MOUNT JUSTICE - October 29th
9:01AM
After the deaths of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern and the defeat of Doctor Fate, everything immediately went downhill for the Young Justice and America itself.
The Justice League ordered the Team to stay hidden, informing them that no missions would be given until Desmond could be detained. They were also ordered to not engage in any form of superhero activities to avoid drawing attention.
In response to this, several more League members went to stop Desmond, but even they could do nothing.
Captain Marvel and Guy Gardner went to fight Desmond together, but were quickly beaten, with Captain Marvel rendered unable to speak, leaving him powerless to activate his 'Shazam' incantation and Guy Gardner falling even quicker than his predecessor, Hal Jordan.
Red Tornado still served as the intermediary between the League and the Team, but he was soon called upon to fight Desmond.
The Team found his body torn to pieces, red and gold smouldering fragments littered all over upstate New York.
Black Lightning defied the warnings of the League and continued appearing in the public eye, demanding Desmond show himself. When he did, the battle resulted in Desmond overloading Lightning with energy from a nearby electrical board.
It was quite the explosion.
And finally, Captain Atom, the League's trump card. He took a much more strategic approach to his battle with Desmond, but the latter had already discovered that overloading Captain Atom's energy capacity would send him forward in time.
It was lucky the two contended in an abandoned area. Their whole duel destroyed buildings for nearly a square mile.
All around the world, everyone began to think that this was it, the Justice League had been beaten.
Broken.
Defeated.
Inferior.
Even the Zatanna began to think so. She and the Team hadn't seen the Justice League's remaining members for more than three weeks. Everyone, even the Team's most defiant members Dick, Robin and Artemis thought it was hopeless to fight Desmond.
They all went about their business, going to school, coming back to the Cave, socialising as best as people in their situation could, having a deathly silent dinner and repeating, all until it became a bland routine, like they had grown use to the fact that Desmond had pretty much won.
As she cut the ingredients for dinner, her hand clenched around the knife so tightly, her fist began shaking.
Why?
Her fist turned red.
Why?!
Tears began to drip onto the bench.
Why?!
She clenched her teeth together so tightly, her gums started aching.
"WHY?!?!"
She screamed and slid her thin hands along the cold bench, the glass dishes smashing all over the floor, sending leafs of spinach and lettuce all over the walls and floor.
She broke down and fell to the floor, huddling into a corner with loud, desperate sobs as she hugged her knees.
There was a loud footfall before Dick, Megan and Kaldur appeared from around the corner, their eyes going wide with worry when they saw Zatanna sobbing.
"Zatanna!" Dick exclaimed. "What's the matter-"
Suddenly, Zatanna leapt up and threw her trembling, tear-stained hands around Dick's neck, pulling him into a sad embrace.
"Why Dick?!" she screamed. "Why is this happening?!"
She sobbed loudly into his shoulder as he sighed sadly and put his arms around her.
"I don't know..." he whispered into her ebony hair. "I don't know..."
Her sobs became louder as Megan and Kaldur looked at each other worriedly.
"We'll give the two of you a minute..." Megan said quickly, pulling Kaldur away by the arm.
Zatanna's sobs began to quieten, but were still just as sad.
"Desmond..." she sniffed. "Desmond defeated Nabu...But that means he must have killed my dad too..."
Dick stroked her hair even more gently, almost as if he feared she was going to break.
"Don't say that!" he told her firmly. "That doesn't mean-"
"It does!" she cried out. "There was no way that Desmond could have removed the helmet forcefully!!"
Dick sighed and let go of Zatanna, a guilty look on his face.
"Dick?" Zatanna asked, looking at him with red, teary eyes.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a crumple envelope, handing it to Zatanna with an anxious face.
"This came in the mail earlier today..."
She looked at him and took it from his hands, realising that something was off about it.
"It's..." she muttered. "It's in Greek?!"
She turned it over and tore the envelope open, pulling out a light grey letter with a small insignia on the top corner.
"It's from a hospital in Thessaly..."
She read it, her eyes perusing every word at a nearly impossible speed. When she reached the bottom, she let out a small gasp.
"It's my dad!" she exclaimed. "He's alive!!"
THESSALY, GREECE - October 29th
1:09PM
The journey to Thessaly was only a few hours, but to Zatanna, it felt like years.
