Avoiding Past And Future

(78) Misplaced 11

WARNINGS
* biblically accurate Klarion
* disregard of human life - Klarion
* mild gore (in dialogue) - Klarion
* blood, lots of it - Danny
* panic/near panic attack - Danny
* minor self harm - Danny

November 6

The flight over to Roanoke was about as uncomfortable as it could have been. Tensions still stewed thickly, but they were behaving for the time being. It had shaken the others just enough when 2 out of the 7 official team members threatened to quit. Billy looking like a wreck did nothing to help either but at least it got through to Kaldur enough that he finally told everybody to shut up and told Billy to inform Batman that Phantom was in fact coming along.

If Billy seemed rattled by the choice words Zatara strung out, which Billy refused to even repeat let alone translate, nobody commented on it. Mostly for his sake, but it wasn't like anybody actually wanted to hear what the man had said either.

It was only after that was resolved that they were informed just how little of League would be available from their end. While they had Marvel, Aquaman, Zatara and both Batman and Green Arrow equipped with enchanted throwables, the team was less lucky.

Taking a page from their book, Zatanna enchanted just about every arrow and whatever were in the Bats' utility belts. But other than having Phantom there alongside the only magi, they didn't stand much of a chance.

Batman had reminded them that a quick surprise attack would be their best shot against magic, but there's only so much they can do when most of the team stood no actual chance.

Of course, it wasn't like they were suddenly open to listening to the people with experience. That would have been too big of an improvement. They still insisted on a long ranged into sneak attack. Well, as sneak as they could be when their whole plan was dependent on fail first, deploy trump card later. The only reason Phantom even agreed to stay back was the risk Klarion could sense his energy approaching. Zatara couldn't, but Zatanna did so it wasn't a risk worth taking to see where on the scale Klarion fell.

To absolutely nobody's surprise, their first attack was a total fail.

With barely a breath leaving his body, Klarion stopped both sets of enchanted projectiles. "Well, where there's one," Klarion grinned as the batarangs fell into the dirt. Looking directly at where Robin was hiding, the witch boy's grin took on a sharper edge. "There's always the others." He called out, right before the three stooges could reach him. Like he knew they were coming, he sent out a gust of wind in each of their directions, pushing them back, if not blowing them away entirely.

So much for surprise sneak attack. At least he had to give credit to M'gann for trying something by throwing some dried up mud at the shield. Because everybody knows dirt beats magic in this embarrassing game they were playing.

Not even Zatanna was spared the inevitable embarrassment as Klarion flicked away her spell with nothing more than a dismissive wave. "Anybody any better ideas?" She complained sarcastically as Phantom caught her before taking a nasty fall.

"Only if anybody's actually willing to listen this time." Robin complained as he tried to sneak away from Klarion's field of awareness.

Sneaking off too where Phantom and Zatanna were, he checked up on her just in case. Spotting no visible injuries, he begrudgingly waited for whatever idiotic order was going to come through. "Whatever happens, don't hold back." He whispered softly, mildly regretting his words as Phantom tried to slink away from the idea. "Ni, we can't do this without you. I need you in this, 100%." He tried to encourage his brother, vowing to himself that he was going to get to the bottom of whatever scared him so much.