-1-Mitch Shelley, the Resurrection Man, fell to his knees and his vision blurred. His eyes watered. God, what had happened to him? What had the Enchantress done to him?!?
No, not the Enchantress. June
and the Enchantress. Both of them, together.
I have been asleep, he thought to himself in something not unlike horror,
and not just because they bewitched me. I was asleep before that. I knew that something was wrong, that June was worried. But I did not act.All that was true, as he knelt in the rocky mud and his head pounded. But why was he free now?
“June, what have you done?” the Enchantress shrieked in rage.
“What I should have done long ago,” June's voice permeated from between the sorcereress' lips. “What would not have been necessary, had I not let you lure me into darkness.”
“It is too late! You are like me now! You are Erinyes, and you cannot escape what you have wrought!”
“I know,” June's voice said with great sadness. “I will pay the price, in due time. But for now--”
Her voice was cut off as Enchantress screamed with rage. Mitch stared through tears as their shared body fell to the ground and thrashed.
Killer Frost ran over and pulled Enchantress up. “June, listen to me,” she said in her sweetest voice. “Don't go back to being weak. Enchantress is right. We can still--”
Mitch had heard enough. He blasted them with the power he had at his disposal, a weaker version of Captain Atom's energies.
Frost went flying, to shocked to even scream; Enchantress went tumbling along the ground.
Mitch looked down at the staff and scowled in hate. Surely this thing was, if not the source of the trouble, at least helping it along a bit. It was a thing of evil; if he touched it, it would certainly corrupt him.
He blasted it at full power, to no visible effect; his energies just sparkled along it for a moment and then faded. Mitch realized that it was probably fortunate that it hadn't reflected his power back at him.
So, wasting no more thought on it, he turned and used his power to free the others from their icy prison.
*****************
-2-Enchantress got up on her knees, seething with rage. Erinyes had betrayed her, and now that fool Mitch was free. It was time for the Resurrection Man to die.
He would come back from it, of course; that was what he did. But she no longer cared. She wanted the satisfaction of hurting him, and by extension, June.
Erinyes struggled against her; but Enchantress was a much older and wiser hand at this particular game. She won control easily, and cast a spell of withering.
But the struggle had delayed her long enough that Resurrection Man saw what she was doing and cartwheeled out of the way. This led him to tumble down the sandy beach to the sea. Under other circumstances, Enchantress would be amused by this and perhaps even hope that he might break his neck. But at this point all she was, was enraged.
She could not kill Erinyes; what she had done, she could not undo. Only Neron could, and there was no reason in the realms Neron would want to. The benevolent powers, perhaps; but no doubt they would want June to pay for her 'mistake'.
But while she could not kill Erinyes...she could most certainly hurt her. Oh, yes.
*****************
-3-Freed from Frost's ice prison, still shivering, Vixen and Electrocutioner rolling in agony beside him, Manhunter focused on his duties as a leader. He did the most immediately responsible thing he could.
“Knockout!” he all but roared into his communicator. “Get here now! Best possible speed! Alpha one priority! Enchantress and Frost are--”
Frost blasted him again at that moment.
Vixen, however, avoided the strike, and was very, very angry. She charged, calling upon the speed of the cheetah.
She collided with Frost and they both went down. Frost kicked her off and blasted her with ice. As she prepared to finish her off, she heard Electrocutioner call her name.
Paul had taken off his cowl. He stared at her with anguish in his face, tears leaking down his face.. “I'm sorry baby,” he said. “I really am.”
And he blasted her with lightning.
Frost screamed.
*****************
-4-Knockout got the message.
“Maximum velocity!” Cavalier shouted. “We gotta push this thing to the limit!”
“No,” Knockout said.
Cavalier frowned at her. “No? What do you mean--”
“I mean,” Knockout seethed, “That this primitive contraption cannot possibly enable us to reach our destination in time. The Parademon can fly faster, even carrying both of us.”
“What do you mean carrying--” Cavalier began.