She sat near the back of the ship, her heart racing and her fingers clutching Dick's hand tighter as the town neared.
When they finally reached the town, Zatanna leaped out of the exit and ran through the town gates, but stopped when she saw the destruction before them.
The buildings had holes and cracks running along them, with several of their dark grey roof tiles littered all over the ground below.
The cobblestones and the town center were in an even worse state. The cobblestones, a pale red and pinkish colour, were nearly all torn up, exposing light brown soil and concrete below them.
At the centre of the carnage, the grey well, which Zatanna would have guessed looked marvelous, had it's top had it's top half smashed off, as if something very strong had swatted the bricks away.
"Oh my god..." she muttered fearfully.
The rest of the Team could barely believe their eyes either. When the League and Desmond fought hEre, it was clear that neither were pulling their punches.
Dick looked at Zatanna and pulled her away by the hand towards a large, pale pink building on the slope, it's windows and doorway covered with vines and plant pots dangling by chains.
"This is the place." Kaldur noted.
Without wasting a second, Zatanna reached past Kaldur and knocked on the door hard, as if she was trying to knock it off it's hinges.
The door slowly opened, with a woman standing in the doorway.
She looked roughly in her late thirties, with tanned skin and a long nurse's dress and her dark blonde hair tied up tightly under her bonnet.
"Can I help you children?" she asked with a heavy Greek accent.
Zatanna rushed forward.
"My name is Zatanna." she explained calmly. "You sent me a letter?"
She held the crumpled envelope in front of her, which the woman took with a smile.
"Ah yes!" she chuckled warmly. "You are Mr. Zatara's daughter?"
Zatanna's eyes lit up.
"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Is he here?!"
"Indeed he is." the woman nodded. "He's just resting upsta-"
But before the woman could finish her sentence, Zatanna bolted past her and up the stairs, her heart beating in her chest as heavily as her feet on the wooden stairs.
"I guess we'll wait here then..." Connor said to himself.
Zatanna burst through a door and into a room filled with six, white metal beds that was filled with a gentle, countryside breeze.
Then she saw the man resting to her right, nearest the window.
He looked slightly beaten up and was clad in scratchy looking pinstriped pyjamas, but she looked at him with the same smile she always had.
"DAD!!" she cried out happily, running to him.
Zatara's eyes blinked open as he sat upright, but before he could fully wake himself up, Zatanna threw her arms around him making him grunt.
"Dad!" Zatanna sobbed. "I've missed you so much!!"
Zatara looked confused, but smiled and put his arms around her as well.
"My darling daughter..." he smiled. "I have missed you too..."
The two shared a gentle embrace before Zatanna pulled away.
"What happened?" she asked quickly. "How did Nabu let you go?!"
Zatara sat her down on a small wooden stool next to him.
"I do not know..." he said to her. "There was a boy...He...coerced Nabu into releasing me..."
Zatanna's eyes went wide.
"Desmond coerced Nabu?!" she gasped. "But how?!"
He looked away.
"Desmond, hmm? So that is his name..."
She squeezed his hand tightly.
"Dad," she said as she looked into his eyes. "We need to get you out of here. Desmond has been going around killing all the Justice League members! You could be next!"
She began to stammer with panic, but Zatara put his hand onto her shoulder calmly.
"Hush, bambina..." he said to her. "He will not come for me, I am safe..."
Zatanna looked at him with disbelief.
"But you don't know that!" she yelled. "He could come back here any minute to finish you o-"
"He won't." Zatara repeated. "He told me that himself."
Zatanna went quiet immediately.
"What..?"
Zatara looked down.
"I know what he has been doing, Zatanna...But I also noticed something else within him when he spoke to me as he brought me here..."
Zatanna couldn't help but lean closer.
"Let me tell you what happened..." Zatara began.
Father and Daughter reunited! :D
After months of loneliness, Zatanna has finally reunited with her father, who is not only calm about the situation, but has exchanged words with Desmond himself?!
What did the two talk about?!
Why did he promise to leave Zatara alone?!
What will Zatanna's reaction be to her father's story?!
Find out in the next chapter! :D Be sure to vote if you enjoyed the chapter and comment your thoughts and feedback! :D
What do YOU think Desmond told Zatara?
Why do YOU think he promised to leave Zatara alone?
- Kai-Shiro :D