Chapter 26: Arcane
Young Amazons
By Ackbarfan5556
Executive Produced By Wanderer D
Chapter 26: Arcane
It was a cool April night in Gotham with much of the city at home after a long busy day. However, while most normal, law-abiding citizens were relaxing in the comfort of their homes, there was another element at work, and it wasn’t those that had to work late hours.
It didn’t matter what time it was; Gotham’s criminal element would work at any time it suited. While much of the normal criminals were now more cautious in trying to do something illegal, what with the looming threat of being stopped by The Batman or Alicorn, some were still willing to take their chances.
One such chance came from a local jewel thief who had just came off from pulling in a huge score. It was a simple break-in after hours job. The joint had been cased for weeks and the thief knew the ins and outs of the jewelers, so when he made his move, everything went to plan.
He kept his cool and moved slowly down the alleyways with his haul safely wrapped around his shoulder in a large duffle bag. No one would know about the robbery because he successfully cut the alarm’s power until the next morning. Nor did he feel much remorse for his actions; the jeweler was insured, so it’s not like it hurt them much.
The thief had a small smirk on his face before he heard something behind him. He turned around to see a small metallic object on the ground. He walked up to it. His eyes widened at what he saw. The object was shaped like a bat.
Panic slowly set into the criminal’s heart as he looked up towards the roofs of the buildings, hoping to catch a sign of the Batman who clearly was stalking him. When he saw nothing, his fight-or-flight response kicked in, and he chose flight.
He began to pick up speed and run as fast as he could through the dark alleys, silently curing himself for apparently getting caught somehow. He did everything right, he thought, so how was it that the Batman knew what he had done?
That question quickly became buried in the back of his mind as he returned his focus to trying to escape. If he could just lose the Batman in the alleyways and make it back to his safe-house, he would be okay.
However, that seemed to be a long shot the moment he felt himself trip forward and land on the ground. He looked down to see that some sort of rope had tangled up his legs. Once more, he saw that same bat symbol; this time connected to the rope.
He managed to untangle himself before he got back up and moved several feet into the alleyway. He looked down towards the end of it and saw there was a large wire mesh fence at the other end that blocked his way. His paths to escape were running out so he decided to run back out the alley and try to find a new one.
That didn’t happen, though, as the exit out of the alley slowly began to be blocked off by what he guessed to be a large rose bush that kept growing and growing. He could easily tell that it wasn’t just the Batman that was after him now, but something, or someone, else.
He slowly backed away from the bush and looked back to the fence. He was boxed in with only one way out; climb the fence and hope his pursuers give up the chase. He took a deep breath and made a dash for the fence. Maybe he would be lucky and manage to get a good jump as well as hold onto the fence to climb over it.
His luck came to an end when he saw in between him and the fence this strange red and orange vortex that opened in front of him – followed by the fist that shot forward and punched him right in the face, knocking him to a dead stop on his back.
The thief groaned as he looked up to see three costumed girls standing over him, looking down with almost disappointed looks on their faces like he was supposed to be some sort of challenge. One he recognized as Alicorn, while the other one looked somewhat like a female version of the Batman.
Finally, the last one, a girl with pale green skin. She wore a mask that looked to be made of vines covering her face, leaves that shaped along her body like a leotard, along with long gloves and boots made of leaves as well.
“They never seem to learn,” he saw Alicorn shake her head.
“You’d think the giant rose bush appearing would convince him to just give up,” the pale green girl said.
“Please, Ivy. They won’t take the hint as long as they think they’ve got a chance to escape,” the bat girl told her. “We should probably get moving though. Leave this guy for the police.”
“Sounds good,” Alicorn said as she held her hand out and it began to glow. Suddenly, the thief felt his arms and legs being bound to the ground with some sort of ethereal bindings. “Now, then, I wouldn’t struggle if I were you, they’re only going to go away once the police show up,”
He sighed as he watched the girls climb their way up towards the roofs before vanishing, leaving him alone with his thoughts and the jewels.
