Broken Soul part 18 (Patreon)

Myst pulled his attention away from the television when he heard someone knock on the door of the hotel room. "I've got it."

"Cool," Selena called out from the bathroom.

"Thanks," Ron said, not looking up from the handheld computer game he was playing.

Myst walked over and opened the door, figuring it was someone with the hotel or someone that had the wrong door. He glanced between Kara and Clark then focused on the stranger that was dressed in slacks and a white dress shirt, not getting anything other than static from his telepathy. "Hey Kara, what's up?"

"I figured since you knew who I was, I'd arrange a meeting with my cousin," Kara replied with a smile.

"Super hearing?" Myst asked.

"Occupational hazard," Kara replied with a shrug.

"You might as well come inside," Myst replied as he took a step back so they could walk into the room.

"You don't seem particularly upset," Clark said as he walked into the room, having already looked everything over with his X-ray vision as they were walking up to the room.

"It saves me the trouble of trying to track you down," Myst replied as Kara and the stranger walked into the room. 'Martian Manhunter? Random League telepath?'

Giovanni walked into the room and glanced at the treasure chest that was sitting in the middle of the room. "Interesting chest."

"It's larger on the inside," Myst replied as he shut the door, not seeing a reason to mention that he'd grabbed it because his avatar was running around Metropolis trying to avoid being splattered by aliens and criminals with alien blasters. "I know who Kal is, do you have a name or a code name?"

"Zatara," Giovanni replied.

"Giovanni Zatara?" Myst asked, figuring he was too old to be Zatanna's kid given Clark's apparent age though he could be another Zatara.

"You've heard of me?" Giovanni asked as he glanced between the collection of people in the hotel room.

"Yes!" Selena replied as she walked out of the bathroom with a large fluffy white towel wrapped around her and another wrapped around her hair.

Akari pulled her attention away from Clark, a bit surprised that he could pull off a secret identity because he had a face you wanted to remember and focused on the magician. "Sort of."

"Not exactly," Myst admitted.

"Yes, sort of and not exactly, can you vague that up a bit?" Kara asked.

"Sure," Myst replied with amusement. "I've heard stories of versions of Giovanni Zatara, but that doesn't mean I've heard of this version or know any details other than the fact that he probably has a daughter, Zatanna."

"Nacs," Giovanni chanted then glanced between the strangers in the room. "You owe me five dollars Kara, they're not aliens, they're just from a different dimension or dimensions."

"Thus alien," Kara argued.

"Technically," Zatara admitted reluctantly.

"Close enough," Kara replied with a grin. "So, where are you from?"

"Scotland, but my folks travel around a lot and I was born in the U.S., just not this version," Selena offered.

"Amy and I are from Brockton Bay," Taylor offered.

"Earth Bet," Amy added.

"Middleton, not Earth Bet," Ron offered.

"A boring version of Earth, no magic or metahumans," Akari offered.

"That you know of," Selena argued.

"That we know of," Myst agreed. "That's actually why we wanted to get in touch with Superman, I was hoping that he'd be able to get in touch with Zatara or a Green Lantern. We have a method of jumping between worlds but it's not exactly accurate and we're trying to get home."

"Dangerous?" Zatara asked warily.

"Probably," Myst admitted. "Before you start ranting, it's probably only dangerous to the people making the jump and we didn't have a lot of choice both times we've used it. We got summoned by a group of Eastern ki adepts that were sociopathic and or psychotic and were completely out of our league. They were using everyone they summoned as disposable shock troops against a demonic army because of corruption issues they didn't want to deal with. If we hadn't jumped the first time, they'd have killed us and continued summoning people, at least this way we have a chance of getting help."

"And the second time?" Zatara asked, trying to get a better idea of how the ritual worked.

"The first jump dropped us on a tropical island, after a week and a half our Danger Senses started screaming that we needed to leave if we didn't want to get trapped, we jumped," Myst explained.

"Actual danger sense or just a bad feeling?" Zatara asked.

Selena nodded. "Actual psychic power."

"Are you all psychic?" Kara asked.

