Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Batman gave him an interesting break-in at a DC research center to investigate, Robin assumed it would be an easy assignment. Something to keep his skills sharp between missions. Go to the team if it turned out to really be too difficult. After going through all the reports, footage, and several different databases, Robin could confidently say that he was thoroughly baffled.

The research center had filed a report with the DC police department, but the report was… confusing, to say the least. The report said that the only thing stolen was a single research specimen that the center was studying. Nothing else was stolen. There were multiple witnesses to the crime, but none of the witnesses attempted to report the thief until long after he was gone. For some reason, everyone from janitors to researchers to receptionists who had seen the thief described having a strange sense of safety and belonging when they saw him, as if just by seeing him, they felt reassured that everything was fine. They also all reported feeling as if they knew the thief, so they all assumed in the moment that the thief must have been a project head or financial backer or someone of equally high importance who would have access to the laboratory. Even as the thief was leaving, valuable assets openly visible in his arms, the staff saw no issue until long after the thief had left and they all came to their senses.

Not only that, but the center’s computers were also tricked. In addition to the fingerprint scanners allowing the thief inside, the retinal scanners were also bypassed. Robin guessed maybe that the thief was some kind of metahuman at first, but the computers being hacked threw that theory for a loop. Perhaps they were both metahuman and had some hacking tech? Or maybe they were completely human and just had some kind of never-seen-before mind altering tech?

Finally, Robin opened up the security camera footage included in the police report. There was a screenshot that showed the closeup the camera had managed to get of the thief’s face. As soon as he saw it, Robin had to throw all of those possible theories in the trash.

When the thief appeared on screen, Robin felt like he knew him. Like this man was someone he had heard about or seen on tv all throughout his life. Robin felt that same sense of safety, but even more than that, seeing this man gave him the same feeling of being home. It was the same feeling he learned to find in Gotham, with Bruce and Alfred, with the team.

Robin looked away from the screen and took a moment to think clearly. He had never heard of any kind of technology or meta ability that could affect people watching the ability be used on a recording. It was disturbing to say the least.

Now with a clear head, Robin looked back at the security footage, taking note of the man’s appearance. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and wore glasses. He was dressed casually, in jeans and sneakers, with an old World War II-style bomber jacket over a tshirt. He was also surprisingly young, only in his early 20s at the oldest. Throughout the theft, he appeared calm, even jovial, as he greeted anyone he passed with a smile and a two-finger salute.

The man entered the hallway leading to an animal enclosure, which had a hand scanner keeping it locked. The scanner flashed a green light as he put his hand on it, opening the door and playing a message.

“Welcome, President sakdlbalskkssshhhhhh-” the computer sputtered out into static as the man pushed his hand down, barely appearing to use any force yet crushing the scanner completely. As the man walked into the enclosure, the beginning of an animal cry could be heard before the clip ended.

The next clip was from inside the enclosure. The screen showed a wide habitat, about the half size of an olympic swimming pool and just as deep. It was modeled after arctic tundra, the blue-tinted water scattered with false icebergs. The man walked up to the edge of the pool before calling out, his voice echoing off the walls.

“Nanuq! You in here, little dude?”

The audio picked up shuffling and another small animal cry, before a furry critter came barrelling out from behind one of the many ice caps. It jumped from ice cap to cap, leaving them sloshing around and splashing up water. As it neared the edge of the water, the creature slipped and splashed loudly into the water. It climbed out of the water, a mass of sopping wet white fur.

“You ok? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” The man asked. The polar bear opened its mouth, and Robin practically jumped when out came a voice like that of a young child.

“Who’re you?” The bear asked. The man reached into his jacket’s inner pocket, pulling out a bottle filled with some kind of amber liquid. He rocked it left and right, revealing the liquid’s syrup-like viscosity.

“I’m Mattie’s brother, remember?”

“Ah!” The little bear ran forward. The man sat down, opening his arms for the polar bear cub to climb into his lap. The man didn’t seem to care at all that his clothes got soaked as the little bear climbed over his legs to get to the bottle. The bear grabbed the bottle with his mouth, drinking the liquid as fast as it could.

“Did they even feed you in here, bud?”

The bear quickly finished off the bottle, dropping it once it lost interest.

“They did. I hate frozen fish.”

The man threw his head back with a laugh, leaning back on his hands. He let the bear shove its nose in his jacket, seemingly indifferent to the way his clothes were getting completely soaked. He half-heartedly batted the bear away.

“You are totally spoiled, you know that?” He said.

“I’m hungry,” the bear responded.

The man ruffled the bear’s fur between its ears, then grabbed it around its stomach like one would pick up a dog. Robin quickly looked it up, and found that a 3 month old polar bear should already weigh 30 lbs, yet the man carried it like it was a stuffed animal instead of a live one. The man jumped to his feet, bending over to pick up the discarded bottle from the ground.

“Then let’s get you home. Matt’s been like a chicken without a head ever since he realized you were missing. You really can’t just walk out of meetings like that.”

“Sorry.”

“Why don’t we head back to my boss’s so I can change into dry clothes? Then I can Hop you back to Matt.”

“Ok.”

The man turned around, walking back to the entrance of the enclosure. Just as he reached the door, he stopped.

“Do you think they deserve having their stuff trashed?”

The bear craned its head up to meet the man’s eyes.

“I’m lonely,” it said. The man gave it a sad smile, then exited the room. The clip ended there. Robin went through all the remaining security footage, but the man didn’t destroy anything. He simply left the way he had come in. None of the workers who saw him as he left gave any indication that they even noticed the polar bear cub in his arms.

Having exhausted the police report’s evidence, Robin turned to any criminal databases he could think of. Both the Justice League’s metahuman and technology databases came up with nothing. Batman’s personal databases also came up empty. He tried the DC Police Department. Still nothing. It was only when he hacked into the Pentagon and the CIA’s databases that he found anything at all. Not a profile, or even a name, but he did find something.

Various photos from throughout history showed up, some going practically all the way back to the invention of the photograph. All showed the man from the robbery, usually in some kind of military uniform. Most were US Air Force, but some even predated the branch’s creation. There were a bunch from World War II, many of which featured the man smiling widely in front of various fighter planes. He was even in the same bomber jacket as in the security footage, although the jacket was clearly much newer in the photos.

Robin poured over the photos, the security footage, and the police report for a good while, then sighed and decided to show it to the team tomorrow. He then set up a facial recognition search for the DC area. If the man showed up anywhere, Robin would get an alert. Finally, he transferred all the data to his glove computer, and called it a night.