Knockout snarled a command to the Parademon in their dark language. He grabbed Knockout and Cavalier—yanking Cavalier out of the pilot's seat in the process—and tore through the ceiling of the aircraft.
They shot across the Atlantic, Cavalier shouting all the way.
Undirected and losing cabin pressure, the plane went down into the Atlantic.
Thankfully, no one was left aboard.
*****************
-5-Frost formed a shell of ice to try to shield herself against Electroctuioner's attacks. Unfortunately, ice, like water, conducted the lightning, so she screamed and went down again.
But even writhing on the ground she was not helpless. She sunk her fingernails into the ground, and a ice flowed and cracked, reaching across to take hold of Electrocutioner's boots....feet...ankles....legs.
Not surprisingly, his arcs of power stopped.
“You should've chosen the right side, lover,” Frost said. And there was some regret in her voice even as she said it.
“You didn't give me a choice,” he said through gritted teeth.
“You already made your choice. You didn't turn on Vixen and her idiot Manhunter when you had the chance. And if I had given you the choice, what would you have done?”
Paul looked at her, one last time. “Look, Crystal. I don't expect you to have any concept of right and wrong--”
She laughed at him.
“Finished?” he sneered. “Good. I don't expect you to have that concept. But I do expect you to know what your own best interest are. And doing this ain't it. You chose wrong, Crystal, big time.”
“Power is never wrong,” Crystal shook her head. “Haven't you figured that out yet? That's what the government was doing with the Squad, and around the world. That's what you did every time you fried somebody with your powers because they broke your notion of law.”
“Not my notion of law, Crystal,” Paul said. He sounded tired. “The notion that already exists. Whether the government obeys it or not isn't the issue. Whether we do, is.”
“Keep telling yourself that, hon. It's all about the thrill, and the thrill is the life.”
“Like I said, I know you don't know any better.”
No more words between them, then. No more Paul and Crystal. Just Electrocutioner and Killer Frost. Both had known their relationship wouldn't last. But neither of them had expected it to end like this.
Now Frost tried to freeze him to death. Now Electrocutioner amped up his blasts to killing voltage.
Gloves off.
*****************
-6-Enchantress was putting Erinyes through torture and agonies unimaginable. As much as she was enjoying it, it was bittersweet for the elder witch spirit; June had had such potential....
Trouble was, June knew it too.
And Erinyes was beginning to fight back.
She was nowhere near as powerful or experienced as Enchantress, but the very fact that she was fighting back with such knowledge as she had was making it much more difficult for Enchantress. So, of course, Enchantress only became angrier, and began to hurt her more.
Then Resurrection Man climbed back up the beach and made his own presence felt once more.
His atomic blast slammed them back, disorienting both witches. June was saddened and hurt by this, emotionally as well as physically, but not really surprised.
In fact, it gave her an idea.
She couldn't compete with the Enchantress in the power department; they both knew this. So the best thing she could do at the moment was seem weaker than she actually was....
Reluctantly, she withdrew and 'curled up' in their shared brain, pretending to be badly hurt. It gave her no pleasure to see Enchantress focus her attention on Mitch.
But he could literally survive even being killed, and making sure Enchantress wasn't paying attention to her was the only way her idea might
work....
*****************
-7-Resurrection Man's hopes dimmed as Enchantress formed a mystic shield against his attacks, the green dome causing his orange energy to splash harmlessly away.
“Your little atomic temper tantrum seems to have hurt June more than me,” she sneered. “How amusing. I wonder how much more her body can take before she starts to develop tumors? You don't really know the parameters of your second-hand powers anyway, do you?”
“You have to be stopped,” was all Mitch said in return. He knew there was no reasoning with the worst part of the woman before him. He hoped June survived, for all that had happened, but he couldn't let Enchantress get that staff back and start again.
Enchantress twitched her fingers, and suddenly a monster appeared out of thin air....a three headed, red skinned beast that must be from the lower planes itself. Each head had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.
