The Marvelous Adventures of the Superbat Family

Sorrow and Destruction

Thanks to the recent time change it was dark by the time the three heroes met on top of the Daily Planet. Batman was the first to arrive, Captain Marvel showed up less than five minutes later once again making no sound. Superman, surprisingly, was the last to arrive.

"My deadline got shortened," he explained with a scowl.

Batman nodded in understanding. "I know what that's like," he sighed.

Captain Marvel tilted his head, confusion written on his face but didn't ask. Instead he held his hands out expectantly. "If we're touching when the tracking spell is cast then all three of us will be able to trick them and not just me," he explained.

"Ok cook," Superman blinked then he and Batman took Captain Marvel's hands.

The magic crackling around his hands stung and Superman winced. To Batman it felt like the flames of an open fireplace, reminding him of cozy winter evenings spent in front of the fireplace with his parents. For Superman it made him think of when Lex Luthor hit him with a car in his teens. It hadn't really hurt but it did sting a little bit. The incident had shaken Lex up and he had tried to be nice to Clark but his father (Clark's that is) didn't trust Lex a single bit so Clark hadn't either. In retrospect he wondered-if he had tried just a little harder-would it have made a different?

"Are you guys ready?" Captain Marvel asked, his blue eyes shining with compassion as he gazed at Superman.

"Yes," Superman nodded.

Captain Marvel's eyes began glowing and the magic in his hands increased. "Give us the ability to find that which we seek." Although the language spoken was not a tongue spoken often they understood it perfectly. Captain Marvel let go of their hands and they stumbled backwards. He cupped his hands and two blue lights appeared. After spreading his hands the lights remained for a moment then darted forward, leaving shimmering blue trails in their wake. "Let's go."

As they took off Batman could swear that he felt something inside of him urging him to keep going forward. Judging by the frown on Superman's face he felt it too. Curious, Batman veered slightly off-course and the urge to follow the lights got stronger. Once he was back on course the urge died down and he had a newfound respect for Captain Marvel and Zatara. No wonder the latter didn't look very enthused whenever he was asked to perform a similar spell.

"We're almost there," Captain Marvel's voice brought Batman out of his reveries. "I sense a few sorcerers ahead but they don't seem to have a lot of magical power."

"How can you tell?" Superman asked.

Captain Marvel was quiet for a moment then he said, "All sorcerers exude magical power so the more powerful they are the more magic that can be felt. That's why most people don't know they have magic-because it's so weak. Not to mention you have a have a certain amount of magic power before you can sense the magic of others."

"I hate magic," Superman sighed.

"I'm not sure if I should be offended or not," Captain Marvel quipped before diving to follow the lights that had stopped moving, Superman right behind him.

Batman waited a moment as he took inventory of the scene below. They were at the docks and there were about three men unloading boxes from a white van and onto a small boat. There were two other men as well but the way there were just lounging around he pegged them as the sorcerers. For some odd reason sorcerers that were involved in criminal activities seemed to think they were all powerful and, therefore, above doing manual labor. Batman just loved probing them wrong.

"Hey." The thieves looked up to see both Captain Marvel and Superman hovering above them, the latter's arms crossed as he scowled at them in disapproval. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's wrong to steal?"