Chapter Text

The team gathered around to view what Robin had brought.

“So, what you're telling us is that you, oh great protege of the Batman, hacker and detective extraordinaire, who can find anyone in a matter of minutes, couldn't figure out who this guy is and you expect us to do better?” Wally asked, opening a bag of chips as he did so. Robin rolled his eyes behind his shades.

“No, I don’t expect you to find him. I was hoping you guys would be able to give me a fresh pair of eyes. Maybe you guys would catch something I missed. Maybe you would have more ideas about who and/or what this guy might be.”

“What do you mean by ‘what’ he might be?” Conner asked.

“This guy showed the ability to alter people’s perceptions of him, but also hack security scanners, and possibly even showed some enhanced strength. His abilities mean that he must be a) using some kind of cutting-edge never-before-seen tech, b) a meta with a grab-bag of abilities, c) some combination of both, or d) some non-human entity. Normally I would lean towards tech, but this guy has an ability that… I’m just gonna show you the close-up I got of the guy and I want you guys to tell me what you think.”

Robin uploaded the screenshot of the man. The team had mixed reactions. Kaldur, Conner, and M’gann didn’t say anything, but Artemis got a shiver up her spine. Wally zipped over to the screen for a closer look.

“Woah, that’s freaky. Like, I feel like I’ve met him a hundred times, like he should be a close friend or something, but I can’t think of his name or any time we met. Super weird,” he said.

“Surprisingly eloquent description of a feeling,” Kaldur commented. Wally glared at him.

“It’s not just Wally,” Artemis said. “I don’t know why, but just seeing him makes me feel… at home.”

“That’s exactly what I felt!” Robin said.

“I’m not feeling anything,” Conner said, crossing his arms.

“Neither am I,” M’gann said. “Maybe it’s a human-only thing?”

“I don’t believe that is so. I don’t feel anything either,” Kaldur said. “Although, what you have described does sound familiar to something I’ve once experienced. I once saw my king speaking with a young woman in Atlantis. I had never seen her before, but I instantly felt a sense of trust and camaraderie with her. After she left, I asked the king for her identity. He simply called her an advisor and an old friend, but gave me no other information.”

“Sounds like someone had a crush,” Wally teased, earning him a smack on the back of the head from Artemis.

“No, my feelings for the woman were not romantic in any way. Like you’ve described about his man, I felt a sudden connection and sense of home simply by looking at her, despite never having seen her before.”

“Like I said, freaky,” Wally said. “Plus, I’ve never heard of a meta who you can be affected by just by looking at a picture of them.”

Robin then uploaded the security footage for the team to see.

“Here’s the security footage. Just some background: this was a break-in in DC from a few days ago.” Robin introduced. “This man walked into a research center, in full view of everyone who worked there, and stole a talking polar bear cub. Not only that, but everyone who witnessed him had similar reactions to us. None of the employees know his name or claim to have ever seen him before, but nearly all of them admit he looked very familiar and assumed he must work there because of it.”

“I’m sorry, Rob, did you say talking polar bear cub?” Wally asked around a mouthful of chips.

“Is that really the weirdest part?” M’gann asked. “We’ve fought gorillas that shot at us with machine guns.”

“Yeah, but Mallah didn’t talk.”

“Not important right now, KF,” Robin said. He started the video. The team watched the man on screen as he made his way through the research center. Wally let out a low whistle at the sheer amount of security the building contained, with Robin keeping up a running commentary about the specifics of the security measures being bypassed. When the man entered the hallway to the animal enclosure, Robin paused the video.

“This is the part that concerns me the most,” he said. The camera within the scanner caught a glimpse of the man’s face before he crushed it. While he had been calm and collected throughout the rest of the video, in that moment he showed disdainful anger, but only for a second.

“For him to crush that scanner with so little effort, he would have to have enhanced strength somewhere on the same level as SB. And unless it’s somewhere underneath that bomber jacket, I don’t see the tech necessary to make a human that strong.”

The rest of the video passed in silence from the team. When the man left the enclosure with the polar bear cub, Robin closed the video.

“The rest of the feed is of him walking through hallways, bypassing security in the same manner and walking out the front door, the way he came. No one seemed to notice or care that he was leaving with the subject of their research in tow. Feed from outside the building shows him walking down the steps and waiting at a bus stop, getting on the bus and leaving. I’ve already traced the bus routes, but not many of the bus stops have cameras, so I couldn’t find any feed of him getting off.”

Kaldur frowned “I suppose the passengers treated the animal as a toy? It seemed very docile…”

“Yeah, the bear is pretty strange. The researcher’s file on it was practically empty. They found the bear wandering the streets of DC about a week ago, asking people for food. It refused to talk to any of the researchers though. According to all the tests they did, it’s just a regular polar bear cub. They have no idea where it came from or why it can talk.”

“It recognized the thief though,” M’gann noted. “They’re probably connected somehow!”

“I set up a facial recognition scan to look for him around DC,” Robin said. “Hopefully he’s still in the area, cause otherwise we’re back at square one. I did try searching through criminal and metahuman databases, but no one showed up with those abilities. Not even in Batman or the Justice League’s files. I did find these though.”

Robin put the old photos featuring the man on the screen, zooming in and putting them side-by-side with the security footage close-ups.

“Where did you find these photos, Robin?” Kaldur asked.

“CIA. They’re especially confusing because they’re not labeled or attached to any files. My guess is that they were accidentally leaked or miscategorized by whoever was organizing them. Only problem is that without a name, I can’t find the file they’re connected to, whether it’s classified or not.”

“MIB?” Wally asked.

“Never heard of an MIB in jeans and a tshirt,” Robin joked.

“I think you can at least take ‘human with tech’ off the list of theories,” Artemis said. “Not unless someone cracked the code for immortality more than a hundred fifty years ago. Some of these are from the Civil War!”

“There are a few people we’ve fought who are immortal, or at least close to it,” Robin said. “Vandal Savage. A few members of the League of Shadows.”

“This guy is not a Shadow,” Artemis denied. “He doesn’t have the MO or the stealth.”

“Whoever or whatever he is, there’s no way he’s just human,” Wally said.