The police eventually came to arrest him a few minutes later.
“That certainly wasn’t much of a challenge. I mean, did you have to nail him like that, Sunny? At least I would’ve preferred to see if that guy could at least fight,” Barbara complained as the girls returned to Sunset’s apartment.
She rolled her eyes, knowing it was better to take every advantage possible and try to prevent a fight or end one as soon as possible. Her experience of getting jumped and nearly killed earlier in her crime-fighting career came to the forefront of her mind.
“I think the opposite about that, Red. I’d much rather deal with criminals who either give no sort of challenge or just give up immediately. I just think that we’re going to deal with some tough ones sooner or later, and I’d rather have things be easy for us for the time being,” Pamela said.
“Pam is right about that, Barb, take it somewhat easy now, you’re going to wish things were like this once we really have to start dealing with the worst Gotham has for us,” Sunset advised. “Unless, of course you’re having second thoughts about crime fighting.”
Barbara shook her head. “No, no, I’m good. Sorry. It’s just I was looking forward to have some sort of challenge.”
“I’m sure we’ll get one soon enough,” Pamela said as she sat on the couch. “You know, I almost thought for a minute you two were going to leave me behind when we started that chase,”
Sunset recalled how Pamela was trailing behind both her and Barbara. It made sense since Pamela wasn’t as athletic or had the stamina they had. The past few weeks had been giving her some proper training, both with the girls as well as some other crime fighting teachers like Zatanna and Dinah.
Sunset was happy to see that the training was coming along nicely, at least for Pamela. Barbara’s gymnastics and previous self-defense lessons gave her a considerable head start over Pamela, but she was still willing to train all the same; especially when she discovered she still had much to learn when Dinah soundly beat her in a fight.
“You kept up fairly well, you just need to get more used to long sprints and then you won’t be having to worry about that anymore,” Sunset assured her.
“Hey, what exactly did you mean by dealing with the worst Gotham has to offer again?” Barbara asked as she sat down on the couch with a drink in her hand.
“Joker, Penguin, Mr. Freeze; those kinds of criminals, not some two-bit thieves or thugs but super-criminals that will push you to the brink and will not hesitate to end you the moment they get a chance,” Sunset said.
Barbara nodded. “Right, I almost forgot about them. I mean, you and Batman do such a good job with them, it’s easy to forget how much of a threat they are to the city.”
“Yeah, well, it’s mostly Batman that takes care of them. Last one I faced was Firefly, and he sent me on an improvised merry-go-round that caused me to crack my ribs. Only one I know I can truly take on without his help is Penguin; I’ve dealt with that little cretin three times.”
“That probably infuriates him to no end,” Pamela chuckled. “Speaking of Batman, I must know, Sunny, do you know who he really is?”
Sunset smirked at her friends. “Sorry, girls, that’s for me to know, and you to find out.”
“Aw, you’re no fun!” Barbara teased.
A strange feeling came over Sunset as Barbara and Pamela talked to each other. Sunset glanced over her shoulder and felt a sort of chill come over her body. It felt like she could feel darkness growing somewhere near her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Something wrong, Sunny?” Pamela asked.
“Yeah, sort of,” Sunset stood up and walked to her window before pulling down on some of the blinds to look out at the city. “Just a strange feeling I had,”
“Do you know what it is?” Barbara said.
“Well, if I knew what it was, I wouldn’t be as worried about it. I feel… darkness. Like some dark force is beginning to grow in Gotham,” Sunset explained to the best of her abilities, but without any answers, it was fairly vague. “You two should probably head home for the night.”
“You sure?” Barbara asked.
“Yes, there’s some things I need to quickly look into right now,” Sunset felt bad about having to send her friends back home, but her mind was slowly filling with worry over what she had felt. She needed to get to the bottom of it.