As he began blasting away at it, he saw Enchantress run for the staff. He hurled a blast at her. It missed, but caused the ground to erupt and sent the staff flying.
Unfortunately, this allowed the beast to close in. The right-hand head snapped at him, and he ducked back barely in time.
*****************
-8-Vixen staggered over to Manhunter and helped him up.
They examined the battlefield. On the one hand, stopping Enchantress from getting hold of the staff was clearly the more immediate priority. On the other, if Frost killed Electrocutioner and came to Enchantress' aid, things would be so much worse.
“Help Electrocutioner,” Manhunter said, and dashed towards Enchantress. Vixen nodded, and went the other way.
Enchantress was preparing another spell to finish off Resurrection Man, who was still retreating from the three headed beast she had conjured. Manhunter interrupted her spell casting with a dropkick to her head. Now it was she that went tumbling down the sharp slope of the beach, while Resurrection Man blasted the beast with his power.
Manhunter unshipped his power staff—how long had it been since he had even thought to use it?--and blasted the thing in it's long, leathery tail. It howled and one head turned to regard him while Resurrection Man continued to blast it.
*****************
-9-Vixen assumed the powers of a Rhino and charged at Frost, where she and Electrocutioner were blasting at each other. Without even acknowledging Vixen's presence or lessening her assault on Electrocutioner, Killer Frost formed an ice slick around her feet, and Vixen lost her footing and skidded.
But she had outsmarted herself; Vixen's out of control skid still caused her to collide with Frost, and the ice elementalist tripped over her. Pausing only long enough for Vixen to get clear, Electrocutioner redoubled his attack. Frost was writhing in agony on the ground. He was doing so well, Vixen began to think about leaving him to finish Frost off and go help Manhunter, when suddenly a claw of ice formed around Electrocutioner and squeezed.
How is she able to do that while being fried? Vixen wondered momentarily, then stomped on Frost's head.
She went over to Electrocutioner and was smashing the claw to pieces when two sharp ice picks slammed into her shoulder blades. She screamed and fell over, leaving Frost and Electrocutioner to pick up where they had left off.
Frost put another ice pick into Eleoctrocutioner's right knee, and he screamed with rage. He blasted her with such force as to send her flying.
*****************
-10-Resurrection Man had blasted two of the heads out of commission, and Manhunter leapt on the neck of the third and squeezed....hard. Finally, it broke with a gruesome snap.
“Well done,” Enchantress congratulated them. They whirled to face her; in the fighting they hadn't noticed her climbing back up. “But I'm afraid you've run out of luck.” She held the staff high.
They both ran at her, but she blasted them with the dark power of the staff itself, and they fell over, howling in agony.
Enchantress turned to where Frost and Electrocutioner were still fighting, and Vixen was struggling to get up. That would never do. She blasted Vixen and Electrocutioner also.
Frost smiled and picked her way cautiously over. “Thanks. Looks like this just about wraps it up.”
“Yes,” Enchantress agreed. “Finally.” June was still quiet in her mind, at least for the moment. Things had finally turned in her favor. She had won. The surge of victory thrilled her. “I shall use the staff to dominate their minds, and then--”
At the last possible second, both of them heard the sound of something in the air, closing fast. But even as Enchantress stopped talking and they turned towards it, it was too late.
The Parademon slammed into them at full force, at the same moment that he let go of Knockout and Cavalier. Those two landed on their feet, whilst Enchantress and Frost were blasted all the way into the sea, splashing down hard. Enchantress had lost her grip on the staff, again.
“Rouse the others,” Knockout said to Cavalier, all the while eying the dead beast.
Cavalier bristled her ordering him around, but agreed that it was the right decision, so without argument, he went over to Vixen and Electrocutioner. Both were groggy and dazed. A blast from that staff was no joke. Both of them were also injured by Frost's attacks.
The only consolation was that Parademon's strike on the Enchantress and Killer Frost would likewise incapacitate them. It was a question of which side would recover first.