Chapter Text

Everyone knew America was a huge fan of superheroes. Ever since the original Justice Society was created back in the ‘40s, he had been obsessed. When the Justice League built their headquarters in DC, only a short ways away from the White House, he was ecstatic. And when they first started allowing tourists inside, you can bet that he was one of the first in line. He had been happy to ramble to anyone and everyone how Superman, Batman, the Flash, and Green Lantern were all his.

However, with the first appearance of Wonder Woman and Aquaman came the introduction of the formerly secret countries Themyscira and Atlantis, which both had their own Nations. America thought they were both cool. Themyscira, or Philomena, was a proud woman who had been slightly wary of meeting other Nations at first, but warmed up to them after she saw Hungary punch Prussia in the nose once when the albino refused to stop annoying her. She also found a kinship with Greece, who was thrilled to find his country’s ancient mythology realized. Atlantis, or Andome’ia, on the other hand, was much quieter but kind-hearted and interested in magic and sorcery. She and Norway had made fast friends. The two had quickly integrated into the small community of Personified Nations.

There was a bit of a problem though. Philomena’s existence was common knowledge amongst her people. Since they already kept their entire civilization a secret from the world, Queen Hippolyta had seen no reason to keep her Nation a secret from the Amazons. It had taken a while to explain to her why the other countries of the world put so much effort into keeping their Nations a secret from the public. She eventually understood their reasoning and agreed to stay inconspicuous. The Amazonian Queen gave an order to her people to keep Philomena’s true nature a secret from the world of man. Easy! Crisis averted.

… Except it wasn’t, because America could currently feel Robin’s eyes on him as he stood in line for coffee. The teenage superhero was in civilian clothes, discreetly but consistently watching America from across the room. The kid looked just like any other high schooler doing their homework in a coffee shop, but America could tell that he was here to collect as much information about him as possible.

As much as America loved his superheroes, his government did not. Many people in the Pentagon saw the Justice League as possible threats to national security. In fact, the newly created ‘ARGUS’ was created by Homeland Security specifically to keep an eye on any superheroes based in the country. The head of the department, a woman named Amanda Waller, had been bugging America to reveal the secret identities of the Justice League for months now. America refused.

See, Nations can sense their citizens and know who they are instinctively. When Superman debuted, America could sense that he also went by Clark Kent, raised in Smallville, Kansas and reporter for Metropolis’ biggest newspaper. America knew just by seeing video of Batman that it was Bruce Wayne, Gothamite born and raised, under that cape and cowl. And right now, America knew that Dick Grayson, teenage celebrity from Gotham City who was currently sitting only a few feet away from him, was also Robin.

Just as America knew who all the American superheroes were under their masks and costumes, he could also feel in his heart that they were good people. He would do anything if it meant helping his precious superheroes save people. He knew that spilling their secrets to ARGUS would do more bad than good, so he simply kept his mouth shut. Thankfully, some of the humans he works with trusted his judgment and took his silence as the end of the argument. If the Nation said these heroes were good people, they were good people. End of story. America liked the humans who trusted him.

Amanda Waller was not one of those humans.

The problem is that if Robin knows who America is, Waller could justify calling Robin a threat to national security and have her squadron of super-felons sent to assassinate him. America obviously didn’t want the kid to get killed, but he also didn’t want one of the biggest international secrets getting blown because he fucked up. He didn’t know what to do.

Goddamnit, this was all because of Matt’s stupid bear. They hadn’t even been doing anything particularly risky when they lost him either! He, Mexico, and Canada had just been meeting in DC to talk about North American trade agreements, and during the particularly boring meeting, Nanuq had wandered out of the building. It was only after the meeting was over and Canada was gathering his stuff to leave that he realized that his polar bear was missing. Canada was so worried for the little bear that he couldn’t sleep and spent the next three days freaking out. America felt so bad for his twin that he decided to just go for it and get Nanuq back himself, no matter the consequences. And just like with any decision America makes without thinking enough about it, here the consequences were, rearing their ugly head.

America grabbed his coffee and took out his phone to call his brother. He needed to talk to someone about what he should do, and it might as well be Canada since it was the northern Nation’s fault in the first place. America headed to the exit of the shop, sensing more than seeing Robin put the laptop he was pretending to do homework on into his backpack and follow after him. He walked aimlessly down the street, trying to see how long Robin would continue to tail him.

Canada finally answered the phone. “Hey, what’s up?”

“We need to talk,” America said. “In person. Usual place sound good?”

“Sure, just let me grab a jacket and put my boots on.”

“Gotcha. See you there.”

He hung up, now walking with a purpose. He sped up slightly to put some more distance between Robin and himself, then turned the corner and Hopped away, hopefully before Robin could see him disappear.

Niagara Falls was the spot America and Canada usually liked to meet. Since Nations could only Hop within their own land, it was convenient to meet somewhere that straddled their border. America would usually Hop to the New York side, then cross the border on foot with a quick flash of his passport and ID (the American side of the town was kind of a dump, so they preferred to hang out on the Canadian side). Plus, it helped that the falls were loud enough to keep people from easily overhearing any sensitive information.

By the time America reached their meeting spot, Canada was already there waiting for him, leaning against the railway keeping people from falling into the water while holding a cup of Timbits.

“We have a problem,” America started, taking up the spot next to his brother on the railing. He casually stole a Timbit from the cup and popped it in his mouth.

“This is about Nanuq, isn’t it,” Canada said. It was more a statement than a question.

“Of course it is!” America said around his mouthful of donut.

“I said I was sorry! Believe me, he’s just as shook up by it as I am. He’s been sticking to me even closer than normal. I had to promise him I would be back within half an hour just to make him let go of my leg when I tried to leave the house.”

“There’s more to it than that, Mattie. Someone saw me.”

“Well, yeah, of course they did. You literally said ‘Fuck it, I’ll go get him now,’ without bothering to avoid any humans or security cameras. Arthur said he was gonna prepare some kind of spell to help us slip in and out invisibly and you didn’t bother to wait for him to be ready!”

“He said the research would take a few days! I didn’t think you were gonna last any longer and I didn’t want to see you so depressed anymore.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem, man. You know I’ll always be there for you.” America slung his arm around Canada’s shoulders in a loose embrace. Canada reciprocated by laying his head on America’s shoulder. The twins shared the silence for a moment before separating.

“So who is it that’s looking into you?” Canada asked. “Police? Detective? Some kinda journalist trying to report on the case?”

“Worse. Robin and his team of sidekicks.”

“Wait, Robin as in the teenage superhero?”