“And you’re sure you felt it?” Fate said as he kept his back to Sunset. After sending the girls away, she opened a portal to the Tower of Fate to explain what she felt to either Zatanna or Fate.
One thing that Sunset was somewhat glad was she could at least hold a conversation with Fate now. He still was somewhat distant with her, but at least their talks weren’t one sided anymore; and what Sunset had to say certainly got his attention.
“No doubt about it. I know what darkness feels like, and that was clearly the work of some dark forces.” Sunset finished explaining.
“Hmm,” Fate sighed before he walked over to a vast bookshelf and started to look over a few books. “The Lords of Chaos have come to Gotham.”
“Lords of Chaos? I’m still not fully integrated with this world and everything in it, but I can take a wild guess that these Lords of Chaos are the bad guys to us?”
“Yes, that is correct, Miss Shimmer. The Lords of Chaos have been in constant struggle with the Lords of Order for many a millennium. Their end goal is the bringing of the ‘kali yuga’ or the time where chaos will reign supreme.”
“Sounds like something the world probably would not like to deal with,” Sunset said. She muttered under her breath, “It’s got enough problems as is.”
“I do find it somewhat strange that you were able to sense their presence but not I,” Fate turned to look at her. Sunset was somewhat glad he was wearing a mask because she knew that whatever eyes were behind it, they were staring right into her soul.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Doctor. I just assumed it was a proximity sort of situation. It wasn’t anything powerful, just something that was noticeable,” she said.
“You’re probably right, but still. After all these years.” Fate looked away from her.
“Zatanna mentioned the history of Gotham to me during my first days here. She said it was the site of rituals and magical forces clashing during it.”
“Yes, but that was during its early days. For several centuries, it’s been almost completely quiet in terms of the conflict. Only the occasional member would pass through, but aside from that, it was untouched territory.”
Sunset felt slightly worried about what caused a recent change because she could hazard a guess what the answer was. Even so, she felt it was better to say it rather than let any more guesses float around.
“I can think of one reason why things have changed,” she looked down at her feet. “It’s because of my presence in the city, isn’t it?”
Fate said nothing for what felt like a whole minute. He was either deep in thought or trying to agree in the most diplomatic way possible. Eventually, he finally answered.
“There’s a strong possibility that might be the case, Miss Shimmer. Your presence might have attracted the Lords of Chaos to Gotham.”
“That’s what I thought,” Sunset sighed as she threw her head back on the chair she was sitting on.
“Don’t feel too guilty about this,” Fate said. “It was something we had guessed would happen the moment you had arrived in our universe. I’m honestly surprised it took them so long for them to respond to it.”
“Well, they’re clearly somewhere in the city or, considering the darkness I felt, a small portion of them; a scout perhaps. Still, what exactly are we going to do about it?” Sunset asked.
“Nothing. At least for the time being,” Fate answered.
“Isn’t that somewhat of a bad idea? I mean, who knows what they could do in Gotham if left unchecked? I know Batman won’t be of great help against them; despite everything, magic is not one of his strengths.”
“We’re not going to let this presence go around unchallenged, but we need to be sure about this. It’s possible this could be an isolated incident or might not have anything to do with the Lords of Chaos at all. The last thing we want right now is to escalate the situation,” Fate said as he turned his back to Sunset once more.
“I think the last thing Gotham needs right now is a full-on magical war on its streets,” Sunset agreed.
“Yes, and there’s the fact that we’re not ready for a confrontation at this time.”
Sunset gave him a look, even though he wasn’t able to see it. “What do you mean? Are you trying to say that these Lords of Chaos have the advantage over you and your allies?”
“No, I’m meaning that the Order needs time to prepare for battle with the Lords of Chaos; a fight now would put us at a great disadvantage.”
Sunset nodded. “Okay, I got it. Go about like everything is normal, but keep an eye out for any signs of the Lords, right?”
“That’s what I would recommend at the moment,” Fate agreed.
