Bab 42: The North Sea
Zatanna, Donna and Mary were at the summit of a large mountain in the Alps, snow was falling heavily and the girls couldn't help but shiver. Well, only Zatanna actually felt the cold, both Mary and Donna had high levels of durability which made them less susceptible to the cold. "Why are we here Zatanna?" Mary asked as she floated a few feet off the ground. Donna did so as well as the snow at their feet was rather deep.
Zatanna who was constantly shivering kept on walking, she could warm herself up with a spell or even fly, but she had to save her energy for what she was about to do. "It's not much further!" She shouted to the girls. Mary huffed as she crossed her arms, she truly didn't want anything to do with the Justice League after what happened to Billy, but she knew that he gave her these powers to help people, so she wouldn't let him down.
After a couple of hours of trudging through the snow, they finally came to a wooden cabin. Zatanna was relieved to finally step on something solid as she moved up the steps; "kcolnu!" She chanted and the the lock of the door turned and opened. The girls on either side of her didn't know what to expect when they were told where they were going, but it certainly wasn't an empty log cabin with a seat in the middle.
"We came all the way here for this?" Donna said with a raised eyebrow as she stepped inside, brushing the snow off her body.
"This place is quiet, not only physically, but magically as well, if I meditate then I'll be able to find any disturbances in the balance," she told them, but they didn't look convinced of her plan.
"It's better than running around like headless chickens, we have no clue where the necklace might be and by the time we find it, it could be too late," Zatanna said a little angrily. She was stressed out, to say the least, a lot was put on her shoulders and the truth was she didn't think she was ready for this. A lot of the magic heroes were busy with a new cult that seemed to have appeared overnight, they were causing problems worldwide. 'Surely this is more important,' Zatanna thought to herself.
Zatanna walked inside "Erif," she said raising her hand and shooting a small flame into the fireplace which started to warm the cabin.
She sat cross-legged on the seat "How long will we be here?" Mary asked as she leaned next to the window looking out to the storm.
Zatanna sighed "Until I feel something," she replied.
"What if you don't?" Donna asked.
"I will, every magician felt it when the balance shifted, it's gonna happen again," Zatanna explained.
"How serious is this? Surely it can't be too bad, everything shifts off balance at some point, and it'll return eventually," Mary asked.
Zatanna shook her head "Not with this, something is artificially shifting the balance of order and chaos, now that the balance has been shifted the whole world is different."
"More accidents, more deaths, natural disasters, increased crime, anything that contributes to chaos will happen more frequently, and the longer this artefact exists the worse it'll get," she said with a serious tone.
Donna and Mary both looked at each other and then Zatanna. This seemed much more serious than they both first thought, the same weight that had been on Zatanna's shoulder pressed onto them. They finally realised the seriousness of their situation. They said nothing else and simply watched as Zatanna closed he eyes and slipped into a meditative state, she expanded her awareness as far as she could. She hoped it would be enough, another shift would feel like a ripple across the surface of the water, and she'd hopefully be able to follow it back to its source.
'I can do this...'
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(North Sea)
Mark breathed in the crisp air as he stood near the stern of the boat. They had set sail a few days ago and were heading north, George had located an area that ships were avoiding that should be full of crabs. He had said they were avoiding it because of a few storm warnings; George and Lenny reckoned the boat could handle it though. Fitz was nervous though, he didn't like the fact they'd set sail on Friday the 13th, he thought that would curse the voyage. He especially didn't like that they'd be sailing through a storm —though they'd done it plenty of times before.
"You not feeling cold man?" Mike said from behind him as he double-checked the pods, making sure they were strapped down. They'd be going through a storm soon so they had to make sure everyone was secure.
"It's not too bad," Mark replied looking back at him.
"Boy look at the damn ice forming up on the railing, not cold my ass," he said with a shake of his head. Mark just chuckled and went back to looking across the ocean. He had been having strange dreams as of late, he dreamt of a dark place, a place with stones as black as the night and almost as sharp.
Mark looked down as he snapped out of his thoughts and realised that he was playing with his necklace. "That's strange," he whispered to himself when he realised that another of the rubies in the necklace was lit up. This necklace was strange, it was important to him, perhaps it was a link to his past. "What you got there Mark?" Mike asked from behind him.