“Yes. He’s Batman’s sidekick. He’s literally being trained by the world’s greatest detective! And I noticed him following me earlier today! I don’t know what to do!”

“Do you really think your superheroes would choose to reveal who you are to the public? I thought you said they were all pretty neutral when it comes to politics.”

“I don’t think any of them would just announce stuff to the world, but that’s not what I’m worried about.” America leaned in closer so he could whisper to his brother.

“Earlier this year, Homeland Security created a new department specifically for dealing with superheroes and metahumans. It’s called ARGUS, and the lady in charge is hellbent on getting some kind of leverage over the US’s superheroes. She could very easily authorize her squad to go after the Justice League if she has reason to believe that they’re actively investigating government secrets. Robin doesn’t realize it yet—or maybe he does, I don't know—but that’s exactly what he’s doing right now.”

Canada mulled over the information for a moment, combing a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath.

“You’re worried for them. You don’t want them getting hurt because they accidentally stumbled onto a landmine.”

“Yes, exactly. And, you know, I don’t want our secret getting leaked if someone on their team makes a mistake.”

“Yeah, no shit, Al!”

The two stood in silence, watching the falls like any other tourist as they tried to brainstorm. After a little while, Canada spoke up.

“Al, I know you don’t like magic-”

"UGH"

“BUT, maybe that could solve our problem? Just erase the memory from their minds and delete anything connecting you to their investigation from their computers?”

“That won’t work. Both the Justice League and their little side team have magic users. Even if we do go to Arthur or Andy for help, Zatara or his daughter would be able to tell that they’ve been sabotaged and undo the spell.”

“... Maybe Andy herself could help, no magic involved. She knows Aquaman, doesn’t she? Maybe she could convince him to drop the investigation?”

“It’s worth a shot. I’ll call her. Thanks Mattie!”

“Of course. Good luck! And keep me updated if anything changes, ok?”

“Totally.”

The two Hopped back to their respective homes. Not a single tourist noticed the sudden absence.

Chapter Text

Kaldur was… confused, to say the least. He had assumed that his weekend at home in Atlantis would be a relaxing time when he could see his parents and take some time to think about things other than the Team’s mystery man. Instead, King Orin had requested his presence in the royal palace so he could talk to Kaldur about something important.

“Annax Orin,” Kaldur saluted. “You wished to speak with me?”

“Yes, Kaldur. Come with me. We must talk alone,” the king said, gesturing for Kaldur to swim with him. The two swam leisurely side by side down the hallway. Once they reached the throne room, Aquaman turned to face him.

“It has come to my attention that the Team has been investigating a mysterious person recently.”

“Yes, my king. A thief with perplexing abilities. Zatanna has theorized that he may have some connections to the magical world, as he was seen stealing a polar bear who is capable of speech. The rest of the Team has been looking into a possible metahuman explanation as well.”

“All very intriguing, but I am afraid I must ask you to drop the investigation.”

Kaldur froze. Drop the most fascinating case they’ve had in months? “May I ask why, my king?”

“The man you are investigating has been vouched for by a close ally and advisor of mine. The man you are investigating? He is aware that Robin has been following him as of recently, so he asked my advisor for help in possibly getting rid of any possible investigators. Since my advisor is aware of my position in the Justice League, she came to me to pass along the request. The man you and the Team are investigating plays a similar role for the United States government that my advisor plays to me. In fact, both play important roles in the administration and security of their respective countries. So now I am asking you in their stead that you and the Team cease your investigation so that this man may continue to do his job unobstructed.”

Kaldur was somewhat frustrated, and he knew the Team would be as well. He also knew that simply being told to stop what they were doing by the Justice League would do very little to stop his teammates when they had a mission they were determined to complete. Of course, Kaldur wasn’t about to tell Aquaman that to his face, so he simply had to agree with him for now.

“… yes, I understand, my king.”

Aquaman put a hand on Kaldur’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Kaldur. I know it is frustrating for the Team’s independence to be restrained, but this is a matter of national secrecy, something that the Team does not need to get involved with at the moment.”

“Of course, Annax Orin.”

Aquaman released Kaldur and began to swim away, until Kaldur called out to him.

“Wait!”

The man stopped and looked back towards his sidekick.

“This advisor you mentioned, and the man in question, neither of them are human, are they?”

“No, they are not. Though what their true nature is, I cannot tell you. All I can say is this: they are not your enemies. They are not allied with the Light nor any other villainous organizations the Justice League is aware of. They are simply entities who serve their people. All countries have at least one, but the best way they can do so is by remaining out of the public eye. I am sure you can recognize the need for such a role; after all, the Team is designed to do the same, is it not?”

Kaldur smiled. “Yes, it is. Before you leave, I do have one final question for you, my king.”

“Ask it, but know that I may not be able to answer if the answer is private knowledge.”

“I believe I have seen your advisor before. She is a woman with light hair and dark skin, is she not? I have only seen her once in my life, yet in that moment, I felt like I knew her personally. Like she was a friend I see everyday and would have trusted with my life. My friends have said that they felt the same way when viewing the man we had seen. Why is that? None of us had ever heard of a type of enthrallment so specific.”

Aquaman paused, reaching up to stroke his beard as he thought. Kaldur could practically see the gears turning in his head as his king contemplated how to answer.

“Kaldur’ahm, you see Atlantis as your home, correct?”

“Of course, my king.”

“You would give your life to protect it and its people?”

“If the need arose, I would gladly give my life for Atlantis.”

“Then that is how you view her. These people, they do not alter your perception to purposefully deceive you. Neither are they trying to hide or protect themselves. You look at Atlantis and see your home because that is who she is: your home.”

Kaldur wasn’t sure what the king was trying to say. How was the advisor he had only caught a single glimpse of connected to his love for Atlantis? And why was his king speaking so poetically, to the point of calling Atlantis ‘she’? And how would that explain the rest of the Team’s connection—or lack of connection, for Conner and M’gann—to the thief they had been following?

“… I am sorry, but I am afraid I do not understand,” Kaldur admitted.

“Then it is my turn to apologize, for I cannot explain it any further. That is all I can tell you without exposing well-guarded secrets Atlantis has kept for millennia.”

“Millennia? The photos we had uncovered of the man we were investigating only dated back as far as 150 years ago.”

“Probably because photographs were only invented around that time. Now please, Kaldur’ahm, respect my friend’s request and abandon the investigation. I will admit, you managed to make me spill more than I had originally intended when I asked you to talk to me, but this conversation ends here.”