"To one degree or another," Gwen said.

"Can I get a copy of the ritual?" Zatara asked, curious if they were calling on demonic powers or doing something that could destroy the barriers between worlds or cause problems on a grand scale.

"I'll get it," Selena said as she walked over and started looking through her folder for her notes on the ritual.

"Do you think you can help?" Peter asked.

Zatara glanced at Peter and Gwen. "I should be able to send you and your friend home without a lot of trouble, the rest are from dimensions outside of my reach."

"Sorry?" Peter offered, feeling a touch guilty that he'd get to go home first since he didn't really have a home to go back to.

"Don't worry about it, your world has a number of paths to this dimension or at least the collection of dimensions have connections," Myst replied, not particularly surprised that Zatara could send them to a Marvel like world considering the number of crossovers that had happened over the years.

"We're going to need to talk to a Green Lantern, aren't we?" Amy asked.

Kara frowned as she thought about the Green Lantern's extensive list of rules. "I'm not sure any of the Green Lanterns would be allowed to help, their ability to give technology out is limited."

"Do you think they could open a portal to get us closer?" Myst asked, hoping he could point them in the right direction so they weren't stuck looking for a needle in a cosmically sized haystack.

"You can always ask," Kara said, figuring they'd help if they could.

Clark shook his head. "Hal left to deal with some issues in the rest of the sector, it could take a couple of weeks before he gets back."

"I don't have a problem sticking around for a couple of weeks, unless there's an alien invasion planned or someone is planning on blowing up the city," Myst replied with a shrug.

"Does that happen a lot where you're from?" Kara asked.

"No, but versions of your world have been known to have trouble with alien invasions," Myst explained, thinking about the various comics where Thanagarians, Daximites, Dominators or Darkseid's people invaded.

"How do you know about us but not know the details?" Kara asked.

"Comics," Selena replied as she handed Zatara a copy of her notes on the portal spell. "That should get you started."

"Comics?" Kara asked in disbelief.

Selena shrugged. "We have comic books about your world or versions of your world. The details change but most of the main points stay the same. Giovanni is almost always a stage magician in Las Vegas, Kal is always from Krypton and based out of Metropolis and Batman is just about always in Gotham."

"What about me?" Kara asked.

"Your home generally depends on the comic and how long you've been on Earth," Selena replied with a shrug. "The Supergirl name also has a tendency to get used by metahumans and clones, though a lot of clones end up calling themselves Power Girl."

"You seem pretty calm about being in a comic book world, why?" Clark asked.

Myst pointed at Peter and Gwen then gestured at Taylor and Amy. "Peter and Gwen are from a world that resembles a collection of comic books about a hero that has spider-like powers. Amy and Taylor are from a world with massive city-killing monsters that I've read about and Ron is from a world that resembles a cartoon in my world."

"Do you know anything about our villains?" Kara asked hopefully.

"Not really," Myst admitted. "I could give a couple of stories, maybe a couple of names but this version is strange enough that I'm not sure how much would be accurate."

"Why not?" Clark asked.

"One you look a lot younger than I expected, and two you're not a reporter," Myst replied.

"I’m nineteen and I thought about becoming a reporter," Clark admitted.

"Why didn't you?" Selena asked, wondering what changed.

"Newspapers are almost dead and being a writer pays better," Clark explained.

"Especially when you have seven pen names and super speed," Kara teased.

"It certainly helps," Clark agreed, not seeing a point in mentioning the pen names he used for writing adult content, mostly because he'd seen one of his books on Kara's shelf. "Selling pictures to the Planet lets me make some interesting contacts and lets me keep an eye on Lex."

Kara snickered. "It doesn't hurt that Lois is hot."

"A guy can dream," Clark replied.

"Who does Kal end up with in most of the comics?" Kara asked.

"Depends on the comic," Selena replied with a grin.

Myst shook his head. "Let's avoid that rabbit hole."

"That bad?" Clark asked.

"Depends on the comics," Myst replied with a shrug. "You have a type, generally dangerous, smoking hot, and a touch insane."

