Myst in DC Part 9 (Patreon)

“Okay, that sucked,” Myst grumbled as he flipped back to his feet, happy that his old skills were coming back remarkably fast, even if he was nowhere close to Black Canary’s level of skill or physical training.

“You’re less rusty than you claimed,” Dinah said with a grin as she took a second to check on the rest of the students. “Connor!” she snapped when Connor swung hard enough she felt the wind from ten feet away. “Watch the strength! If that punch had landed, Kid Flash’s brain would have been splattered against the wall.”

“No worries, I’m too fast to catch,” Kid Flash replied cheekily as he danced around Connor, acting like an idiot.

Myst grinned slightly as his precog ability showed him a snapshot of Kid Flash taking a tumble on the mats. Normally he wouldn’t screw over his teammate by setting him up but Wally really needed to get his head out of his ass and realize that super speed wasn’t everything. He formed an invisible bar out of telekinesis in front of Kid Flash. “Permission to knock Kid Flash on his ass?”

“If you think you can, go for it,” Kid Flash replied smugly then charged Myst to make a point.

Dinah winced when Kid Flash tripped on something he couldn’t see and took a decently brutal tumble on the mats that ended with him lying flat on his back. “First question, do you need a medic?” she asked as she walked over to check on him.

“I don’t think I broke anything.” Kid Flash replied after a couple of seconds to catch his breath.

“Good. Next question, were you expecting a different result?” she asked dryly.

“I was expecting him to flinch, not trip me. How did you pull that off anyways?” Kid Flash asked as he glared up at Myst.

“Officially? No idea, you tripped. Unofficially, telekinesis is awesome,” Myst replied with amusement as he reached down and touched Kid Flash’s nose with his right index finger, granting him regeneration.

“You’re fast enough to mess with me?” Kid Flash asked in disbelief.

Myst laughed pulled his hand back. “Of course not, I set the telekinetic tripwire up before I asked if I could knock you on your ass.”

“At which point he blindly charged into it,” Robin mused as he blocked Artemis’s punch while not looking in her direction, having kept track of her in the reflection from the monitor across from them.

“Pretty much,” Myst agreed. “If he’d been aware of the bar he probably could have just kicked through the twenty pounds of force without a problem, but because he wasn’t expecting it, he tripped and took a tumble.”

“That was reckless,” Artemus complained as she blocked Robin’s kick, taking a step to the side to set up her own kick.

“If I wasn’t a precog, I wouldn’t have done it,” Myst assured her as he watched Artemis and Robin trade strikes and blocks. “Not to mention I can loan people regeneration.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a bastard,” Kid Flash grumbled good naturedly as he got to his feet.

“First, my parents were and are married, so I’m not technically a bastard and second, you were getting cocky. Enhanced speed is a great advantage, but your version has issues. You have to get up to speed and you can’t stop on a dime. Not to mention your issues with food.”

“Woah, way to be blunt,” Robin said.

Myst opened his upgrade menu and dropped 1480 on upgrading his mana regeneration before he forgot. “I wouldn’t have to be blunt if he took the training seriously. All it would take is one frustrated and overpowered hit to connect and you’re dead or crippled.”

Megan scowled at Myst. “Connor wouldn’t do that.”

“Not intentionally,” Connor agreed as he shifted uncomfortably, “but he’s not wrong, I was getting carried away.”

‘At least I didn’t have to point it out, again,’ Dinah thought as she glanced between Wally and Connor, glad that the ‘lesson’ was sinking in. “Let’s swap sparring partners for the next spar and then we can get some lunch.”

0o0o0

Myst glanced up when he heard the announcement that Kent Nelson had just entered the base through the Zeta-Tube. “At least we know it’s probably not just us.”

“Or he’s here on a completely unrelated note,” Robin suggested as he continued dancing with Raven, doing his best to keep her from stepping on his feet.

“Unlikely,” Raven said absently as she went through the dance motions, it felt like a dream where she knew all of the moves if she just let herself go.

Zatanna pulled her attention off Raven’s rubber boots and glanced toward Starfire and Beast Boy who were still flying around. “At least the rest of the team hit the showers.”

“Which is where we should be,” Beast Boy complained as he flew over.

“What do you think the girls would do to you after everything switches back?” Robin asked dryly.

“On second thought, let’s avoid that,” Beast Boy agreed with a shudder as he pictured having to dodge arrows as he frantically changed shape to escape Artemis’s wrath.

“Good call.” Myst dropped 920 mana into his mana regeneration. “That brings my total up to ninety mana a minute; time to celebrate.” He glanced at his open gacha menu and bought the 200 point clothing wheel. “Hopefully this gives us something useful.”

