’d drank to get his speed was magic because there was no way that regular chemistry could grant a connection to the speed force.
“Let’s go update Red Tornado,” Robin said as he headed toward the hallway.
“Raven and I can show Myst around,” Starfire said cheerfully.
“It’s still not magic,” Kid Flash grumbled.
Cyborg shook his head as he looked at Kid Flash as the rest of the group left. “Even if ‘magic’ is just an exotic energy that breaks the laws of physics as we know them, magic is a perfectly acceptable term. Please stop pissing off the people that can bend reality into a pretzel, especially since they know where you sleep.”
“They wouldn’t do anything,” Kid Flash objected.
“Everyone snaps eventually. Besides, it’s a bad habit to get into, there are magical villains out there that have been killing people that annoy them for centuries.”
“Just because they call it magic, doesn’t make it magic,” Kid Flash replied.
“Just because you call magic something else, doesn’t mean it can’t break reality whenever it wants. Wonder Woman has met the gods that watch over her people, they call it magic so maybe, just maybe they know a hell of a lot more about things than you do. Even if they don’t, so what, they can still kill you without trying and let’s be honest, no one is going to go to bat for an idiot that brings this shit on themselves.”
“What?” Kid Flash asked surprised that Cyborg was getting upset over what to call something.
“If you piss off a god or a powerful mage enough there will be nothing the League can do to help you, what part of this don’t you understand?” Cyborg asked, more than a little annoyed with Kid Flash for not taking things seriously.
“I’m not on Themyscira and I don’t see any evil magic users here,” Kid Flash argued.
“No but our team includes three magic users. How would you like it if we constantly told you that you’re just a delusional metahuman and that the speed force doesn’t exist?”
“The Flash would back me up on the Speed Force.”
Cyborg snorted. “So what? You’ve got one person backing you up, they have gods, an entire race of magic users and oh, yeah Atlantis! So do yourself a favor and stop pissing off your teammates. Did you actually actually read the report Beast Boy sent?”
“Yeah, why?” Kid Flash asked, not sure how the report was connected.
“Because that slime that you insulted managed to banish a Lord of Chaos by himself, something even Giovani Zatara had troubles with and you’ve seen some of the stuff he can do. So yeah, maybe pissing the new people off isn’t the best idea in the world.” Cyborg turned and headed down the hallway, seeing no point in continuing the discussion, he’d either figure it out or he wouldn’t.
Kid Flash shook his head then headed toward the kitchen to get something to eat.
0o0o0
Myst resisted the urge to curse as he felt a dark looming ball of intensity approaching that actually managed to register on his empathy despite having turned it down so he didn’t have to deal with the team’s conflicting emotions on the ride back. He spent ten points of mana to boost his mana pool another point then closed his upgrade menu and turned to look as Batman, Giovani and Wonder Woman walked into the rec room with Robin following behind them. ‘Damn, she’s gorgeous.’
“Dad,” Zatanna greeted her father with a smile.
Giovani studied his daughter then relaxed when he realized that the bond between his daughter and the slime was a summoning bond and not anything more sinister. “I was expecting a cat for your first familiar or maybe a puppy.”
“We were in a bit of a bind,” Zatanna admitted as she glanced over at Raven.
“I’m concerned about your argument with Kid Flash,” Batman said as he studied the slime.
“Argument?” Myst asked wondering what Wally had said. “He asked what I was, I told him I was a magical slime. He said that magic doesn’t exist at which point I pointed out that he had three magic users on the team and called him an idiot. Why, what did he say happened?”
“That you insulted his intelligence,” Wonder Woman replied, curious what the slime would say.
“Pretty much. How many evil magic users has the League ran into that would take offense at some idiot telling them that magic doesn’t exist?” Myst asked as he glanced between Giovani and Diana.
“Enough,” Giovani admitted.
“Exactly, just think of this as a friendly warning before he runs into someone like Richard the Warlock who would rip his flesh off or turn him into a toad to ‘prove’ that magic exists. Even if he doesn’t understand magic, magic is a force in this world and insulting people that can use it to make your insides your outsiders is stupid.”