"Can we get back on track?" Zatara asked, doing his best not to laugh.

"Do you have any spells or talismans that would let us figure out if we're in the right world?" Akari asked Zatara, thinking about the old Sliders show where the team hadn't realized they'd made it home because the main character's mother had someone oil a hinge on a gate.

"I'll have to check the library," Zatara admitted. "The spell I use was designed for my bloodline and it's simple enough that I haven't had to make a talisman in twenty years."

"Rusty?" Akari asked.

"Just a bit," Zatara admitted. "I'm reasonably sure I could do it in a pinch but I'd rather spend an hour making sure that I haven't forgotten something important."

"We're not in a hurry," Akari assured him, figuring a couple of days wouldn't matter as they'd already been gone a couple of weeks. "Is there anything we can help you with?"

Zatara considered the question as he skimmed the notes on the ritual, trying to make sure it wasn't tapping into a hell dimension or borrowing power from a dark god. "That depends, how much do you know about the Helmet of Nabu?"

"Depends on the version," Myst admitted. "In most of the comics, Nabu is a rigid piece of shit and cares more about the fight against chaos than he does about saving lives or letting his host have a life worth living. Kent Nelson was fairly good at tempering his more insane side but that depends on the world."

"That's just recent cartoons," Akari argued.

Zatara sighed. "Kent mentioned blackouts and missed dates. I was hoping it was just age catching up with him."

"I don't recall him ever losing his marbles in the comics, other than wearing the helmet in the first place," Myst replied. "Akari? My memory is apparently a bit suspect, thoughts?"

Akari shook her head. "Not that I recall, just about every time Kent had missing time in the comics it was because of Nabu. There are generally three ways to deal with Nabu: toss the helmet into the abyss, try to get him to reincarnate so you can use the helmet as a magic amplifier or find a host that doesn't care if Nabu takes over."

"You could also try to contact one of the other Lords of Order about his behavior," Myst suggested, "in some of the comics being stuck in the helmet was a punishment so he's already on thin ice."

"Worth a try," Zatara said, knowing a couple people that could probably help now that he had a place to start asking questions.

"How bad is the Joker going to get?" Kara asked.

"No clue," Myst admitted. "He ranges from an annoying clown that needs to be put in jail to a mass murdering serial killer that should have his brain fried before being frozen in time because he'll end up a monstrous demon if you kill him."

"Lovely," Kara grumbled.

"Yep," Myst agreed. "There are a couple of dimensions where a fifth dimensional imp likes watching him screw with Batman and makes sure he doesn't end up dead."

"Ah," Clark muttered, glad that his persistent pest from the fifth dimension generally cleaned up after himself and followed a set of rules to make things 'fair'.

"How long would it take to send us home?" Gwen asked Zatara.

Zatara turned to look at Gwen. "Less than a minute, it just involves an incantation and jumping through a portal while thinking about home."

Selena frowned when she realized Peter didn't look ecstatic about going home. "You don't look happy, shouldn't you be jumping up and down?"

"I don't have much to go back to," Peter admitted. "My aunt was killed the same night as my uncle so I don’t have any family left and the girl I was dancing around left with my rich best friend for Europe."

"Sorry," Selena offered.

"I feel like I should go back and be a hero to honor my aunt and uncle who raised me but…" Peter trailed off, not sure how to put everything into words.

"I'll be there," Gwen assured him as she put her hand on his. "We'll be great."

"It's your best chance of getting home," Myst told them as he walked over and opened the chest. "On the off chance that we can't meet up in the pocket dimension, you should take enough gold to get a couple of doctorates and buy a lab."

"This sucks, we need a way to keep in touch," Ron complained.

"There are a couple of," Zatara sighed when his cell phone rang with the ringtone for his daughter's school, "ways." He pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered, "Zatara here."

"This is principal West, Zatanna and the rest of the students in detention have been kidnapped by a demon, can you rescue everyone?" the principal asked hopefully.

"I'll be right there," Zatara replied, knowing better than to waste time asking what type of demon, as he wouldn't know. He ended the call. "Sorry, I need to go. Tropelet!" he chanted the last word and vanished with a pop.