“We can hope, but truthfully, it has a pretty good record so far,” Zatanna agreed as she watched the wheel spin.

“I wouldn’t mind some combat armor,” Robin mused as he waltzed with Raven across the gym, her steps already losing some of their hesitation.

“I wouldn’t mind clothes that are enchanted to stay clean.” Myst blinked as a midnight black silk mini dress appeared when the wheel stopped. “Not what I was expecting.” He looked at the dress with his upgrade ability. “Nice, it reduces the effects of electricity by 25% which is useful.”

“Now you just need to boost that to one hundred percent and hand it out,” Zatanna said with amusement as she looked at the cute dress.

“Considering the sheer number of villains and henchmen that use high energy weapons it’s on my list.” Myst turned to look at Kent as he walked into the gym. “Mr. Nelson,” he greeted the mage with a friendly nod.

Kent glanced at Starfire who was still topless. “Damn, I’d hoped the changes to the world weren’t still on going.”

“She’s Tamaranean, they absorb sunlight like Kryptonians,” Robin said as he danced over with Raven so they could discuss things. 

“Which means we don’t really have any of your human taboos about nakedness,” Starfire said happily.

Kent relaxed as he realized that his first guess was most likely correct and the changes weren’t progressive. “That’s good to know, between your state of dress and Myst’s cloak, I was starting to worry.”

“It’s magic and I haven’t had the chance to dye it,” Myst grumbled, fairly sure the old man was just messing with him.

“Have you figured out a way to reverse the changes?” Robin asked, unsure if he wanted to ‘fix’ the world, but knowing it would be the right thing to do.

Kent shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Chaos magic isn’t that easy to reverse and it was most likely an uncontrolled release of primal forces that subtly caused an alteration in the past. Changing them back would erase the last few hundred years, erasing billions of people and replacing them with their possible siblings.”

“You’re saying we killed billions of people?!” Beast Boy blurted out in horror.

“No, I’m saying that our timeline changed because of Klarion’s death, this happens with some regularity though rarely to this degree, you just never remember. Thankfully, as it was not consciously directed, as one of us making a deliberate change would be, reality took the path of least resistance and didn’t wipe anyone from existence.”

“Why do we remember the other version?” Robin asked.

“The Tower of Fate is outside of this dimension, which means it’s protected to a certain extent from reality revisions,” Kent explained.

Beast Boy shivered. “I would have slept better not knowing any of this.”

“Sometimes ignorance is bliss,” Myst said as he stuck the dress in his inventory. “You could have told us that over the phone, what’s up?”

“Batman asked if I’d look over your gear and make sure it’s safe. He also mentioned that you can grant temporary regeneration, I’m tired of having to use my cane,” Kent admitted as he raised his cane up a couple of inches, “and all the spells I know of that would have a similar effect have costs that I find distasteful.” 

“It won’t restore your youth, but it should help with your old injuries,” Myst explained as he held out his hand.

“I’m not looking to live forever,” Kent replied as he grabbed Myst’s hand. “Now what?”

Myst willed Kent his regeneration. “That should do it. Where do you want to set up shop for looking at the magical items?”

“The lab would probably be the best,” Kent said as he pulled his hand back, straightening slightly as the long familiar pain in his leg faded, along with a lifetime of other injuries that hadn’t quite healed right over the years. “That’s a useful ability.”

“It’s one of my favorites,” Myst agreed as he turned to look at Robin. “Have fun dancing, this will probably take a while.”

“Keep me posted,” Robin replied as Aqualad walked out of the lockers with wet hair.

“Dancing?” Kent asked as he turned his attention toward Raven’s rubber boots, which seemed remarkably out of place. He cast a quick detection spell and studied the boots’ aura. “At least that explains why you’re dancing in rubber boots.”

“Starting to suspect brain damage?” Myst asked with amusement.

‘Or a prank,’ Kent thought as he turned his attention toward Aqualad and observed his aura. “How long have you been studying Atlantean battle magic?”

“A touch over two years,” Aqualad said respectfully. “I’d still be at the Conversatory of Sorcery, but I was offered the chance to work with Aquaman directly, I couldn’t pass it up.”

“I don’t blame you. Have you covered identifying magical items in your studies?” Kent asked, curious how far Aqualad had gotten in his studies.

“We covered the basics though I doubt I’d be of much help if something was specifically designed to conceal its purpose.”

“In that case, you should come with us, I’ll show you a few tricks I learned from an archaeologist friend of mine.”