“Yes, my king,” Kaldur said, saluting to the king before swimming away and leaving the palace.

His conversation with Aquaman left him with mixed emotions. He was proud of himself for gaining more information about their case so serendipitously, but disappointed that the information was useless since they were being told to throw out the case.

He also was unsure how well the Team would take that news. The entire reason the team exists was because they had refused to listen to the Justice League’s orders and discovered an entire conspiracy in the process. Kaldur doubted that his teammates would feel more obedient simply because the order was coming from government entities.

Kaldur sighed, twisting in the water to head to Atlantis’s zeta tube. He might as well report back to the Team with the info, since there was no way he would be able to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing as planned.

Recognized: Aqualad, B01

Chapter Text

“What do you mean, just drop it?” Wally yelled.

Kaldur had arrived at the cave too late to prevent Robin from sharing his findings with Raquel. Now the entire team was aware of their mystery man, creating even more interest in the case than before. Kaldur knew it would be even more difficult to convince them to stop now than before. Unfortunately, he was simply the messenger, one whose message Wally was particularly frustrated with.

“That is what Aquaman told me. Personally, I understand why he has asked us to stop. The Justice League does have a general rule not to get involved in politics,” Kaldur responded calmly.

“Maybe in politics, but not in breaches of people’s liberties,” Robin pointed out. “We were sent into Qurac to free Harjavti from Queen Bee, remember? If this is also a case of a powerful psychic answering to an equally powerful person, who knows how many people could be enthralled to do their bidding?”

“That is true, but we still have no idea how these… ‘advisors’ are connected to their respective governments,” Kaldur argued. “For all we know, they could be exactly as my king described them to be: advisors and administrators with special abilities employed by the various governments of the world.”

“Or they could be the opposite,” Artemis said, putting her hands on her hips. “No offense, M’gann, but practically all the psychics we’ve interacted with outside of the League have been trying to manipulate those around them. Besides, someone could be mind-controlled without even knowing it. Both Roy and Conner had mental triggers for months without even knowing it. How do you know Aquaman isn’t being controlled by this person?”

Raquel was still transfixed by the screenshot of the thief. She had only just seen it since she had been busy with her mentor until today. She had barely taken any time to look away from the picture. She was almost hypnotized by it.

“Personally, I’m in the scary mind-control category,” she finally said. “This is freaky! I feel like his name is on the top of my tongue, but I have no idea why! How are you not all freaked out by this?”

“Kaldur, what exactly did Aquaman say again?” Zatanna asked.

“He said that these people are not human, but that they are not our enemy. They alter the perspective of those around them not because they are trying to defend themselves or manipulate others, but for some other reason that he did not specify.”

“Is it possible that they’re part of some kind of secret society? Not something like the Light, but like, a secret community? The magical community is pretty underground, but lots of practitioners of magic don’t mean anyone any harm.”

“Cadmus had something similar going on,” Conner mentioned. “The genomes had been created to be weapons, but the ones that broke free created their own society deep underground.”

“You think they might be of a similar origin?” Kaldur asked him. “People who were created to be weapons?”

“Wouldn’t be too surprised,” Conner growled. “The powers they have make them perfect for stealth and manipulating the people around them. Psychic powers? Super strength? Shadowy people controlling others like puppets? All stuff that was going on at Cadmus.”

“That may indeed be the case, but that does not explain who created them, or why,” Kaldur said.

Mentioning Cadmus reminded Robin of something. His eyes suddenly widened. He turned on his glove’s computer and began furiously searching through the files he had downloaded from the original break-in. He knew he had overlooked something! He scanned through the documents as the others continued to brainstorm.

"Aquaman did imply something interesting as well,” Kaldur continued. “We had originally theorized that the man from the break-in was at least 170 years old, but Aquaman said that may only be how old the photographs are. The man himself may be centuries—or even millennia—older than we thought. We have no idea how long he has been alive for, but I think that likely eliminates the possibility of these people being created by an organization like Cadmus.”

“OR it could be a government conspiracy!” Wally said. “Something going back hundreds of years as a way for the government to keep people under control!”

“Wouldn’t M’gann, or even Martian Manhunter, have sensed that there was some kind of mass mental manipulation going on as soon as they came to Earth? Martian Manhunter’s around Aquaman all the time, and unless I’m unaware of something huge that happened before I met anyone in the League, he’s never found evidence of mental tempering,” Artemis pointed out.

“Sure, but that’s because Martian Manhunter and Miss M are super polite and don’t read people’s minds or go digging in their psyche unless they have permission. M’gann had connected telepathically with Superboy dozens of times before she found Cadmus’s mental triggers, and it was only after Conner had learned about them that she even knew to look!”

Suddenly, Robin got their attention.

“Hello, Megan!” Robin said, complete with the signature facepalm. The others all looked over to the Boy Wonder. “I can’t believe I forgot something so fundamental! One of the first rules of detective work: follow the money. That research center that reported the break-in? It’s owned by a bunch of shell companies, but they all lead back to the same place: LexCorp.”

Everyone frowned; that could only spell bad news. Conner specifically looked like he wanted to destroy something, clenching his teeth and fists with anger at the mere mention of Lex Luthor’s company.

“Whoever created or employs our ‘mystery advisors’ is gonna have a hard time keeping them out of trouble if Lex Luthor starts looking into them,” Robin said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if Luthor has already been investigating them, if only because he would surely look into a theft at one of his businesses. Who knows? Maybe he’s been looking into it since his researchers found that talking polar bear in DC. I for one don’t want to risk letting Luthor get his hands on someone with these abilities, no matter who they’re working or not working for. I think we’re gonna have to continue this mission anyway, if only to keep our ‘advisor’ away from Luthor.”

Everyone nodded. It seemed the Team would be continuing with the mission, whether the Justice League approved or not.

“Agreed,” Kaldur said. “However, I think we need to do more investigating ourselves before we throw ourselves in between the ‘advisor’ and someone like Luthor. If they do indeed turn out to be cooperating with each other, we would only end up endangering ourselves. Robin, how have your solo investigations gone so far?”

“I was able to tail the guy when facial recognition picked him up in DC, but he disappeared before I was able to follow him anywhere significant. And I don’t mean that he ran and got away. He simply turned the corner at some point and disappeared. So that method might be done for.”

“Perfect,” Conner grumbled. “Even more stealth abilities. Any idea how he did it? If he turned invisible or teleported or something?”