“Okay then.” Sunset stood up. “Well, I’ll be sure to do that. I just wanted to give you the heads up about it.”
“Your warning is most appreciated, Miss Shimmer.”
Sunset gave him a slight smirk as she opened up a portal to go back to Gotham. “You know, that might be the nicest thing you’ve said to me since I’ve arrived.”
“So, there’s a chance we might be dealing with dark sorcerers in the near future?” Barbara asked as she laid on Sunset’s couch. She had come over to Sunset’s apartment to get ready for another patrol, though Pamela was running late so the two of them were just sitting around waiting for her.
“That’s what we believe though we’re not entirely sure yet,” Sunset said.
“Well, if it’s true, we’re certainly going to have our hands full.”
“I’m not sure about that. I mean, you and Pam might need to back off if that’s the case.”
Barbara sat up. “Hey, you can’t sideline us like this just because you’re worried. I bet you’re going to argue that only you can take them on. I would agree with you, but you still shouldn’t go it alone.”
Barbara could see Sunset was about to say something along those lines. She sighed before giving a smile. “You’re right, I could at the very least use your help, in whatever way you two could give.”
“Look, just don’t count on us to make the biggest contribution there, like you mentioned, it’s a magic on magic fight. Gadgets,” Barbara pulled out her Batarang, “and mutant plant powers might not be the best against a warlock.”
“You two can certainly do a good job of being live bait,” Sunset joked.
Barbara laughed. “That’s all we are? Live bait? Some friend you are!”
“Hey, what’s so funny?” Pamela asked as she walked through the front door and dropped her human disguise.
“Just joking around, Pam,” Barbara stood up and pulled out her bat suit out of her bag. “Sunny believes that some bad magic users might be starting to visit from time to time. We were talking about how you and me might not be as helpful to her.”
“Well, maybe not, but we’ll be more than happy to do whatever we can for you, Sunny,” Pamela said.
Sunset gave a warm smile. “Thanks, girls. You really are the best.”
“Oh, that reminds me. Did any of you check the paper today?” Pamela pulled out a newspaper out of her backpack and placed it on the table.
“Break in at the Gotham National Library,” Barbara read aloud. “When exactly did this happen?”
“Last night. Now that I think about it, it was perhaps at around the same time as when Sunny told us to go home,” Pamela explained.
“Wait, you think that this break in and the dark forces Sunny felt are connected?”
“It’s hard to deny,” Sunset said. “Besides, a break in at the library is not normal.” A moment later, the girls heard Sunset’s Batwave go off. “Looks like a robbery in progress at a nearby jewelry store.”
Barbara groaned as she stood up from the couch. “Really, another one? You’d think they would learn.”
Sunset chuckled at her. “One thing you’re going to learn about crime-fighting, Barb, is that these guys never learn.”
The girls quickly got suited up and were fast on the scene of the robbery. While the last jewelry store break-in they dealt with was a smaller shop, this one was a larger nationwide chain. Standing right in front of the building were four cop cars with eight officers standing around them with their weapons drawn.
“Well, this guy probably isn’t going out the front way,” Ivy said as the three girls observed from a nearby roof.
“Still plenty of ways out though,” Batgirl reminded as she looked towards the building’s fire escape, just in case the robber was using it as his exit strategy.
“Hey, Batgirl,” Alicorn nudged her elbow before pointing at the police. “You’re more familiar with police procedure than me, but are officers usually this disorganized in a standoff?”
Batgirl took a closer look and realized something was off. “No, you’re right. Usually they should all be taking cover behind their cars to better protect themselves in case a shootout starts. They’re just… standing there…”
“Something’s wrong, even I can tell from here,” Ivy said.
The three girls nodded in agreement before they headed down onto the street and walked up to the officers. The police remained in place while not even glancing in the girl’s direction or even acknowledging their presence.
