Justice League: Vertigo

Chapter 19 - Gained And Lost

Astrid fell on her butt. Teleportation wasn't one of the most comfortable ways of travelling, but it got the job done. They were in some sort of cave, with a high and spiky ceiling. She staggered to her feet, but when she looked up, she felt like falling down again. Good news: she saw Adam. Bad news: his hands and feet were chained to the ceiling and floor leaving him suspended in the air. He did not have his shirt, so his glowing tattoos were exposed. He was surrounded by about 50 men in red cloaks, chanting some words over and over. Adam was clearly in pain. He was screaming at the top of his voice and pulling on the chains, desperately trying to get out. The Team watched in terror as the life was being sucked out of their friend.
"So what's the plan?" Asked Artemis.
"We go in and beat the hell out if every last bastard here." Replied Astrid.
"Calm down, Astrid. These guys took out Adam when he was almost in full dragon cray cray mode. We need a different approach."
"These aren't the fighters. They're the priests. They aren't very good at fighting." Said Astrid. She summoned a chain to fight with and attacked the priests. She was in a frenzy of swinging her chain, sending the men flying. The team joined in and started trying to free Adam. But before they could rescue him a shockwave was sent out from Adam's body, knocking back all his teammates and breaking his chains. Adam was floating in the air while an orange and blue swirling aura started coming out from Adam's mouth and flying into an amulet that was held by one of the cloaked men. The same aura started coming out from Astrid's mouth. And then Zatanna's. Until Adam it stopped and Adam started falling to the ground. Superboy jumped and caught him in midair. Adam was breathing hard.
"What happened?" Asked Aqualad.
"Took away....all magic energy....in the area..." Adam managed to say. He tried to stand up, but he fell back to the ground.
"The voices..."he murmured." They've stopped. "
Zatanna and Astrid were still disoriented.
The man with the amulet tried to get away but Aqualad tackled him. Aqualad was blasted of the man by a blast of red energy. The whole team looked for where the energy beam came from and they saw a bald man with tattoos on his head. He was also wearing a red cloak.
"You dare disturb The Awakening. You puny mortals have no respect for the mystic arts." The man said.
"Screw you." Said Astrid, as she tried to throw a fireball at him, but she came up with nothing. Then she tried to throw a lightning bolt at him, and again, nothing.
"My powers..." She said.
"Mine too. They're gone." Said Zatanna.
"It was the amulet." Said Adam. He managed to pull himself up and was leaning on the cave wall.
Superboy punched the bald man in the face, but the man shrugged it off and kneed Superboy in the stomach. He gave Connor a heavy punch that sent him into the dirt. Adam looked around the cave and finally found his clothes, his scarf and his swords.
Kid flash ran circles around the man and gave him the occasional punch. The man soon got tired and grabbed Kid, then threw him at Superboy. Artemis and Robin fired explosive arrows and shurikens at him, but he came out unscathed. Aqualad came up close and engaged him in battle, while Ms Martian was taking care of Wally, who was injures. Then the man suddenly stopped fighting Aqualad. Blood poured out of his mouth. Aqualad looked down and saw a black sword with green lining protruding from his belly. Adam brought out his sword from the man's stomach. The man crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
"What did you do?" Shouted Wally.
"Relax, he's not real. He's just a spell cast by one of the priests."
And sure enough, the body dissipated into white crystals. The priest with the amulet stretched out his hand and opened up a portal of some sort. He tried to get in, but Zatanna used Astrid's chain and wrapped it around his arm and pulled him back. Before anyone could go and help her, he had pulled Zatanna in with him.
"Zatanna!" Adam shouted as he jumped in as the portal was closing.