“Not sure,” Robin admitted. “But he could just be stealth trained, like Batman and me. Facial recognition found him a few other times throughout DC, mostly going in or out of various federal buildings. I’ll try setting up the search for him in some other cities and see if we get anything.”

“Do so. Hopefully it can help us narrow down what exactly these ‘advisors’ do,” Kaldur commanded. “I wish my king had given us more to work with, but he was quite adamant that it was information that I was not of high enough status to be privy to. Even I, his partner in arms and a personal friend to the royal family, was not to hear of such information. If this ‘advisor’ of his is indeed millennia old, it seems her role in Atlantis’s government is something only the king himself is allowed to know.”

“Then if our mystery man is the same for the American government, are you saying he’s on a president’s-eyes-only level?” Raquel asked.

“It would seem so,” Kaldur concluded. “I am aware of all of Annax Orin’s other advisors. The king has a cabinet of advisors that help him rule Atlantis, but they are all publicly known since they all had to earn their place at the king’s side by proving themselves to be experienced and wise. They are the smartest scholars, sorcerers, and generals of all Atlantis. It is only her who is not well-known throughout the kingdom.”

“Do you think Wonder Woman might be willing to help?” M’gann asked. “She’s the princess of Themyscira! Maybe she would know about these ‘advisors.’ Aquaman said every country had one, right? That would include Themyscira!”

“Yeah, but she’s in the League. The Leaguers all tell each other this kinda stuff. If anything, she’ll probably just tell us to drop the case because Aquaman already told us to,” Artemis explained. “ If we were gonna get help from someone, it would have to be someone who was high enough in their government to have access to the information who isn’t in the League.”

Wally gasped, his face lighting up with a sudden realization.

“I know exactly who we can talk to!” Wally exclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement.

“Who?”

“Queen Perdita! She’s the queen of Vlatava! I’d say that’s definitely high-enough authority to know about Vlatava’s ‘mystery advisor,’ even if she is only 10.”

“And what makes you think that she would spill her country’s national secrets? I know she’s a good friend of yours, Wally, but you only met her a few months ago when you saved her. Aquaman wasn’t even willing to tell Aqualad and they’ve been partners for years.”

“Okay, so maybe she’ll tell us some details and maybe she won’t. But at the very least, I want to go with Miss M to check on her and make sure that even if there is another one of these weird, immortal, psychic, not-meta, not-magic, not-human people hanging around her claiming to be the Vlatavan secret ‘advisor,’ she’s not being mentally controlled by them.”

“Wally, would you be able to schedule a meet-up between yourself and Queen Perdita?” Kaldur asked.

“Sure!” Wally answered. “We’ve actually been keeping in touch since her surgery. She’s a pretty cool girl!”

“Alright then. I want you and M’gann to go to meet with the queen. M’gann, stay in camouflage while Wally meets with Perdita and do a mental scan of the queen to see if there is indeed any tampering being done. Wally, try your best to ask your friend about these ‘advisors,’ but do not push the issue too hard if the queen is unwilling to share. We do not want to risk tipping our hand if there is indeed someone controlling her.”

“Gotcha.” Wally pulled out his phone to send the young queen a message.

“We’ve gotta come up with some better name than just ‘advisor,’” Robin said.

Kaldur chuckled. “Well, as soon as you have some suggestions, I am all ears.”

Chapter Text

Wally had never been outside the country as a civilian. Every time he had left the US, it had been as Kid Flash. Now he was sitting in the bioship in his civvies. It was a nicer outfit, not just a pair of jeans and a ratty tshirt (he was meeting with a queen after all), but there was no yellow and red costume to be seen. Not even his stealth or motorcycle gear. He felt weirdly naked in a way, like he had forgotten his clothes at home. But, this was the proper outfit for the mission.

And what a strange mission it was. He was literally just meeting a friend! Well, meeting a friend with a Martian escort to do a mental security check for any funny business. Totally normal.

Superhero business aside, Wally was indeed excited to see Perdita. She had been recovering well from her heart transplant over the past few months, but the huge amount of bed rest and break from physical activity had left the young queen bored. Wally had exchanged numbers with her when they first met, just in case anything happened to her. Imagine his shock when he got a text from the young queen during his homeroom class asking about his adventures as Kid Flash. In exchange, Wally had asked her about the royal lifestyle, and the two had become something like pen pals.

So sure enough, when Wally asked if Perdita would want to meet him in person, the queen was more than happy to invite him to Vlatava. Now they were here to take her up on her offer.

“We’re arriving at Vlatavastok,” M’gann announced. The bioship landed smoothly on a helipad next to the royal palace and opened itself up. Wally and M’gann got up from their seats. M’gann then camouflaged herself, disappearing from Wally’s vision.

“I’ll be right behind you, Wally,” she said. “Good luck! Have fun with your friend!”

Even though she was effectively invisible, Wally still gave M’gann a wink and some finger guns before exiting the bioship. Outside, the young queen was waiting, along with two of her bodyguards. Both were younger men, probably just out of the military.

“Welcome to Vlatava, Wally! I am so glad to see you!” Perdita greeted.

“Same!” Wally exclaimed. “It’s so good to see you up and about! I feel like so many of your texts were about how miserable you were staying in bed all the time. How are you feeling?”

“Better. I’m not able to return to sports just yet, but I have been taking walks around the palace more and more often. I am hoping that if everything continues going well, my doctor will let me start playing again by next month.”

Suddenly, Wally heard M’gann’s voice in his mind.

“I’m not picking up on anything strange in her mind, nor in her memory. She’s all clear, mentally,” M’gann reported.

Wally was relieved to hear that. He had been anxious during the flight because of his fears concerning what he would do if Perdita was being controlled or in danger. Now that he knew that the worst was not the case, he could move on with confidence.

“That’s great!” Wally said out loud. “You won’t be keeping up with me any time soon, but some track and field will surely make your body feel better… once it’s ready, of course.”

“Yes. Recently, I have been taking walks in the palace gardens. The flowers are very beautiful. Come, I have arranged for us to have tea there!”

“Sweet! I could use some snacks.”

The young queen took the lead, asking about the flight while she guided Wally through the sprawling palace grounds and into the rose gardens, which were tucked up against the castle. They passed through some arching trellises and into a circle of rose bushes to find a small tea party that had been prepared for them. Wally sped ahead to pull out Perdita’s chair for her, then helped push her in. Artemis may tease him often, but Wally did know how to be a gentleman.