Mark put the necklace away and turned around "Nothing, I'm going to go check on the engines," he said before walking past him.
Mark didn't know why but he felt great anxiety and anger when Mike asked about his necklace. 'He'll try and take it...' he thought to himself, but the more rational part of his brain knew Mike wouldn't be interested. Mark shook those thoughts off and went down to the engine room to run a check-up.
They sailed on calm waters for the rest of the day, however when the sun set things started to change, and the first drips of rain started to fall into the hull. George and Lenny had been the ones to suggest that they go into this area, believing the ship could handle the storm. "Somethings changed," George said with concern on his face as he stood by the railings.
"Aye it has, this be no storm I ever seen," Lenny said as he emptied the contents of his pipe into the water.
*Mike, I'm getting some disturbing reports about the storm, I think it might be best to turn around*
John said over the walkie-talkie, right now he was steering the ship and looking at the updates that the ship was receiving about the storms in the area.
*These waves are higher than what was predicted*
Mike said back on the radio, he leaned over the side and saw the waves in the distance, they were at least 20 feet tall, while they weren't too bad this was the edge of the storm, and things would only be worse from here on. "We need to turn around!" Mike shouted back as he felt the rain start to get heavier.
"It be too late for that lad," George said as he held onto the railings —as the ship was starting to rock more violently.
"Aye, that storm is about to tear through here," Lenny said.
"This ships fast, we can outrun it," Mike said as he made his way to the bridge, however as he walked a wave crashed into the ship sending him crashing towards one of the pods. He cursed before dragging himself up and continuing towards the bridge. George and Lenny stood their ground and began to secure anything loose, the ship was beginning to rock even more. Things did not bode well as this was only the edge of the storm, and there would be no outrunning this one.
Mark was downstairs in the engine room when the first waves started to hit. He immediately fell and hit his head on one of the pipes, it didn't hurt but it dented the pipes which wasn't good. "What the hell going on up there," he said to himself. He went to go upstairs to figure out what was going on, but he suddenly felt weak and fell to the ground. As he did his necklace got caught on of the valves and ripped off; instead of the usual three glowing gems, four of them were now glowing brightly.
Mark didn't notice this as he was instead desperately trying to get his necklace back. He ripped it off the valve and held it close to his chest, the fear he felt at nearly losing it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He stayed on the floor for a few moments as he reassured himself that the necklace was still in his hands. However the ship being knocked brought him back to reality and he got back up, he tied a knot in the chain of the necklace and put it back over his neck before making his way back upstairs.
"What's going on?!" He shouted to John as he entered the bridge.
"This damn storm, it just worsened out of nowhere," John said as he tried steering the ship into the waves, he was an experienced captain and had been through many storms. This was unlike anything he had ever seen before, no storm got so badly so quickly.
Mark looked out to the sea and saw that the waves were approaching 50ft in height. He looked over to Fitz who was hiding under one of the tables with his head in his hands rocking back and forth. "Mike! Mark! I need you to start the water pumps we are taking on too much water.
"Aye, captain!" Mike said as he opened the door to the bridge almost falling out as a wave crashed into the ship. Mark followed him out, but had an easier time of manoeuvring himself outside; when he went outside water crashed into him both from the rain and the sea. His whole body was instantly soaked, he pushed forward and down the steps to the main deck of the ship.
Mike grabbed him by the arm and pulled him close "The starboard pumps are a little rusty, you'll need to put some elbow grease into the valve to turn them on!" He shouted. Mark nodded and made his way over to the starboard side of the ship, he saw George and Lenny struggling to hold themselves up as the ship shook.
*Snap*
One of the straps holding the pods together snapped and started to slide off the stack it was on. Mark reached out and grabbed Lenny out of the way who was almost crushed; the pod slammed into the deck before moving to the railing. "Thanks, lad!" He shouted before going back to work. They had to quickly secure the pod back onto the stack or the added weight would list the ship and possibly tip it.
*WAVE!*
John shouted through the radio, they all held onto the closest thing as a large wave swept over the deck. Mark was able to hold on, but he saw George and Lenny both get swept away and into the railings.
Mark went to go and grab them but he was again grabbed by Mike "Pumps now or we all die!" He shouted. Mark was reluctant as he saw the old men struggling to get back up as they were moved by the storm after still on the deck.