"Sorry about that, he's usually less abrupt," Clark offered.

Myst shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I heard the other end of the conversation."

"Super hearing?" Kara asked.

"Just enhanced," Myst replied with a grin. "Any idea what she got into detention for?"

"Yeah, she was reading a book in History when the teacher was talking to a couple of students about a project and he got annoyed that she was setting a bad example, despite the fact that she was already done with the project," Clark replied, making a mental note to talk to Zatara about getting more training for dealing with demons when he had a chance.

"What powers do you have if I can ask?" Kara asked, wondering if they'd admit to Telepathy.

"Telepathy, Telekinesis, Biokinesis, Danger Sense, Superhuman Strength and Agility, Food Creation, Wall Crawling, a weird pocket dimension power, various forms of translation abilities and the ability to fly," Myst replied, not seeing a point in mentioning Taylor's ability to create expendable spirit beasts or Akari's ability to create demonic drugs.

"That's a decent collection of powers," Clark mused. "Is that because of the summoning ritual?"

Gwen shook her head. "Peter and I got bit by a magic spider, Amy had biokinesis from before she was summoned, we got the flight from a magical ritual and I used a magic crystal to pick up the ability to give people a temporary version of my power copying that lets people permanently copy powers."

"What types of powers?" Kara asked, figuring her girlfriend could use a couple more powers.

"Depends. The power lets me acquire permanent knock off abilities from the people I have sex with and they get a temporary ability that lets them do the same. You can't pick up abilities from the knock off abilities but you can get about half of someone's natural power with enough work but they also get half of your powers, minus the power copying ability," Gwen explained.

Clark glanced at Kara and sighed when he realized she was interested. "You're going to have to explain that in more detail."

"Sure," Gwen replied with a smile, hoping she could talk Clark and Kara into having sex with her so she could pick up a copy for their collection.

0o0o0

'You're insane,' Myst's avatar told himself as he snuck up on the magenta skinned man with black, slicked back receding hair who was wearing a stupid looking yellow and black outfit that left very little to the imagination and wielded a glowing yellow ring.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you," Sinestro sneered as he raised the giant rock over the Green Lantern's head, ready to smash it. He turned to look at Myst, having been alerted by his ring. "You suck at stealth, if you take another step I'm going to smash the hero."

"I can't believe someone got the drop on a Green Lantern," Myst said melodramatically as he clutched his chest in overblown shock.

"I'm not just someone, I'm Sinesto! The leader of the Yellow Lanterns!" he claimed as he raised his other hand dramatically.

"What is your evil plan?" Myst asked.

"I'm going to take this rock and crack his skull open like an egg then no one will stop me from taking over the world!" he declared then threw back his head and gave an evil laugh.

Myst used his magic glove and punched Sinestro in the nuts as hard as he could ten feet away, not realizing how much his strength had increased because of Gwen's power.

The Green Lantern took the chance when Sinestro folded in half to heal himself with his ring. "That was impressive, you got him to monologue."

"It's like taking candy from a baby, without the guilt," Myst replied, mentally crossing off getting a villain to monologue off his bucket list.

"I'll haul him off to jail and everything will be fine," the Green Lantern said as he conjured a pair of glowing green cuffs on Sinestro's wrists.

"Right, almost forgot why I was looking for you, there's boy name Timmy that fell down a well," Myst lied as he gestured towards the poor section of the city, figuring there were plenty of people to help.

"Thank you Random Citizen!" The Green Lantern replied then flew off.

'Fucking idiot,' Myst thought as he watched the 'hero' vanish into the city. He punched Sinestro's head, splattering it like an egg. "Yellow blood, actually looks like an egg, ugh," he muttered as he walked over and picked up the Yellow Lantern ring that dropped. He sighed when he checked the description and realized it was a bad knock off made in Taiwan. 'No space flight, one tenth the user's strength for glowing telekinesis, at least I won't need scuba gear, a V.C.R. or a bug shield.'

He slipped the ring on and worked on testing things as he went looking for his next target.

0o0o0