“Was his name Mr. Jones?” Myst asked with amusement.

Kent shook his head. “No, his name was Martin Constantine or at least that was the name he gave, he disappeared back in the seventies.”

“In that case, let’s go,” Zatanna said as she walked into the hallway, headed toward the labs. 

“Lead the way,” Kent said as he followed the young sorceress.

‘Hopefully he’ll share some tricks on creating magical items as well.’ Myst wasn’t sure how much Kent knew about creating magical items, but he was probably his best shot at finding someone to help that wasn’t under the ocean, evil, on Themyscira or otherwise suspect.

0o0o0

“I feel like lighting a candle or something for the world we used to know,” Robin mused as he continued slow dancing with Raven.

“I don’t know, there are advantages to the new world,” Beast Boy said with a smile.

Raven rolled her eyes. “You just want to see more breasts.”

“Like you don’t,” Beast Boy said.

“Do I have to remind you that I’m a girl?” Raven asked dryly.

“So, you weren’t checking out Starfire’s breasts earlier?” Beast Boy asked sarcastically.

“Ah…” Raven trailed off, not sure what to say. 

Starfire flew down so that Raven could get a better look at her breasts. “You do not find my breasts appealing?” she asked her lower lip quivering. 

“They are…” Raven searched for the right words.

“Just think of it this way, Connor will be more likely to walk around without pants or care that you’re looking at him in the shower.” Robin winced slightly as she stepped on his foot. “Worth it.”

“It feels more like home,” Starfire said with a sunny smile.

“Speaking of, let’s hit the showers!” Beast Boy said enthusiastically. 

“If you can’t beat them, join them?” Robin offered.

0o0o0

Kent twitched and nearly dropped the lava lamp he was examining as he felt a pulse of magic wash over him from the humanoid slime. “What was that?”

“That felt like you just finished a decent sized ritual,” Aqualad said as he studied Myst, more than a little surprised that he didn’t look tired or anything.

“My mana pool was just about full so I dropped most of it on my mana regeneration,” Myst explained as he opened the Hat wheel with to use the last of his mana.

Kent blinked as a glowing wheel with lights appeared in front of Myst and started spinning. “You have a strange collection of powers.” He quickly cast a detection spell and watched the spinning wheel, trying to figure out how the magic worked.

“I happen to like the ability to conjure things out of thin air.” Myst glared when the wheel stopped spinning and a bishop’s mitre dropped onto the lab bench. “Weird…” he trailed off when he looked at the hat with his upgrade ability. “Don’t touch it!”

Zatanna moved her chair back half a foot. “I wasn’t going to. What does it do?”

“It corrupts the person touching or wearing the hat by increasing their lust and greed while boosting the benefits of possession by 11% and decreasing the negative effects by 5%.” He shook his head. “Looks like I finally got a crappy draw.”

Kent frowned as he studied the mitre as he studied the enchantment someone had placed on it. “While useful to one already mired in sin and planning on a career in demon summoning, I’m afraid for the rest of us it would simply be cursed.”

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Myst replied as he picked it up and put it in his inventory, ignoring the brief thoughts of how much it would cost to upgrade the X-ray Specs to see through Raven’s shadow.

“You just said we shouldn’t touch it!” Aqualad snapped. 

“Yeah, you’re not immune to corruption. I’m not either, but it only works while you’re touching it and I’m more or less immune to mental influence,” Myst explained.

“Why do you want the hat?” Aqualad asked.

“I can make weaker copies of magical items and move properties to similar items which means I should be able to shift things around so that you’d get more out of a possessions like the Helmet of Fate and have less drawbacks while avoiding the lust and greed effects.”

“Can you make a copy of the Helmet of Fate?” Kent asked curiously, knowing that quite a lot had gone into that artifact’s construction, but not foolish enough to underestimate the ability of the universe to toss in a completely unique power that made the impossible easy, as he had seen happen quite often over his long span.

“It would probably take some rare and expensive materials, an excellent craftsman and a lot of mana, but I’m fairly sure I could make a weaker version of the helmet without too much trouble. It wouldn’t copy Nabu himself, but that’s probably a good thing.”

“I rather think so,” Kent agreed dryly.

Zatanna looked up from her notes. “What type of consciousness would it have?”

“You’d have to contract with one to occupy it, I’d suggest an elemental force or something similar,” Myst said.

“You’d be amazed at how many elemental spirits would love to see the world and experience it through a human’s senses and perspective,” Kent agreed.

