The Marvelous Adventures of the Superbat Family

Upset Sorcerors

There were days when Batman regretted his decision to become a superhero. Today was definitely one of those days. Klarion was currently wreaking havoc on Gotham. He was in the center of town, cackling as he controlled some skeletons he had stolen from a nearby museum. Teekl had transformed into his larger form and was amusing himself by chasing a few of the rookie cops. The GCPD had wisely chosen not to take on Klarion themselves but handled crowd control while Batman took on the teenaged sorcerer. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot he could do either. Magic and technology didn't mix well after all and nothing he did seemed to faze Klarion.

Honestly though Batman would have been satisfied with an explanation as to why Klarion was doing this. True, the sorcerer claimed to be evil but he really wasn't. Mischievous? Absolutely. Loved to cause chaos? Of course. But evil? No. While he didn't really go out of his way to avoid hurting civilians he had stopped short on more than one occasion of actually killing someone which told Batman that he wasn't a killer. Still, he didn't usually attack places at random. Quite a few villains often paid him to distract the local law enforcement so they could get away.

"Why are you doing this?" Batman demanded as he threw a birdarang.

"Because I want to," Klarion easily deflected the projectile and Batman winced as it shattered a window. "Oh, no," Klarion groaned as he looked past Batman.

Startled, Batman turned, raising an eyebrow in surprise when he saw Captain Marvel standing there, a giant tiger at his side.

"Hello, Batman," Captain Marvel greeted him. "I hope you don't mind but I thought I would come and see if you wanted any assistance."

"It would be appreciated," Batman admitted. He didn't normally like metas or sorcerers in his city but Captain Marvel had more than proven himself plus he had more experience handling magic than Batman did.

"I will handle Teekl," the tiger said, shocking everyone before he went to do just that.

"Don't eat anyone, Tawny," Captain Marvel called after him before turning his attention to the now scowling Klarion. "So how are you talking today?"

"Less talking, more fighting," Klarion threw a fireball which grew in size as it neared its target.

"Please," Captain Marvel rolled his eyes as he caught the fireball. He showed no signs that it was hot as he casually tossed it up and down much to the amazement of the police officers. "Bad day?" the fireball disappeared.

"That's none of your business!" With a wave of his hand the skeletons began moving towards the two heroes. Batman tensed, not liking the thought of destroying the remains of people that had long passed but knowing it might prove necessary.

Captain Marvel nodded, his expression morphing into one of concern and understanding. "Did you and your uncle have another fight?" he asked gently.

Batman blinked in surprise even as Klarion demanded, "How did you know that?"

Captain Marvel rolled his eyes. "Because you always act like this-lashing out at everyone around you until he notices you again. And before you say anything that is exactly what you do."

The words didn't stop Klarion from glaring, however, even as he said, "Regardless, it's none of your business!" he finished with a haughty sniff before turning away and crossing his arms.

Part of Batman wanted to point out that Klarion was acting like a pouting teenager but, since a greater part wanted to see where this was going he elected to remain silent and continue observing. For now anyway.

"True," Captain Marvel admitted. "It is more Batman's since you attacked his city but I figured that since he didn't know what was going on he might make things worse."

Since he heard the apologetic note in Marvel's voice Batman chose not to take offence. Truthfully, he wouldn't have known the situation and he would've just assumed that Klarion enjoyed causing chaos and wreaking havoc (which he did-to an extent) because he liked hurting people. Batman would have simply fought Klarion without ever learning why. He wouldn't have known that Klarion just needed someone to talk to. It could have gone very badly if Cap hadn't shown up. Sometimes Bruce wondered if he was becoming too jaded, too cynical to even believe that there was still good in the world. That was another reason he liked Captain Marvel-the man had a knack for not only seeing the good in people but also in bringing it out.

"Fair enough," Klarion grudgingly admitted. "Fine, we can talk it out."

Captain Marvel beamed. "All right," he put his arm on Klarion's shoulders and steered him towards a bench. "Why don't we sit and talk while our familiars keep playing?" he suggested.

Indeed, Teekl and Tawny were still chasing each other around the fountain in the square. It was fairly obvious that they were doing nothing more than playing.

Batman hesitated for a moment then followed Cap and Klarion albeit at a discreet distance thus giving them the illusion of privacy. The GCPD seemed a bit confused as they whispered amongst themselves before deciding to simply start the cleanup and let the superheroes handle Klarion.

"So what happened this time?" Cap asked.

Klarion's scowl deepened. "He doesn't have any time to teach me," he whined. "He promised to help me with a new spell book I got but then he went somewhere with John Constantine and now he's all depressed. He just keeps going on and on about how miserable he is and that everyone would be happier if he just killed himself."

Batman winced. That certainly didn't sound like a very stable home life and, judging, by the frown on Cap's face, he obviously felt the same way yet he didn't say anything to that effect. Instead, he gently suggested, "Why don't you talk to him? Tell him how you feel and let him know how important he is to you. If nothing else see if you can get him to stop hanging around John Constantine-he's not a very good influence."

"I know, right?" Klarion rolled his eyes. "I know he's a Neutral sorcerer but come on. He even had the nerve to criticize the sorcerers that I associate with."

"Constantine's not as bad as some of them," Captain Marvel pointed out, earning a groan from Klarion.

"True but he isn't the best choice for someone that's already suicidal," Klarion sighed. "But fine I'll talk to my uncle," he wrinkled his nose.

"Good for you," Cap patted Klarion on the shoulder as they stood up. "After you clean up this mess that is," he added. "I don't think Gotham's equipped to deal with magical clean up."

"We're not," Batman said.

"Heroes," Klarion grumbled but snapped his fingers, returning everything to its rightful place. "Farewell," he and Teekl then vanished.

"My work here is done," Tawny yawned before disappearing as well.

"At least we got that settled," Cap said brightly.

"True," Batman agreed. "I must say-I was very impressed with how you handled that situation. I doubt any of us would have continued trying to talk it out after having a fireball thrown at us."

Much to Batman's amusement Cap was blushing as he said, "It's no big deal. The only reason I knew what was wrong is because Klarion and I are friends and I've seen a few of their fights."

"Regardless you did very well," Batman rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm very proud of you."

Cap's face now matched his suit as he said, "Thanks, Batman, that means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," Batman allowed him a genuine smile.

Captain Marvel returned the smile then stepped back. "I should get going now, bye."

Before Batman could blink the other hero had disappeared. "That is a little creepy," he admitted to himself before doing the same thing.