"Go!" Mike said as he shoved Mark over to the pumps. Mark agreed and made his way over to the pumps, he felt no resistance as he turned the valve and activated the pumps. Another wave crashed into the ship rocking it dangerously, Mark fell into the railing almost falling off it entirely.
He looked over to Mike who should've been at the other water pump, but he wasn't. Mark couldn't see him anywhere "Mike!" He shouted as he stumbled over there. He was gone, he wasn't on the deck and Mark couldn't see him, the sun had almost disappeared over the horizon making it harder to see.
"MIKE!" He shouted again hoping to get any kind of reply from him.
*Rogue Wave!!!"
Mark heard John call out through his walkie-talkie, he turned around and saw an 80ft wave crashing towards them. He saw that John was trying to steer the ship into the wave, but Mark could see that he wouldn't do it in time, the wave would catch them while they were still on their sides.
"George! Lenny!" He shouted but they couldn't hear them. Mark could do nothing but watch as the massive rogue wave crashed into the ship.
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(Watchtower)
Various alarms were sounding in the bridge of the watchtower as Martian Manhunter stood at the computer. Alerts were sounding out across the entirety of North America and Canada, natural disasters, villain attacks, mass shootings, they were all happening at once. Superman flew into the room as he heard all of these things happening at once "J'onn what's going on," Clark asked as he landed next to him.
"I'm not sure, it seems like disasters are happening one after the other and keep on building," He replied as he drew up several images of natural disasters occurring in places where they shouldn't. The rarity of a tornado occurring in the centre of New York City was just as rare as an earthquake happening, and yet both were happening at the same time.
"Organise them by order of importance and send them to the other leaguers, I'll take the tsunami," Clark said before speeding away. J'onn just kept looking on as more and more alerts were sounding out on the watchtower computer.
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Zatanna almost fell out of her seat as her mind was assaulted by a wave of pure chaos. She had to withdraw into herself to protect her mind, but she knew this was it. This was what she was looking for, and despite the risks, she followed the ripples of chaos that were emanating across the world.
"Zatanna?" Donna said with worry as she saw the girl sweating profusely. She walked closer to her with Mary and knelt next to her, her face was screwed up in concentration. They didn't know whether they should try to rouse her from her meditation as they might've damaged her, but they didn't need to worry as long as Zatanna opened her eyes and snapped out of her meditation by herself.
"Zatanna what happened!" Donna asked as she put a hand on her shoulder.
"The necklace... it's growing more powerful... but," she said with great concern on her face.
"But what?!" Mary asked.
"It shouldn't be getting so powerful, not this quickly. It must be connected to a power source," she added, before standing up and moving towards the cabin door.
"Did you find it? Do you know where it is?" Donna asked.
Zatanna turned around and nodded her head slowly "Not exactly, I know the area, but the power coming off of it was too intense for me to get any closer," she replied.
"Then we are stuck," Mary said with a huff.
"We have the area, it's better than nothing," Donna said with a shrug.
Zatanna nodded "We need to hurry, the amount of energy this necklace is releasing is bound to start affecting the world, and not in a good way," she said.
"Whoever has the necklace must be powerful, so we need to be careful," Zatanna said before opening the cabin door.
(AN: Things are gonna start heating up from now on. In case this wasn't clear before, the necklace had been draining Mark quite severely and is responsible for causing things to happen, like the car crash, that was the necklace. It's also the reason he doesn't have access to his full power set and doesn't have his memories, the necklace interrupted the healing process and so he has a severely reduced healing factor.)
(If you've also noticed he's changed quite a bit too, this is on purpose. Mark suffered extreme brain damage from his fight with the Joker, normally he would recover with no side effects. But the necklace reduced his healing factor which means instead of healing at 100% he healed at 50%. Now this might get a little complicated but when a human has brain damage a little think called neuroplasticity comes into effect, it will create new neural pathways and basically rewire the brain. This would not have happened to Mark if he had his full healing factor, but since he didn't it came into effect. Butttttt as he still had a healing factor many times greater than a human, his brain is creating neural pathways at an astonishing rate which is changing his personality and boosting his IQ a large amount. Becoming a prodigy in engineering is a result of this. I thought this explanation would be the most logical, well most logical in this fantasy setting. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone