Chapter Text
JL War Room
The dark atmosphere hadn't changed a bit, and in Damians opinion, that was suitable. Liiri also approved much to his surprise, when he first showed the Kwami. Father hadn’t been so sure about showing the creature around the Watchtower but permitted it since Damian made the request. After all, Liiri was magic, and magic was not to be trusted.
Damians own personal experiences with Magic were similar, and Jon didn’t count, since he was scientifically explained. Either way, he understood, however, Liiri wasn’t just magic. They were a creature Damian could communicate with and confide in, making these days easier to get through. Liiri understood Damian in a way Jon never would, so now, he could understand why Marinette and Adrien were reluctant to part with them. It wasn’t just power the Miraculous offered, but also friendship, and Father was always encouraging that.
Or maybe it was just Damians love for the bird form Liiri took, that made him more capable of sharing his secrets, as he did with Batcow and Alfred the cat. Animals were honest, and never malicious unless forced to be, much like Liiri was in the hands of an Akumatized Grid.
The memory still made his jaw clench. He was able to keep his eyes facing forward however, and away from Jon, lest the superboy know that he was remembering the catastrophic aftermath of the half-Kryptonian being Cataclysmed. None knew if the temporary coma Jon was put in was the lucky part of the accident, as the Ladybug Cure could reverse it, or if it was only coincidence.
Liiri said it might have been controlled. Just as he could decide what to “liberate” a person from, grief, anger, or even items depending on his intent, the Black Cat can control the degree of destruction in an instant. Damian had felt great respect for the master of Destruction when he learned this. In the split second he had between reaching to destroy his enemy and crashing into his ally, Chat Noir had managed to keep the damage to a minimum.
Not that either Superman nor Batman appreciated it. How many times must he and Jon go rogue before the elder hero's realize they don’t know best? Even now muttering back and forth about everything and nothing the Seven were at a stalemate.
At least Dr. Fate and Zatanna were here to explain the Magical gems.
“I think you misunderstand me. I am a Kwami by definition as well, Arrow.”
Or not.
The room quickly quieted, Flash raising his hand in question, as always. “Umm, elaborate please?”
“Very well,” the hoodie-clad hero expressed his disappointment with a distressed sigh. “I am the Kwami of Organization, the Amulet of Anubis was home to the Kwami of Jurisdiction, and the Cloak of Destiny housed the Kwami of Distortion. The three of us together made Dr. Fate, currently make the being known as Naabu. Since using our abilities to manipulate our gem homes, their memories became mine, and they ceased to exist, though their Gems still operate with their full power. It has been so for millennia. ”
Eagle’s hand reached to cover the Talon necklace of Liberation. Dr. Fate had always been rational, logical and so… neutral to the ongoing of the world, his only purpose was to protect it from threats. Perhaps his lack of humanity as Father put it, was because he had never in fact, been human.
As the heroes in the room stood and started shouting about that information, Zatanna caused a thunderclap with a simply worded spell. Superman and Superboy both covered their ears in pain.
Nodding in apology to the injured parties, Zatanna took over the explanations. “Regardless, information on the miraculi have always been a closely guarded secret. The Kwami’s are private creatures, subject to magical slavery as it were. We cannot blame them for keeping their identities secret.” Dr. Fate nodded his agreement. “As for Hawkmoth, I am afraid there’s not much we can do. You all saw what power Liiri was capable of in the hands of a villain. From the texts I’ve read–”
“WHY THE BLOODY FUCK WASN’T I CALLED TO THIS MEETING!!!!???”
It had been a long time since any of the league had seen John Constantine. He had made quite the entrance for a return wearing his classic brown duster… covered in some sort of gold dust? And were his pant’s glowing? Both Superman and Boy covered their noses, Jon sneezing violently in moments.
Batman waved for his attention and motioned to the extra seat. “You weren't in this dimension, and the note you left on the door of your room said ‘Dukes of hell have issues, running interference, BBS.’ That would be five months ago.”
Constantine made a look of surprise. “Really? That took less than I thought. It took years of my time to track down and exterminate the rebelling fucks. At least a couple Dukes owe me, so if we ever need hell spawn help, God bless us if we do, I have strings to pull. You’re welcome.” he finished with a smile, flopping into his chair and leaning back.
From the look of irritation on everyone's face, the sarcasm was not welcome, though Jon snorted a laugh, earning a glare from Clark.
Zatanna was also glaring, but not at Jon. “As I was saying. The text’s I’ve read–”
“If you have a single bloody book on the miracles I’ll be shocked. I had exactly one in my collection and that was after having a disastrous time fighting a blind hungry Toad! Damn, wish I hadn’t sold it. But I was young and foolish enough to care only for the money at the time. The entire thing was written in code anyways, never did know why the guy wanted it.” a flask made an appearance to which Canary swiped it and dumped it into the potted plant beside her. Wonder woman pouted as she was the one to insist on trying to liven up the room. “Ay!!”
