The sun was already low on the horizon, painting the Metropolis sky with shades of orange and pink, when Dinah and I met in the Watchtower's operations room. I was adjusting my top hat, the reflection in the window glass showing me a tired but determined gaze—I'd spent the morning unraveling a confusion spell a minor warlock had cast over a neighborhood in Star City. Dinah, on the other hand, looked ready for anything, leaning against the control table with her leather jacket slung over her shoulders, cleaning her nails with a pocket knife she insisted on carrying "for emergencies." The League's communicator flashed red on the table, and she raised an eyebrow, flipping the knife into the air and catching it without even looking.
"Another call?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What is it this time? Cat stuck in a dimensional tree?"
I laughed, twirling my wand between my fingers before tucking it into my tailcoat pocket. "I hope not. My last extradimensional cat nearly cost me a shoe. But it looks like something on Earth—a 'mini alien invasion,' according to the report. Something crashed in a forest in the middle of nowhere."
Dinah snorted, pocketing the knife and crossing her arms. "Mini invasion? Seriously? That's like calling a downpour 'light rain.' Bet we wrap this up in ten minutes. I scream, you wave your magic wand, and done—back in time for dinner."
"Fifteen, tops," I shot back, adjusting my fishnet stockings with a theatrical flourish. "I'll whip up a shiny cage, you knock the ET down with a kick, and we'll still have time for me to teach you how to mix a decent cocktail. Your last one was a crime against mixology."
She laughed, that husky sound that always made me smile, and tapped the communicator to accept the call. "Alright, Houdini. Let's go before the alien orders human takeout." The Watchtower's teleporter hummed, enveloping us in white light, and seconds later we stood at the edge of a dense forest, the cool night air thick with the scent of pine and damp earth. The Rust Bucket was parked a few meters away, smoke rising from its hood, and three figures—a boy, an old man, and a redhead—moved nearby, clearly rattled. But what caught our attention was the deep rumble from the sky—a ship hovering, a metallic colossus that shimmered before landing, shaking the ground.
"Okay, maybe twenty minutes," Dinah muttered, her eyes narrowing as the ship's ramp lowered. "This guy doesn't look like he's here to play."
"Then let's put on a quick show," I said, tracing a rune in the air to prep myself. "Me first, then you—the classic." The figure that emerged was massive, a mountain of red-and-black metal, his eyes glowing in a visor that seemed to swallow the light. He spoke to the boy—something about the Omnitrix, his voice like thunder that made my bones vibrate—and I exchanged a glance with Dinah. "Showtime," I whispered, and she nodded, her fists already primed.
---
The fight started as a blur. I cast a levitation spell—"Etativel!"—trying to lift the brute, but he planted his feet and resisted as if I'd thrown a breeze at a building. Dinah charged forward, unleashing a sonic scream that splintered trees, but he didn't budge—his arms swelled, the metal expanding with a strange hum, and he deflected my next spell, a magical cage, with a punch that shook the air. It was like fighting a living storm. "This guy's no joke!" Dinah yelled, spinning to land a kick on his shoulder, but he barely flinched, his eyes flaring red before a laser sliced the air—I conjured a quick shield, the beam ricocheting off, but the heat came too close.
We threw everything at him. I hurled lightning—"Etsirroc ed aluz!"—and he dissipated it with a shockwave that nearly knocked me over. Dinah landed punches and kicks, dancing around him like a shadow, but each of his strikes was thunder—he caught her once, slamming her into a tree, and I felt the impact in my chest just watching. My mystic whirlwind—"Otnasid de otnav!"—he walked through like it was nothing, and when I summoned a net of light, he shredded it with green-glowing claws, coming at me like a nightmare. Dinah came back, her scream shattering his visor, and landed a punch that broke the glass—at least that worked, but he didn't even blink, just grinned, sharp teeth glinting in the night.
It was a losing battle, but we didn't stop. I threw explosive crystals—"Otsirc ed al edro!"—and he melted them with a laser, knocking me back with a shockwave that stole the air from my lungs. Dinah tried a leg sweep, but he grabbed her and slammed her down, his laser blasting dirt beside her until she crashed into a tree and blacked out. I was the last—a red beam to the shoulder, a blow to the chest, and the world spun until I hit a rock, darkness pulling me under.
---
I fell first, the cold ground against my back, my top hat rolling away as the air fled my lungs. My vision blurred, the brute a giant silhouette against the starry sky, but I still heard the roar of his ship rising. *Damn it, the big guns could've shown up,* I thought, the last thread of consciousness clinging to a bitter explanation. *Superman's probably pulling people from a tsunami in the Pacific, Batman's hunting some psycho in Gotham, Diana's settling a diplomatic spat in Themyscira, Barry's chasing a robbery in Central City, and the Lanterns are patrolling some cosmic backwater. We got stuck with this—and this guy was no 'mini' anything.* Darkness swallowed me, my final thought an echo of frustration: *Should've brought a bigger spell.*
Dinah fell right after, her body slamming into the tree, the impact ringing in my ears even as I faded. She tried to rise, her arm trembling in the dirt, but the world went black before she could. *That bastard got me good,* she thought, her mind spinning as unconsciousness dragged her down. *Clark's probably saving a village from a landslide, Bruce's busting some thug's face in Gotham, Diana's lecturing an ambassador, Wally's stopping a fire in Keystone, and the Lanterns are dealing with who-knows-what. They left us with the big guy—and he didn't go down with a scream.* Her last thought was a mental growl: *Next time, I scream louder.*