“Thank you, Wally,” the queen said, picking up a cup of tea for herself. “How has Kid Flash been recently? Any excitement?”

“Oh! Did I tell you about what the Flash and I found in Central City last week?”

Wally proceeded to catch Perdita up on all the adventures he and his fellow superheroes had gotten up to in the past month or so. He told her about the jewel heist he and his uncle stopped in Central City, the stake out he had done with the team to catch a group of arms dealers who had been smuggling Apokoliptan tech, and an update about the young boy they had saved in Qurac. Perdita hung onto every word, fascinated by the pulse-pounding danger of Wally’s everyday life. In return, if Wally stuffed his face as he talked, the young queen didn’t say anything about it.

“So we think he might be developing some meta powers because of it,” Wally concluded. “I mean, his hair is growing in green now. I severely doubt it’s gonna stop there. Who knows? Maybe he’ll become a full-on martian. It’s crazy that this is all from one blood transfusion from Miss M.”

“Even in regular transplants, similar effects can be seen,” Perdita commented. “Sometimes, getting a transplant from someone who liked beer would result in the recipient developing a taste for beer that they never had before. Although, I doubt I will be getting any meta powers from my new heart.”

“Maybe you will! Do you know if the person you got the heart from had a secret identity as a meta-powered superhero?”

“I’m pretty sure they did not,” Perdita giggled. “So it would be quite the surprise. But I suppose that there is truly no way of knowing, if it was indeed kept secret. I am always surprised by how easily you and your superhero friends blend in with the regular populace.”

Here it was, the opportunity to ask Perdita about their mystery man. Wally decided to take it.

“That’s actually what’s been tripping us up on our current mission,” Wally said. “We’re searching for someone with some really interesting abilities, but they’re incredibly good at disappearing. We know that he has some kind of connection to the government, but we’re still on the fence about whether or not he works for it, or is actively trying to sabotage it.”

“Oh? Sounds like one of your super spy friends.”

“That’s what was so strange! Among everyone in the superhero world, only Aquaman knew who he was. And even then, he had only heard about him from a friend-of-a-friend or something. But at the same time, a bunch of us felt like we must’ve seen this guy a hundred times before! He just felt so familiar…”

Perdita’s face seemed frozen in contemplation. Clearly something Wally had said was ringing some bells.

“What are the abilities this person has?” Perdita asked, taking a sip from her tea.

“This freaky mental ability… I don’t know what to call it, but it makes people feel safe and familiar towards him. He also has super strength, some kinda way of hacking technology, and recently Robin has been swearing that the guy can teleport too.”

Perdita didn’t say anything. She just waited for Wally to continue, so he did.

“We think this guy is possibly immortal. We found some pretty old pictures of him. Some are at least 150 years old, though we think he might be even older than that.”

“Why is that?”

“Aquaman told us just a little bit, but he kinda implied it. We also think Aquaman might know someone with the same abilities in Atlantis. He said they’re not human or meta, but something else entirely. I’ve been wondering if maybe you had found anyone like that here in Vlatava.”

Perdita’s face darkened.

“Wally, I care about you very much,” she said. “You have been so supportive of me in the last few months when I’ve felt so lonely and weak. However, as much as I’ve come to see you like an older brother, I cannot share anything with you until I know what your intentions are. Why did you really come to Vlatava today?”

Wally sighed. It was easy to lie to the bad guys. It had been so exhilarating to catch Vertigo by stringing the corrupt count along with lies. But Wally had never been good at lying to his friends. He had no idea how Artemis and Conner and M’gann had managed it; lying to his friends just weighed too much on his heart. He knew he was going to have to tell the truth, even if it brought their mission to a screeching halt. He just hoped Perdita wasn’t super offended.

“When we heard from Aquaman that his ‘advisor’ had some kind of mental manipulation abilities, the same kind that the man we’re looking for has, we got really worried that he might’ve been controlled by the bad guys,” Wally explained. “After Queen Bee in Qurac and what happened to the Justice League on New Years, it’s become abundantly clear how common mind control is becoming. We had no way of knowing if Aquaman was being controlled, or even telling the truth, but we decided to follow the few clues we had. He said that every country has one of these ‘advisors,’ and the only one we knew we could verify was here in Vlatava, by speaking to you. I decided to come because you’re a cool friend and I wanted to make sure you’re ok and not being mind controlled by someone.”

Perdita raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“… Ok, and I was maybe hoping to learn some stuff from you. But only if it’s information you can give me! I would never force you to spill anything for me.”

Perdita nodded, mulling Wally’s explanation over in her head.

“How is it that you check for mind control? Is Miss Martian here right now?” She asked.

“Yeah. I guess you can de-camo now, M’gann,” Wally said, prompting her to appear. The two bodyguards were, ironically, caught off guard by the Martian girl, pointing their guns at her as soon as they got over their surprise.

“Hello, your majesty,” M’gann said, holding up the ends of her cape in a curtsy.

“So am I free of any mind control?” Perdita asked her.

“Yup! Your mind is perfectly clear!” M’gann assured her.

“Then, as a friend who is of sound mind—if not yet of sound body—I can guarantee that the person you are looking for is not your enemy. He is probably working as a bodyguard or helper to your president, if I were to guess. You are correct. Every country has at least one of these people within their population; they are very special, and every one of them is unique. That includes the one here, in Vlatava. In fact, the Vlatavan one is very dear to me.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Wally noticed one of the bodyguards fidget in place. Perdita seemed to notice this too and smiled at her guard, but said nothing else.

“… That’s all you can tell us, isn’t it,” Wally said. Perdita nodded.

“I’m sorry, Wally! But I cannot tell you any more. You would have to become a Vlatavan citizen and swear an oath to the people and royal family of Vlatava.”

“Yeah, that citizenship thing is not happening,” Wally joked.

“At least now we can affirm what Aquaman told us,” M’gann noted. “And that Luthor is most likely searching for our mystery man just as much as we are, not working with him.”

“Great,” Wally groaned. “We’re gonna have to keep an eye out for Luthor now, even more than usual.”

“I’m sorry?” Perdita asked. “Is the American… person… in danger?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We believe Lex Luthor may be trying to find him,” M’gann told the queen.

“That is not good,” Perdita said. “For not just the American one, but for all of them. Not only are they important figures for each of their countries, but they are also close friends. They have a tight-knit community, so if one is harmed, the others will likely follow.”