“How do you justify harassing Beast Boy with the radio?” Batman asked, making a note to ask Giovani about Richard later.
“Have you heard some of the stuff he considers music?” Myst asked. “No court would convict me. Besides, if he can’t appreciate a good prank he should stop pulling them.”
Wonder Woman cut in, “Do you have any plans for the future?”
“You mean beyond helping Zatanna and Raven?” Sabrina asked.
Batman turned his attention toward the magical book in Raven’s lap. “How are you planning on helping them?”
“Keeping notes, sharing ancient magical secrets and generally being helpful.”
“I was planning on avoiding direct combat if I could avoid it, I have the wrong mentality for a member of the League,” Myst explained.
“What makes you say that?” Wonder Woman asked. “From what Beast Boy said you were effective against Klarion.”
Myst looked at Robin. “What was it you said when I banished Klarion, you’re not supposed to kill people?”
“Something like that,” Robin agreed. “I didn’t know killing him like that would just banish him.”
“Given a choice between the two, I’d rather have killed him permanently than banish him, but I’ll take what I can get. The problem is, I like solutions that actually work.”
“Meaning you’d kill a bunch of villains if you had a chance?’ Batman asked coldly.
“That depends entirely on the villain. I have very little personal issue with skilled thieves that break into places to do some wealth redistribution on the rich and powerful after carefully evaluating their targets and making sure there aren’t any innocents at home.”
“They’re still committing crimes,” Batman pointed out, thinking about Selina.
“I’m not saying it’s right or wrong or anything but the law can deal with that type of crime just fine, that’s why we have police.”
“So you’re saying we shouldn’t investigate?” Robin asked.
“No, I’m just saying that I personally don’t particularly care either way. I mean from what Zatanna said, anyone moving expensive cat artwork in Gotham is just looking for an insurance payout, especially if they put it in a newspaper.”
“In other words, you’d let them get away with it?” Robin asked with annoyance.
Myst snorted. “I’m not a cop. I’d rather put my time into dealing with things the cops can’t deal with, magic users or villains with abilities that make shooting them problematic or tracking down thugs that hurt innocent people. I mean hell, depending on the loan shark, it’s a perfectly honest profession, not necessarily legal but honest.”
Robin shook his head. “How is breaking fingers honest?”
“You’ve spent too much time in Gotham. An honest loan shark offers you a loan, they give you a certain amount of money and they expect you to pay them back a certain amount if you don’t want problems. A dishonest loan shark on the other hand will change the deal on you, those deserve a visit from a vigilante who reminds them to be nice reasonable people because the alternative is worse. Not every ‘villain’ deserves to spend time in jail but some of them need to be shot or put into a blender.”
“Name one villain that needs to be put into a blender and the Joker doesn’t count,” Robin demanded.
“The Joker doesn’t need a blender, he needs someone to haul him out of Gotham and fill his mouth with salt and holy wafers then sew his lips together and bury him in consecrated ground a thousand miles from Gotham.”
“That would certainly make bringing him back as a zombie harder,” Giovani mused, not the least bit bothered at the idea of making sure the Joker stayed dead.
“As for villains, Lex Luthor seems particularly good at escaping justice and Two Face has killed a bunch of people so yeah, I wouldn’t mind terribly if they died horribly.” Myst focused on Batman’s mouth. “That’s not to say that I would go out of my way to break the law or anything, but I’m certainly not going to stop either of them from being assassinated.”
“I can’t say I’d be all that upset about Lex dying,” Wonder Woman mused, knowing Kal would be somewhat relieved if Lex Luthor fell over dead even if he’d never say it.
“We’re supposed to be role models and heroes,” Batman argued.
“Which is why I’m not a hero, I’m perfectly willing to let the cops kill the villains that are causing an unacceptable amount of problems.”
“Same, which means we’re not League material,” Sabrina said agreeing with Myst and seeing no point in sugar coating things.
“On the other hand, I have no issues supplying my friends with magical items to keep them safe while they run around being heroic once I get my magic sorted out, thus support.”
“You’re assuming we’re going to let you stay here,” Batman growled.
