When a mission with the Young Justice Team goes wrong, Dick Grayson finds himself possessed by a bloodthirsty demon with no control over his body as the demon rampages through the country, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake. Can Ba...
The silence was practically deafening, all eyes trained on the pacing figure dressed in black. Even Flash was silent, and that alone was a major accomplishment. Batman was practically radiating frustration, glare even more intense as he turned to stare intently at his fellow Leaguers.
"We cannot wait on this any longer. My son is dying, and I will not let that happen. Zatara, can you or can you not help? Dick does not have time for maybes."
Zatara sighed, avoiding Batman's gaze by staring down at his hands. "None of my research has yielded useful results. This area of magic is not a normal part of my expertise. I simply do not have the power or understanding needed to cast out a demon of that magnitude. As it is, we are fortunate to have been able to restrain him at all. I'm sorry, Batman... I will continue my search."
Batman cursed, shaking his head and returning to pacing the room. "There has to be something we can do."
"There is one thing... we have the Helmet of Fate at the Mountain. As a Lord of Order, Nabu would most likely have the power to exorcise the demon."
"No." Wonder Woman spoke up, shaking her head emphatically. "If you don the Helmet, Zatara, Nabu will most likely not let you go. That is not something we can risk."
"Wonder Woman is right... as powerful as Nabu is, he is too much of a wildcard. It would be unwise." Black Canary agreed, brows furrowed in thought as she watched Batman's pacing grow more agitated. "Please, Batman, sit down. We can work something out... at the very least, maybe we can restrain the demon enough to put him on a drip to help with the deteri–"
Batman's fist slammed down onto the table, the sound cutting off Canary mid-sentence. "Have you not been paying attention? It's not just his body that's failing. He's been stuck in there so long that his mind is going too. At this rate even if we do get the demon out, there won't be any of my son left to fix." He took in a breath, eyes meeting those of Zatara's as his shoulders slumped ever so slightly.
"I won't ask you to become Fate. You have your own daughter to worry about, and as a father, I cannot ask you to sacrifice yourself for my child. But I will ask you, ask all of you," his eyes scanned the room, tired gaze meeting each and every Leaguer's, one by one, "to continue looking. My boy served the League and our world for years. He is... was... a good hero. This happened to him while on a mission that we sent him on. The least we can do is do everything in our power to free him."
And with that, Batman turned on his heel and stormed from the meeting room, quickly enough that the rest of the Justice League were unable to see the frustrated tears gathering in his eyes.
His son was hurting, and Bruce would do anything to get him back.
Anything.
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Zatara's frowned as his fingers brushed over the cold metal of the Helmet of Fate, a soft sigh slipping from his lips. He knew the risks that revolved around wearing the Helmet, knew that if he put it on, he would most likely never be able to take it off. But he also knew that what Bruce had said was right.