“All the more reason for us to help keep them out of Luthor’s hands,” Wally said.

“And all the more reason why we should head back and tell the others,” M’gann suggested.

“Right.”

Wally stood up from his seat, quickly speeding around to the other side to help Perdita up from hers. He then knelt down to give the young queen a hug, which was enthusiastically returned.

“I’m glad you’re ok, Perdita,” he said. “Remember that if you ever need me, for any reason, you can always call.”

“Thank you, Wally.”

With that, they said their goodbyes and headed back to the bioship. Wally could see Perdita waving at them from the ship’s windows as they lifted into the air. He didn’t know if Perdita could see him from so far up, but he waved back anyway.

Chapter Text

As soon as the American superheroes had exited Vlatavan airspace, one of the queen’s bodyguards turned towards her. He took the seat that Kid Flash had been sitting in during the queen’s tea party.

“I don’t like them,” he grumbled.

“Stoyan, you barely like anyone,” Perdita replied. She poured herself another cup of tea, then poured one for him. “Not even many of the other Nations get your approval. Except for Markovia, that is.”

“Yeah, well Vasile at least isn’t as stupid as America is. Letting teenagers figure out who he is and putting everyone at risk like a total moron.”

“Vlatava, please. This is serious.”

The Nation sighed.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll call America and warn him. And also yell at him for dragging everyone else into his messes.”

“Can you at least try to be polite?”

Vlatava considered himself a tough person. He had survived numerous wars, survived the Nazis, survived the communist block, and lives to tell the tale. He even managed to smuggle his precious royal family out of the country in time for them to survive the rise of the Iron Curtain. He had practically cried tears of joy when the country chose to reinstate them and become a constitutional monarchy. The Nation may have been close to a thousand years old and seen enough terrors to toughen him to the core, but his little queen had wormed her way into his heart the moment she was born. So tiny and weak, yet so brave. He gave her a small smile.

“For you, my queen, I will try.”

***

Unknown to Perdita and her Nation, someone else has been listening in on their conversation. A man who went by the name Black Spider had been spying on them from atop the roof of the royal palace.

The spyder for hire (he found himself hilarious) had been hired by the ex-Count Werner Vertigo. Vertigo had broken out of prison recently and returned to the same old plot he had always had: trying to become king of Vlatava. Of course, the man had been stripped of his noble title and removed from the line of succession when he had gotten caught trying to kill his niece, but that didn’t stop the man. If he couldn’t become king through legal succession, he would simply have to do it the longer and harder way. It would be messy, but the coup d'etat was a classic.

The young queen has obviously increased security after her attempted assassination, so Vertigo had scrapped together all the money he had to hire Black Spider. The man was getting paid to find every hole in Perdita’s security detail he possibly could. What Black Spider was not expecting was for an American superhero’s stupid sidekick to show up for tea time with the queen herself. Even more so, for said sidekick to share some interesting intel. Intel that rang some bells.

Earlier that month, Lex Luthor had put up a bounty for a young man with metahuman abilities. Blond, early twenties, wears glasses, last seen in Washington DC. Mental manipulation, computer hacking, super strength. An absolutely insane amount of money for anyone who could bring the guy to Lex. Black Spider wanted in. And now, here he was doing his job, when some very useful and valuable information fell into his lap!

He sent Luthor a message through the League of Shadows’ private network.

“Hey Luthor. That meta you’re looking for? I’ve got info if you’ve got the cash.”

Despite Vlatava being 8 hours ahead of Metropolis, Luthor responded almost immediately.

“I’m interested. Name your price.”

Black Spider laughed. This payday was too easy. He typed in the amount he wanted, which Luthor was quick to send to his bank account.

“That meta you want? Probably older than your grandparents. At least 150 years old, probably older. Teleporter too. Works for the US government. Way high up in the ranks. Should be a bodyguard or assistant for the president. Some kinda goodie-two-shoes. Also has connections to Atlantis and Vlatava, at least. Probably even more international connections. All connected in some kind of network. Sounds like every country on the planet has at least one of this… kind? Species? Whatever he is, he’s not human. Most importantly, he’s got the junior Justice League on his tail. If you want him, you’re gonna have to beat them to him.”

Black Spider sent the message, then waited for a few moments for Luthor to read it and respond. Finally, he got a message. All it said was:

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

Chapter Text

The Team had been gathered around the cave’s main room. It was mission briefing time, and Batman had requested the four of them for this particular mission.

Batman brought up an image from the most recent mayoral election in Gotham.

“This is Bella Reál, the newest mayor of Gotham City,” he explained. “Since this year is the 350th anniversary of the city’s founding, she is going to be holding a gala tonight to raise money to restore Old Gotham, the city’s historical district.

She is also the first mayor of Gotham City in a very long time that has no connections to any major crime families, and her administration has made a lot of progress in the last few months towards getting rid of the deep-seated corruption Gotham has struggled with for decades.”

“Yeah,” Robin said. “For the first time in years, Gotham’s bureaucracy has actually been making our job easier instead of harder.”

“Agreed,” Batman said. “Of course, this has made her considerably unpopular amongst Gotham’s underground. Because of this unpopularity, rumors have been spreading that at least one, possibly multiple, crime families will make an attempt on Reál’s life tonight. Reál has understandably increased her security detail, but is still in considerably danger.”

“That’s all pretty typical for Gotham,” Artemis commented. “Why ask us to come with?”

Batman brought up some crime scene photos from the GCPD. Many of the confiscated weapons had a telltale red glow to them, and some were even the exact model of body armor with handles that the Team had fought against before.

“In the time since Reál was elected, Robin and I have been seeing more and more Apokoliptan weapons in Gotham. In fact, men hired by both the Maroni and Falcone families have been using them. If Apokoliptan weapons are used at this gala, Robin and I won’t be able to protect all of the gala’s participants by ourselves.”

Batman then brought up a picture of the gala’s invitation. It had all the information about the time and location, all the catering and entertainment that would be provided, and all of the financial supporters of the event. While Wayne Enterprises’ logo was front and center, there was also a familiar ‘L’ shaped logo on the invitation.

“We know that these weapons are supplied by the Light, particularly Lex Luthor. Luthor has also made a statement saying that he will be attending the event in person. This sudden interest in Gotham’s politics is unprecedented and unusual for Luthor.”

“Not to mention dangerous,” