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Ghost Helpline Part 12
Zatanna had told Batman her misgivings about the demon girl. Her aura made Zatanna feel small, and dirty. As if she was covered in a layer of dust she could never scrub off.
Her eyes, Zatanna had never seen a demon with golden eyes before. Red and blue, even green but gold? Gold felt like an omen.
The girl reeked of death magic. It was brutally strong. It reminded her when Batman had contacted her about the Lazarus Pit. His expression when she told Batman spoke volumes.
And what the girl got in payment spoke even louder.
Zatanna’s father always had warned her demons were evil.
—- —- —-
Black Canary was busy strangling her husband as Batman went over the minutes.
“Our cameras were unable to pick up much of anything Batman, sorry.”
“It’s fine I remember the demons explanation well enough. First-“
“I CANNOT Believe you could be so stupid! Oliver ! What were you thinking!”
“Sorry sorry!”
Superman pulled a grim smile, “Canary please tell some sense into the man later. If this has taught us anything is that we need to be more prepared.”
“Right we will talk about this later Oliver,” Canary released her husband onto their seat, fuming and lovingly worried.
The green archer picked him self up and turned to the blond magician currently drinking himself to death, “Hey what do you think was up with Konstelacio? Poor girl wasn’t looking too hot.”
Dinha will always admire her husbands caring nature but god sometimes she just wanted to shake him.
Barry released a sigh, “So it want just me then! She really didn’t look to good! She was even acting differently! Want if she hurt? Or in trouble?”
“Bear calm.”
John shuffled threw a stack of paper on Vampire Fog. Bloody hell, for the price of this information the kid really hadn’t asked for much. But the rest of them weren’t going to see it that way.
“She’s -“
“Are you serious? Are you lot seriously worrying about a demon? After what just happened!” Zatanna really couldn’t understand these guys sometimes it was sweet but also incredibly naïve.
“Hey now it was my choice okay I signed the contract with her. We need this cure, ten hours of my life isn’t much in comparison! And I know that so can all of you just stop!” Oliver could understand why they were upset he could. But why couldn’t the see that the girl had cut them some slack… again! In a room of self sacrificing idiot it wouldn’t have been hard to sell her an entire life. Or if her interest in Connor was any indication an entire soul.
“Everyone just hold your bloody horses okay! She’s probably fine looks like she’s got a bit of teleportation sickness that’s all, a magical equivalent of dehydration really. Some rest and food and she’ll be right as rain in no time.”
John said as he fumbled around for their copy of the contract, which was another thing demons typically didn’t let you keep a copy.
Barry vibrated in his seat. Robin, Nightwing, Kid Flash and Superboy (Jon) walked into the meeting. Barry couldn’t concentrate ‘teleportation sickness’, was she teleporting too much? Were … were they hurting her by summoning her? ‘Rest and food’? Was she not resting ? Not eating? What do demons eat? Barry felt his best friend put a hand on his shoulder, and welcome the boys. Right they could talk about this later…. may be Diana would understand.
“Fucking hell,” John was internally screaming as he looked over the contract, “Well then Arrow looks like your contract is air tight- however there is one vague loophole. And a kind one at that.”
Canary shot up in her seat, “What is it?”
John continued, “In the case that contractee cannot fulfill this request another may do so but only at the acceptance of both parties.”
The contract went on for several more pages, goddamn what nutter even wrote this shit?
(Ghost Writer did and made Konstelacio carry around several with her at all times.)
“Wait wait wait,” Wally zipped out, “What happened ? What contract?”
Dinha was too upset for this, nodding to Diana before Oliver opened his mouth to down play the whole thing.
“Well what happened is-“
—- —- —-
// Diana wanted to give the girl the benefit of the doubt, she wanted to get to know her. To hear stories of Pandora and make a new sister. So when Diana saw Konstelacio’s entrance she was worried, “What do you want as payment? I’m sure we can work something out.” Smile Diana don’t scare her, she looks hurt.
Konstelacio looked about the room, Diana hid a smile she really hadn’t thought this threw. Well it was alright, Diana tapped absent mindedly on her sword maybe she could convince a trade for sword lesson? A trip to paradise island? May be Hal was right and they should offer a pet ?
The demons eyes flicked between Flash and Green Arrow. Left, right, left, right, left, left, left. “Him,” she pointed at the archer, “I want him.”
The Amazonian got into a defensive stance. No one was taking her friend.
“No!” “No way!” “Arrow no!” “Stop!”
“Hold on hold on now,” John approached the circle, “You can’t expect us to hand over one of our own. You can find someone else to eat.”
“I don’t want to eat him!”
“You want his soul then?”
“Not really I just want him, I try not to dabble in souls too much. It’s too much work.”
“Too much work? Then what would you need a person for ? Humans are really boring you know, lots of work and needy!”
The demon pouted, “I don’t care I want him!”
John pat Oliver on the back as he nodded to Diana mouthing “play along”.
“Oh well I guess I tried, oh well GA say your goodbyes! I’m sure your wife will miss you very much old friend.” He shook his head sadly, “We will have to call your son. Well then girl how would you like to-“
“WAIT!” Konstelacio wobbled, “You’re married.”