“Not particularly,” Myst replied. “Wonder Woman asked us what we were planning, I explained why I wasn’t planning on being a hero. I don’t have issues with helping, I’m just not going to unduly risk my life to do it.”
“Are you willing to drop your mental defenses to let the League’s telepath scan you?” Batman asked, unwilling to let the slime remain in the mountain without some type of assurance.
Myst glared at Batman. “You want me to drop my mental defenses so someone I don’t know and don’t trust, can rummage around in my head? Are you insane or just stupid?”
“Everyone on the League has been checked,” Batman argued.
“If the Martian Manhunter checked everyone, how did he miss that Speedy was a clone?” Raven cut in.
“He was replaced after his last scan,” Batman explained.
“We could use a truth detection spell,” Zatanna suggested, seeing Myst’s point about letting an unknown telepath look through his memories.
Myst glanced at Giovani. “I’m perfectly willing to let Giovani or Zatanna cast a truth spell as long as they don’t try to compel me to spill secrets.”
“What about a magical lasso?” Wonder Woman asked.
“You’re going to tie me up? My safe word is bananas,” Myst said cheekily, perfectly willing to let Diana use her lasso to make sure he wasn’t a threat.
“Fine,” Batman agreed, realizing that was the best he was going to get.
Diana draped the lasso over the slime. “Name?”
“You can call me Myst,” Myst said, happy that the lasso hadn’t forced him to answer fully.
“What is your real name?” Batman asked.
“Yeah, I’m not answering that. Considering I was summoned from another world, it wouldn’t mean anything to you and you don’t need the information. I don’t need my alternate killed because someone hacked your computer, assuming I even have an alternate.”
“What are you planning in regards to the girls?” Wonder Woman asked.
“I’m planning on offering them upgrades and magical items and generally hanging out and having a good time,” Myst replied, seeing no reason to lie.
“Are you planning on hurting anyone in the League or on Zatanna’s team?” Giovani asked, wanting to make sure his daughter was safe.
Myst considered her question for a couple of seconds then asked, “Does beating Kid Flash with a stick to remove the stupid count?”
Giovani shook his head. “I mean actual physical or emotional harm.”
‘Fairly sure Nabu isn’t a member right now, so I’m good,’ Myst thought to himself. “Not that I know of.”
“Are you working for anyone?”
“Other than Zatanna and Raven, nope. Let’s cover some things you haven’t asked, I’m not looking to uncover anyone’s secret identities or cause problems for the League. I’m also not planning on taking over the world or being a criminal mastermind, way too much work. I’m not planning on stealing anything from the team or League. Let’s see, any other questions?”
“Stealing things in general?” Wonder Woman asked.
Myst turned to look at Robin. “Ballpark figure, how many times have you ran into trouble in your civilian identity?”
“I’ve lost track,” Robin admitted.
“Which means I’ll probably run into trouble while traveling with the girls even if I’m not running around as a hero. If we happen to get attacked by someone with super science weapons or magical gear, I’m not turning it over to the local police if I have a chance.”
“Why not?” Wonder Woman asked.
“In my world, the prisoner’s personal effects were stored at the prison, I don’t need them having easy access to their weapons or armor if they break out. If they have to rebuild their vortex gun every time they escape, that gives us time to recapture them.”
“Vortex gun?” Batman asked suspiciously.
“Just a fictional example,” Myst assured him. “If it were up to me, I’d send any tech out of state, maybe even across the country to make it harder for the villains to get their stuff back before they’ve served their time.”
“Sadly, various federal laws prevent relocating weapons like that.”
Myst snorted. “Joyous day.”
“Sounds like a reason to blast their weapons,” Raven suggested.
“Seems more reasonable, accidents happen after all,” Myst agreed. “Either way, any other questions?”
“Are you willing to answer questions about your powers?” Batman asked, wanting a better idea of what they were dealing with.
“I can’t guarantee that I’ll know the answers to your questions but go ahead and ask,” Myst replied as he opened his upgrade menu up and looked at his options for increasing his mana regeneration. ‘Let’s see, fifty points gives me .5 mana a minute more regeneration which means that twenty five mana should give me .25 more mana a minute if I tweak things.’
“Can you give people powers?”
“No, just upgrade them.” Myst played with his scaling power until he could buy .1 more mana a minute for ten points of mana. He spent the points and smiled when his mana regeneration went to 1.1. Sure, it was only an extra point of mana every ten minutes but it would add up eventually and his power didn’t seem to offer deals for buying larger amounts at once which meant there was no point in waiting. ‘I should have looked at grabbing mana regeneration first.’
“How does the gacha power work that you used to create the alien fruit?” Batman asked curious about a power that seemed to create things out of thin air.
“I call the power up and a bunch of prize wheels appear in a window. “ He pulled up his window and looked at the six wheels. “Snacks, stationary, drinks, pranks, watches and trinkets. It should get better when I build up my mana pool.”
“Hopefully,” Zatanna agreed, looking forward to seeing what they could get.
“Any other questions?” Myst asked as he closed the window, knowing that they were just trying to keep the team safe.
“Do you have knowledge of anything that we need to know?” Batman asked.
“Probably but I’m not sure what you know or don’t know. Nothing immediate springs to mind.” Myst wasn’t sure which version of the world he was in considering the team included the Titans and people from Young Justice which meant his knowledge of the setting was probably a bit suspect.
“Any other questions?” Wonder Woman asked rhetorically.
“Not currently,” Batman admitted after he noticed Diana’s look that said he was pushing it.
Diana moved the lasso to the book. “Any plans or desire to cause problems for the League or team?”
“No,” Sabrina replied firmly.
“Who do you serve?” Giovani asked.
“Myst, Zatanna and Raven. I don’t have any plans to corrupt anyone or take over the world.”
“Do you have any mind control abilities?” Batman asked, wanting to avoid someone getting possessed or mind controlled if he could help it.
“Nope!” Sabrina said, seeing no point in mentioning the various potions she could probably get someone to brew that would certainly cloud a person’s judgement.
Wonder Woman smiled as she coiled her lasso. “In that case, I’ll leave the next part to Robin.”
Robin smiled at Myst and the magical book on Raven’s lap. “Welcome to the support branch of the team.”
Zatanna snickered as she pulled Myst into a hug. “I knew you could do it!”
“Thanks, now what?” Myst asked, having never been part of a hero team before.
“Now we introduce you to the rest of the team,” Zatanna said, happy that things were working out.
“We should probably figure out how much telekinesis you have,” Robin suggested.
“I’ll save us the trouble.” Myst opened his user interface and looked at his telekinesis. "I can lift twenty one and a half pounds without straining but I have excellent control which sort of makes up for the lack of power.”
“Let me guess, you looked at your interface?”
“Yeah. I’ll have to do some testing at some point to make sure that it’s not feeding me false information but it seems legit.”
Giovani smiled at Zatanna. “Best of luck with the team, I should get back, I have a show to get ready for.”
“Break a leg,” Zatanna said as she walked over and pulled her father into a hug.
“Thanks,” Giovani replied as he hugged his daughter.
“I’ll call when I have another mission.” Batman turned and left, wanting to get back to Gotham so he could do a sweep of the city.
“It was nice meeting you, I should get back to the Watchtower.” Wonder Woman turned and headed for the hallway.
“Have fun.” Myst smiled as he watched Diana leave. ‘Hate to see you go, love to see you leave, yeah that was horrible.’
Comments
Chichi son
“I’ll save us the trouble.” Myst opened his user interface and looked at his telekinesis. I can lift twenty one and a half pounds without straining but I have excellent control which sort of makes up for the lack of power.” missing"
Mist of Shadows
Yeah, it always struck me as crazy... I mean Giovani was on the League. And he's still an idiot after Fate and wearing the helmet in canon... I figure they'll shoot for getting him to just stop complaining out loud... maybe.
Patrick Sandhop
I never have been able to understand magic-deniers in superhero stories especially. Sure, Abra Kedabra is specifically a tech-user who fakes the whole shtick but as you have Cyborg pointing out, there's a lot of people who manifestly use magic. Bizarrely, Kid Flash does this in the canon show and that's with interacting with Dr Fate, and Klarion and such. Just makes him seem like a dolt.