“Excuse me, is something wrong?” Alicorn asked as she walked up to the nearest officer. The officer did nothing in response. Alicorn walked in front of him and waved her hand in his face. Still nothing.
“They’re not even blinking. Or breathing.” Batgirl observed as she looked over another officer.
“Are they…” Ivy began to worry.
Batgirl guessed she was thinking they were all dead.
“No, I don’t think so. They look more like they’re just frozen,” Alicorn said.
“It’s clearly not Mr. Freeze. These officers don’t look like popsicles,” Batgirl said as she tapped the shoulder of an officer. The officer still didn’t move.
“No, not frozen in ice. More like in time.”
“How observant of you girls.”
The trio turned around to look at the source of the voice at the front of the store. Barbara was taken aback slightly by the man. His skin was pale blue and had slightly pointed ears like he was an elf. He had clean cut black hair and wore a sharp black suit. Finally, he had in his hands a bag of stolen jewels and a large, old book.
The man chuckled. “So nice to be greeted by Gotham’s Guardian Angel.” The man had a thick foreign accent. Batgirl guessed it was perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of Eastern Europe, but she couldn’t think any more specific. “And I see that the rumors were true, you have a bat brat and a flower child following along,”
That insult set Batgirl off. “This so-called ‘bat brat’ can still kick your sorry behind all the way to prison,” she said as she cracked her knuckles, getting ready for the fight.
“She’s right, you should be aware that some flowers have thorns, mister,” Ivy chimed in. Two plant roots slowly rising out of the ground to flank her.
“Their names are Batgirl and Poison Ivy, if you must know, and I would recommend that you would drop the jewels and surrender before things get ugly, sir.” Alicorn warned.
The man smiled and bowed. “Ali naravno, gdje su moje manire? You can call me Uriah, and I’m afraid I will have to decline on that offer of surrender. Now, I would like you to look at those officers once more and get out of here. I certainly wouldn’t want to be responsible for hurting you girls.”
For Batgirl, she had enough of this guy’s cocky attitude and decided to charge forward.
“Wait, Batgirl!” Alicorn warned, but it was too late.
Batgirl pulled out her Batarang and got ready to toss it at Uriah as he placed down his stolen loot. She tossed it forward to wipe that stupid smirk off his face. The man held up his hand and stopped it in midair.
“Lotse sarme mellon,” he chanted as he opened his book. Batgirl felt herself being frozen in place.
“Batgirl!” Ivy cried out before Batgirl saw her two vines heading straight for him. The conjurer ducked to avoid the vines before he held his book up again.
“Sangane tundo asar!” Batgirl’s field of vision could see flames suddenly burst forward and coat the vines with fire. Ivy yelped out in panic as she backed away from the flames.
“Stay back, Ivy! He’s clearly stronger than we thought!” Alicorn advised as she went on the attack. Due to the fact that Batgirl could only stare forward, she could only hear Alicorn grunting as she tried to strike Uriah with her fists and her powers.
“You’re putting me off my timetable, so I’m afraid I’m going to have end this dance prematurely, my dear. Farma quinna loxe!”
Batgirl felt herself being released from her immobile prison, only to feel a strong force pulling at her from behind. Her eyes widened as she saw a large black void open behind her that dragged her, Ivy, and Alicorn towards it like a black hole.
“Hang on!” Alicorn shouted but it was no use. First the gravitation pull of the mini-black hole dragged Ivy into the abyss before Batgirl followed suit. She also saw Alicorn flying her way as well.
As soon as she passed through the void, Batgirl could only see nothing but complete darkness. She felt what could only be described as several dozen jabs hitting her body and completely breaking her will to fight. A second later, the force of a powerful energy wave slammed against her. Everything lit up once more as she and the others slammed onto the ground.
“Tako dugo, dragi moji.” Uriah laughed as he took a bow before he whispered another spell from his book and vanished into thin air.
Batgirl groaned in pain as her body throbbed from the beating it just took. She tried to move her arm, only to find she wasn’t getting any response from it.