Knockout wasn't about to give the traitors that time. As Cavalier went to Resurrection Man and Manhunter, she spoke to the Parademon in the Dark Language of Apokolips. “Kill the traitors.”
Mitch might have objected, even now, despite his pain. But he was having a full job just trying to stay conscious.
But as the Parademon floated over the water to obey her command, a blast of eldritch energy shot up from the water and knocked it back.
*****************
-11-Enchantress started to stand up out of the water, but Frost gently eased her down again with one hand. Enchantress was annoyed, but understood when the top of the water turned to ice, then lifted off.
It broke into millions of small fragments and slashed inland, inflicting all the Squad loyalists with an ice storm blizzard.
Enchantress and Frost broke the surface. “You're getting creative,” Enchantress admitted grudgingly.
“I'm on your side,” Frost assured her. “But trust me to know how to use my own powers.”
“Fair enough,” Enchantress nodded. “Speaking of powers....” there was no time to go hunting for the staff. She reached out and called to it with her mind and powers. It skittered along the ground of the island. Knockout, the first to recover, heard it moving and went for it, but she wasn't fast enough. It hit the water and began to glide for Enchantress' hand....
....and that was when June made her move.
*****************
-12-With Enchantress distracted, focused totally on getting the staff back, June drew upon the power she had as Erinyes and focused all her will into a command. The one thing she absolutely had authority over Enchantress on.
GET OUT. THIS IS MY BODY, AND YOU ARE NO LONGER WELCOME IN IT.The sheer force of those words pushed Enchantress out so quickly, she had no time to react. The staff fell into the ocean, and Enchantress found herself floating free in the air, incorporeal.
Disembodied.
Alone.
Again.
“No!” Enchantress wailed.
June, the Erinyes, was herself again, a simple, sad blond girl in somewhat ragged clothes.
But she was not pure, shriven, or innocent. She was still Erinyes. Had she not been, she couldn't have forced Enchantress out. And she would still have a terrible price to pay, in the fullness of time.
But for now.....she had to fight.
Frost blasted her from behind, but she shielded against it almost without thinking. More pressing was Enchantress' attempts to get back inside her. These were harder to resist, but not impossible.
YOU ARE NO LONGER WELCOME.“You chose to be what you are!” Enchantress shrieked.
YES. BUT THAT DOES NOT EXCUSE YOU. NOW BEGONE.Enchantress laughed bitterly. “Give me one good reason!”
This time June responded with her voice. “They can
seeeeee youuuuuu....” she sing-sang.
Enchantress whirled. So did Frost, water splashing around her.
Manhunter was glaring. A little unsteady on his feet, but he was there. Resurrection Man was weeping. Vixen's eyes were like smouldering coals.
Frost and Enchantress exchanged the briefest of glances over June's head. June didn't see it, but knew both of them well enough to realize....
“They're going to fight!” she shouted the moment before Enchantress and Frost attacked.
*****************
-13-Enchantress was powerful indeed, even without the staff, and Frost was getting more angrily creative with her powers all the time.
But now they faced the rest of the Squad at once, and Enchantress did not have the staff, and more importantly, she didn't have June.
Erinyes blasted Enchantress with all the dark arts she had learned from her elder 'sister', and Resurrection Man was right there with her. Whatever issues he might have with June—and there were several—he stood with her to stop Erinyes.
If Enchantress had the staff, she could have defeated both of them. Without it, she could have bested either one separately. But the two of them together? No.
Even now the staff could be of use to her, she realized that instinctively. She could still call it to her, and with it's power she could make her own flesh solid and real, and be dependent on no host what so ever.
But the moment she tried to do that, June and Mitch's combined attacks would put her out. She could not be killed—she had already known she was an immortal spirit of witchcraft, and the events of the Apokolips invasion had proven her survival—but she had no wish to “die” again, however temporarily. And if she did the staff would be placed out of her reach.