Batman waved his hand again before Zatara could start speaking again. “Was this toad an opaque blue color, by chance?”
The Magician was absently spinning his chair in place as he pondered the question. “Yeah actually. Some local Tibetans were getting pretty desperate since it was eating everything from livestock to people, and nobody could exercise the so-called demon. Ended up using a petrification spell, sealed it up in a boulder and walked away. The locals gave me the book in turn, said it was found in the ruins where I fought the beast. Guess they were hoping I could explain it but all I found was a picture of a woman in blue surrounded by similar creatures. Anyways, memorized the book using a spell, but again, most of it’s code, so I’ve only got a bit a history.”
Batman wasn’t paying attention anymore, instead pulling up the holo screen with a massive blue toad using its tongue to catch the Cat and Bug Duo, though by the look of their stances it was on purpose… and Marinette was clearly enjoying the disgust on her partner's face.
Constantine sat up when he saw them. “Blimy the fucker got big. And free. Who are the kids? Better question, why are the kids wearing Creation and Destruction?”
Aquaman stood and slammed his hands on the table. “I KNEW IT! That’s the power that sank Atlantis!! Atlan had crafted seven treasures to take his revenge, and after he plunged the City to the depths they had vanished!! It was said the King had gone mad, and spoke to beings no other could see, and had powers he could not comprehend. Using all seven killed him as effectively as they gained his revenge. There are depictions of that misfortunate Cat all across the walls of the ruins.” he sat again with his head in his hands. “They were better off missing.” he whispered.
Dr. Fate nodded. “All of our Miraculi, as you called it, were created from Nth metal and twisted by magic. However, the creatures that live inside have existed long before even the Lords of Order, and Lantern Legacies. Magic combined with science was what allowed my… cousins' ability to manifest in this world.” he waved a hand towards Eagle, a careless motion.
Zatanna sat back with a grunt. “Manifestation is the best way to put it. A lot of magic is belief and will, combined with talent. Having its own consciousness essentially bypasses all of the most difficult parts of magic. Anyone can use them.” her eyes flickered towards Damian and he started to tense.
He felt the need to defend his small newfound friend, and so he spoke. “Liiri informed me that they were created by concept. They could not interact with the world before the miraculous, so they choose to bind themselves so that they may.” They were lonely, and envious, and wanted to be a part of our world after watching for so long.
“Aye, Miraculous Manifestations of Concepts. Off the top of my head there’s Intuition, multiplication, transportation, jubilation, protection, emotion, transmission, and Illusion. There are supposedly hundreds of them, all lost to some great ruin.” Constantine was staring into the corner of the room. Eyes glazed over in thought.
Green Lantern stood and started pacing erratically. “So these things are world-ending powers in just anyone’s hands and house creatures older than time and space itself? Oh, but don’t worry guys!! These magical beings are literally enslaved by anyone wearing them so there's no safety on them like with pretty much everything else! Bonus, LET'S GIVE THEM TO CHILDREN!!-”
“HAL!!” Superman called to the maniac. “Ladybug and Chat Noir claimed to have had a Master to guide them. One who must have chosen them for a reason, and considering they were able to save all our lives, and defeat an even more suped up Grid, we should give them some faith.”
Constantine snapped out of his daze. “Grid was Akumatized? What the bloody hell happened?”
Wonder Woman sighed. “A Lot. My friend,” she reached out to the Atlantean, “I think I know what happened to your treasures after the fall of Atlantis. My mother found the jewels one by one arriving on the beach of Paradise Island, when they had just arrived. When the Peafowl came, she created a creature that would seek them out from the ocean, as per the fox’s request. Upon meeting the Ladybug, they requested safety in exchange to help rebuild a city on the Island. Most of Themyscira was created by the Ladybug, however after the gods started taking notes of the changes, the Kwami asked to be sent away. The Kwami of I think Teleportation was used to send them off, alongside one of our warriors. She returned and kept the location secret for many years. She died defending the Doorway not long before we were reconnected with the outside world.
It was strange. Before the mess in New York, No one in the watchtower even bothered about the miraculi, and now they were priority number 1. But then again, Damian realized, most of what we do is watch for disasters and prevent catastrophes. But this wasn’t something they could prevent, at least in his opinion.
“So, what are we going to do? We cannot leave those children to fight alone.” Canary stated.
“I agree. Even if they have a master, someone needs to teach them the basics. Even if it’s just how to contact us if they can’t handle it.” Wonder Woman added.
“I do too. Just cause they can magically fix everything after a fight, doesn’t mean they can be everywhere at once.” Arrow pointed out. “They need more boots on the ground and way more resources. I doubt they can afford any sort of tracking software.”
Damian kept his face straight even as his father turned to him considering. The night in the museum, when the two heroes had first shown up, Damian had figured it out. It took a while, he couldn’t recognize them because of the magic, but Video footage from the surrounding area showed that they were already inside the building when Grid Attacked. (for the record, he’d planned to just lock them in and leave for the night. Jon was insistent.) the rest came with checking off names from the class list, and everyone had been escaping while they fought the Akumatized AI. Which left those two, who had vanished. Damian had wiped the footage before Bruce could get ahold of it and ensured none of his brothers had access either. The only soul he told was Jon, and Jon was good at keeping secrets.
But that hasn’t stopped the great detective from trying. It helped that Adrien Agreste was on a plane at the time, while he forged footage of Marinette going to the bathroom at night to give her an alibi.
“Hate to break the bad news, but none of ya are going to Paris.” Constantine got up and started clicking through the pictures gathered from news reports and a site called The Ladyblog. “This kid was Akumatized cause he had a nightmare. Raise your hand if you don’t get those daily.” Jon started to raise his hand confusedly, but then paused thoughtfully, looking at Damian before setting it down.
Something to ask his best friend about later.
“Right. Fate? Can you be Akumatized?” The self proclaimed master of the dark arts asked.
“Akumas can affect anyone with emotion, be they kwami or robot.” Dr. Fate stated soundly.
“And if what I know is right, we can only ward off the Akumas through willpower?”
“Yes. The butterflies are a physical manifestation of magic, a temporary Kwami so to speak, that is more specter than creature. They will move right through magic and anti-magic security.”
“And this Mayura? The peafowl?”
“Sentimonsters cannot be prevented. They become entirely different beings, living creatures with their own wills once created. Amoks are like Akumas, Nothing can stop it.”
“What about this master? The one the lads have been told about?”
“If he is the last of the guardians, then I must trust his judgment. Kwamis always find their place, even if temporarily misplaced for a while.”
“And Bats? What about the French government? Have they reached out at all? These photos are two years old.”
Batman settled his fists on the table, answer clear. No, they had not. More than 60 reasons why flitting by in a slideshow of monstrosity.
Damian considered his words carefully. “If these were all just men and women of all ages being targeted for mundane angers and negativities, then what would happen if one of us, with all the training and powers we have, becomes Akumatized?”
Green Arrow points at him. “Willpower. We just fight him off.”
Another picture scrolls by, this one of Hero’s Day, Rena Rouge and Carapace Akumatized in their moments of weakness. Everyone looked away.
Constantine pulled a pack of cigarettes from his coat, glaring at Canary and hiding it again before she took it too. “Moral of the story is, we can’t fight the bastard. The Butterflies don’t show up on camera if he doesn’t want them to, any one of us could become a victim in a moment of vulnerability. The Government doesn’t want our help, trusting those two to handle it, which they’ve done quite well, I might add, and they aren't operating alone. Most of us went vigilante long enough to recognize that they're different. They have each other and if all else goes to shit?” He lit the cigarette. “Well, if I can keep a demon out of my head in my sleep, then this sorry bastard’s nothing. I’ll go myself. And as a human, no amok of mine is gonna be any worse than that.” he nodded towards the massive butterfly that rescued Hawkmoth.
Wonder woman turned to the other magicians. “Thoughts?” she asked, the question loaded.
Dr. Fate nodded slowly. “A fair assessment. His willpower is the strongest of us and has allowed him control over even the most difficult of dark magics. No offense Batman, but his expertise will be more helpful to them than any of us. I also fear that if I go, the man behind Nooroo will set his sights on me. I agree with Constantine.”
“Well, I don’t.” Zatanna stated. “He’s brash, frustrating, prone to life threatening situations, willing to do anything to win and absolutely the last person who should be around Children for magic’s sake!! ”
“And could you resist the force of Fate's helmet when you wore it, Zatanna?” Constantine asked. “Because this guy will be doing something similar. He’ll promise you the power to do anything you want. You know those limits to your magic? He can break them. He broke his own using those red butterflies of his. I’ll bet he akumatized Mayura into someone who could do it for him. He’ll offer you a deal, and the moment you say yes, even think about it , you're his.”
Zatanna clenched her jaw so hard Damian thought he could hear the bone creak. But eventually… she gave in, her whole body slumping forward in defeat. “If those kids ever reach out to us for help, you bastard, you better be Tubing within the hour. No more dimension jumping, or I'll drag you back myself. No risks, not for these kids. They don't have what we have.”
Constantine turned around to walk out, cigarette butt glowing briefly before moving in the dark. “But they’ll do as we’ve always done.”
“And what’s that, Mr. Constantine?” Jon asked.
John Constantine's smile was absolutely feral, as always. “Make do.”