“Oh, no.” Worry began to set in for her. “I can’t feel my arm!”
“No, it’s still there. I’m just sitting on it,” Ivy groaned, which caused Batgirl to breath a sigh of relief.
“Ivy, could you get your boots out of my face?” Alicorn moaned.
Batgirl glanced up. She and her friends were in a tangled-up mess after being utterly curb stomped by a freakish looking showman. She sighed in frustration, pulling her head back down, only to find Batman looking down at her.
“You girls need a hand?” he asked.
Batgirl groaned. “Just when I thought things couldn’t be anymore frustrating.”
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Hey, nice cover art! But why is Sunset in her civilian clothes?
Is it wrong I want Discord to make an appearance now? I think Fate would have a heart attack if he showed up as there is nothing he could do about it. Plus these nut cases would definitely learn an important lesson.
10169076
i guessed they couldn't find a way to describe 'Alicorn's super hero costume well enough
10169076
She isn't. She has a simeler utfit to Canery.
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/3/3c/Black_Canary_The_Nail_001.png/revision/latest?cb=20111004185707
wow. some sort of dark magic elf. never saw him before in the show.
Oh, we're definitely seeing a deviation from the main events now. Don't recall Uriah from the comics, though - is he an original element?
10169076
No, that’s her hero outfit, I couldn’t think of anything so I just told the artist to use her EG outfit. Her civies are just the normal kind of clothes you would see high school girls wear.
10169260
must be because I don't even remember him.
10169260
He’s from the DC wiki... and has almost next to nothing about him.
I loved that ending.
Don't you mean cursing?
"mellon"
I remember that from The Lord of The Rings
It was the elven word for "friend" & the password into Moria
(Or was it The Hobbit? It's been about 35 years since I last read it)
10169272
Hmm. Effectively a blank slate then.
10169392
Yep, you caught it. All the spell words are random Elvish, while his greeting and exit are Croatian words I had translated from Google.
10169464
So either the author was being a dick, or someone's a massive nerd
10170233
Hahaha. No, no, no, massive nerd here! Last thing I want to do is insult anyone!
10170250
Oh ho ho. I happy someone translated that mess.
10170250
Congratulations on another well written chapter! I watched quite a lot of DC Cartoons but I can't say I recall Uriah from anywhere.
I'm glad to see you expanding the universe to include more characters (and maybe a little sympathetic that Penguin always gets unfortunate run-ins with Sunset). It was a matter of time before they go up against proper supercriminals and the likes...So glad to see that coming!
10169272
probably based on the story from the book of samuel in th bible. Uriah was a commander in King David's army and while he was off to war, David spotted his wife Bathsheba and wanted her, so he did. She became pregnant and tried to get Urieh to return so he may hide his misdeed. Uriah refused to return and David had him killed.
so once you take that part of the story, you can throw in he was offered a place by the Lords of Chaos in a revenge driven bit, or whatever inane motive that comic villains have.
Something you could play with in your story if you wanted
10183594
With Ivy so involved, having someone around willing to be knowledgeable about plants can only be an advantage.
10169392
Yes, it was the password to the doors of Moria in the Fellowship of the Ring.
got to ask will there be any romance and sex?
oh wow sunset shimmer is changing The BATMAN show up we would get Pamela Isley AKA Poison Ivy as the villein but now she is a hero nice
Sorry ASS
Is the evil mage’s last name Heep, by any chance?
So it appears we've jumped ahead a couple of months.
At least Sunset is growing on Dr. Fate.
I get the sense that here's the point where the story starts coming into its own rather than just retreading episodes of The Batman. Introducing a magical villain certainly helps in that regard. Uriah is an apropos choice. He once faced off against Zatanna. I wonder if that book he stole is the Book of Maps 🤔 A spell book that helps you travel between dimension would certainly be helpful to Sunset if that's indeed the case.