Dinha rushed to Oliver’s side as if to shield him, “Yes he is.”
Oliver picked up on the act, “Yes here she is my better half.”
A look ran across the child’s face, “Well then I can’t have you then.” She stared to breathe a little harder.
“What about me?”
“Superboy!”
“If you don’t care about souls then it shouldn’t matter that I am a clone and I’m not married.”
Hera Conner no! What is he-
“Who said that!!!” The demons face began to shift in color, anger steaming out of every pore.
“What?”
“Who said that you don’t have a soul because you’re a clone? You have one! You have one I see it!” She begun to clench her hands into the skirt of her dress, “Where you like it or not, clone or no clone, Superboy you were meant to be here.”
“Oh I -“
“Forget it. I don’t want you anyway. I need the archer,” she begun to pace the inside of the circle, “But I can’t break up a set!”
She turned to face them, “Ten I want ten hours of your life.”
“Deal.” //
—- —- —-
While the boys sat and digest what they just heard, Constantine finished reading over the cures recipe.
“Bloody hell are you kidding me it’s an energy potion!”
“What’s an energy potion?”
“The cure Z the cure to fucking Vampires Fog is fucking magic caffeine!! Maybe even real caffeine I dunno I’m not a chemist!”
Zatanna took the offending papers glancing over them. She stopped at some papers that were bound together the first page titled like a story book, “Hunting the Sun”.
“What’s this?”
“That is our historical insight to the disease, or at least some of it. No doubt Konstelacio has a better understanding on everything.” And more than likely has already chosen what side she’s on.
Nightwing stepped up to look at the little booklet with Zatanna, “So what is it what’s the story on Vampires Fog? I assume this might lead us to what caused the out break?”
Clark coughed as he stole a look at Bruce. The Bat was updating the files on the disease, he had an idea and as Clark recounted the explanation Konstelacio had given them he hoped that they were both wrong.
—- —- —-
// Clark watched as Oliver signed an agreement that would lead to an early grave, for being Superman he felt both powerless and grateful.
“Alright so first off Vampire Fog was not a disease released from Pandora’s box. The sickness was man made to eradicate their enemies.
The illness is meant to cause the infected to move and think erratically. Leading them to ether kill them selves or kill each other. If anyone survived this stage the next stage would put them to sleep rendering them defenseless.
One side says Vampires made it to level a kingdom in the aftermath of a botched marriage. Some sort of petty revenge.
Another side says the humans made it. The king was a zealot that refused to marry off his daughter to a kingdom of monsters. So when the wedding day came, the humans infected the whole city.”
After that the conversation had devolved and slowed. Batman didn’t ask any questions it was worrying, when was the last time he slept?
—- —- —-
“What the Boy Scout said, it’s a bloody sodding mess.”
Damian stopped to think about this politically, he stopped to think over all of this not like a Wayne but like an Al Ghul. It didn’t sit right with him, the occurrence of this disease and new information way too much of a coincidence. Someone must have planned it on purpose.
“So we have two completely different stories of origin so what ? We got the cure what does it matter whether the humans or the vampires made the disease?”
Diana fixed the young super with a motherly look, “Knowing about the past can help us protect the future. For example know we know that ether way the illness is something consciously made. Which means someone must have made it and released it on purpose.”
“Right now we just need to figure out why.”
“Tt- isn’t it obvious the vampire scum are behind this if humans are the only ones getting sick?”
Boston, visible thanks to John, stepped in,
”Actually a lot of magical creatures have been infected too! They are just a lot better at hiding it. Especially in the larger cities, word is a whole gaggle of vampires died not to long ago from it.”
Zatanna nodded her head, “It would explain why some creatures have been causing havoc in broad daylight- uh - In front of everyone. Magical creatures usually prefer to keep hidden. But if they were sick and could help it. They would rampage regardless of wether regular humans could see them or not.”
Hal thought about the hundreds of times he had to play mediator over the years. He thought of all the aliens and everything they would do to win. God he hated politics, “so ether a group of humans or vampires did this in order to play the blame game. The human group could easy point at magical creatures and blame them for being out of control monsters. Or vampires could be making everyone sick in order to blame the sickness on humans while also looking like the victim.”
The league talked over political moves as they passed the little booklet around. Batman had sent the magians out to gather information and Boston had come back with a lot of it.
The book finally made its way to Green Arrow, he flipped the pages and stopped at the drawing of a castle. It was an old European style with only two distinctive traits. A tower with circle windows and a circle on the entrance grounds covered in swirls.
// “My home! My castle! My kingdom ! Everything’s changed.”//
After the “fight” with the dragon, Oliver had done some detective work of his own. He needed to know more about this ghost and had found almost nothing. But looking at this drawing, he recognized that castle.
The archer looked up at Batman, his shoulders were hunched taking in and writing down every piece of information he heard. His face was passive and he didn’t even bother to look at his sons. Oliver thought about Batman’s distrust of Konstelacio and in turn Captain Marvel. He thought about what he had heard about the two leaguers fight, swallowed and decided to keep his mouth shut.
Batman didn’t need to know.