She was already being forced on the defensive; her shields were at maximum. She knew if she ran now the staff would also be placed out of her reach....but she would have time to find it and reclaim it. Only one problem with that plan; June. Erinyes would come after her, she knew it. But the little ungrateful brat would have to find her, first. As for the duel that would follow from that point? Well, nobody said eternity had to be boring! And besides, she had felt the stirrings in the Earth these past few months. Eternity might not last that long after all. As for Frost, she could take her own chances.
“Until Judgment Day, little sister,” Enchantress hissed in equal measures amusement and anger, and then said a simple phrase.
“No!” June shouted.
But Enchantress was gone.
*****************
-14-Killer Frost found it a much easier time to multi task, even when being attacked. And now she was in the water, which she could direct at her enemies.
Killer Frost was a living heat sink; she needed the body heat of others to survive. But over time, she had learned how long she could go without a new heat source, and how creative with her powers she could get. That was one of the reasons she could multi task even while being attacked.
Conjuring spikes of ice out of the water, she hurled them at the Squad. But she had a problem now; two of them, specifically.
Knockout and the Parademon.
She could rock them, yes. She could shock them, maybe. But the initial surprise was over and now they were coming for her over the water, eyes set and grim. These two could break her in half without thinking about it. And they meant to.
And now Enchantress was gone in a puff of magic and June and Resurrection Man could focus their attention on her too. June, especially, who had tasted the powers of darkness and not understood their sweetness....but would still use them against her.
She might be able to kill one or two of them. Maybe even Knockout. But the survivors would kill her.
Time to go.
She froze the ocean for half a mile around, temporarily stopping the others. She ducked the first strikes of Knockout and the Parademon, and touched them both, draining as much heat from each of them in that moment as she could.
They crashed into the ice, but already they were twitching, trying to stir. And June was using sorceress powers to melt the ice around her.
They would expect her to skate away on an ice path she would form out of the water.
So instead she dropped beneath the surface and swam straight out to sea, the last possible direction they would expect her to go.
The thought had briefly occurred to her to try for the staff, but she didn't know exactly where it was and hunting for it would enable them to find her.
No, she would hide for a while, then perhaps it would be time to visit Firestorm again...
*****************
-15-Mitch looked down as June melted the ice around his knees.
“I know you'll never forgive me,” she said without preamble. “And I don't blame you. I have to go after Enchantress now. I'll spend the rest of time chasing her.”
“You're right,” he said after a pause. “I don't forgive you. And that's exactly why I'm coming with you. I'm immortal too, remember, in my own way.”
June nodded sadly. Love was over. This was strictly business now, and duty. The duty she had denied that led her to this pass.
That realization made a little bit more of June's innocence die, and made Erinyes, the spirit of vengeance that would seek out Enchantress and haunt her for eternity, a little stronger. She sighed and gestured to herself, creating purple robes. “Take my hand,” she said, “And we shall search for her.”
Warily, Mitch accepted her hand, and they vanished.
*****************
-16-They found the staff...but June, Mitch, Enchantress, and Frost were gone. All gone.
“What an absolute mess,” Manhunter sighed.
“We'll search for them,” Knockout promised. “But none of them used jets this time. Enchantress and June used magic, June took Mitch with her, and who knows where Frost swam off to.”
“Why didn't they teleport before?” Cavalier asked, frowning.
“Because they were looking for something specific,” Vixen sighed. “Randomly teleporting around doesn't help you find stuff, I think. Besides, who knows what their range is. Probably not transatlantic”.
“Which is why we must search,” Knockout said.
But not before they had secured the staff on the one remaining plane they had. The one consolation prize from this mission, if mission you could call it. They dared not touch it directly; that much they had figured out for themselves. So they used the Parademon's axe and Cavaliers sword to awkwardly pick it up and carry it back to the plane.
As anticipated, Knockout and the Parademon did not find them.
The Squad membership was irrevocably fractured.
“Waller,” sighed Vixen, “Is going to have our heads.”
There was no argument, not even from Knockout, who personally could have cared less for Waller's opinion but recognized the stigma of her own failure.
The flight home was very, very quiet.