Zatanna made a couple of notes. “That could be interesting. How does his ability work? Are the items created from mana or conjured from other dimensions?”

Kent glanced over the collection of odds and ends. “Considering the magic feels like Myst’s magic, I’m guessing created. Everything is fairly straightforward and precise, very little wasted mana, which probably explains why his ability can craft the prizes as efficiently as it does.”

“Do you have a plan other than just stacking a bunch of random effects on your costume and calling it good?” Aqualad asked, having read over Robin’s status report on their recent activities and the seemingly haphazard work their latest member had been occupied with.

“Do I need one if I can put enough power into it?” Myst asked. “Joking aside, I have the start of a plan. I want to get everyone on the team a headband or helmet type object, maybe an earring or something that controls the invisible drones, then I’m going to move the agility enchant from a copy of Artemis’ collar to another necklace for everyone. Toss in electrical resistance from the black dress and we’ll have a decent start on a defense package.”

“What happens when you’ve made the team unstoppable and they get mind controlled?” Zantanna asked.

“The same thing that happens when Superman or one of the other walking engines of destruction gets mind controlled, bad things. That said, I’m hoping to find a couple of methods to block mind control then copy them to our gear. Not to mention I’ll be boosting the heck out of the team and League’s mental defenses once I have enough mana. Superman can rip cities apart and probably shatter mountains without all that much effort; I’d rather not have to deal with a mind controlled Justice League if I can help it,” Myst said honestly. “I’m shocked by how little training everyone’s been given in resisting mental influences and how little active protections, read none, I’ve seen so far.”

“That’s because of the sheer number of ways to mind control people, between tech like The Hatter, magic like The Enchantress or evil telepaths, it’s problematic to guard against all the possible ways people can be controlled,” Kent admitted.

“Just because it’s difficult, doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing, otherwise what are we doing here?” Myst asked. “Superman should have something in his fortress about resisting technological mind control and you probably have something that can stop magic or someone would have stolen the helmet years ago, right?”

Kent shook his head. “I have a couple of techniques that I use, but they require years of study. That is generally the case with resisting telepathy as well.”

“If nothing else, I’ll just keep bugging Martian Manhunter until he comes up with a decent training program,” Myst mused.

“I’m sure that he’d rather you didn’t,” the older mage said, visibly amused.

“Sadly, we don’t always get what we want,” Myst said, knowing that Queen Bee was a problem as were a number of evil telepaths. “Either way, I’m not leaving the team open to mental attack if I can help it.”

“That seems weird coming from an empath,” Aqualad said.

“I went most of my life without the ability to sense emotions, I’m perfectly happy losing the ability to sense my friends if it means they’re safe from evil telepaths and mind controlling bastards like The Hatter. Besides, with any luck, I’ll find something that only blocks harmful attacks.”

“Fair enough,” Aqualad admitted. “Walk us through the rest of your trinkets?”

“Sure,” Myst said seeing no problem with walking through through everything other than the belt that created loyal children, at least until he had a chance to fix the loyalty bit.

0o0o0

“Thank you for shampooing my hair,” Starfire said as they headed toward the lounge.

“Anytime star,” Beast Boy replied, more than happy to help his gorgeous teammate with her hair or anything really.

Robin glanced over at Raven who had the hood of her cloak up and a faint blush on her cheeks. “Penny for your thoughts?”

“That was less weird than I thought it would be,” Raven admitted.

“Other than Robin’s mask,” Starfire added thoughtfully.

“What’s wrong with keeping my identity secret?” Robin asked a touch defensively.

“Beyond the fact that it demonstrates a lack of trust and we have a telepath on the team that probably already knows who you are?” Raven asked dryly.

“There are other considerations, I’m not doing this because I want to keep my identity secret,” Robin said, thinking about Bruce’s secret identity and how easy it would be to connect the dots. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll talk to Batman about it.”

“At least he didn’t drop the soap half a dozen times, I didn’t think Megan was that clumsy,” Starfire said thoughtfully.

“I’m fairly sure that was intentional,” Raven pointed out dryly. She wasn’t going to admit that she’d enjoyed watching Megan tease Connor or just how much she’d enjoyed feeling Beast Boy wash Starfire’s hair.

“Ooh, is that an Earth custom I should take up?” Starfire asked.

“Yes,” Beast Boy said at the same time as Robin said, “No.”

Robin paused then shrugged. “Only when you’re teasing people.”

“We should probably check on Myst and see what else he’s came up with,” Raven said, deciding to change the subject before they got further distracted by the thoughts of a naked… Raven forced herself back on track. “Let’s go.”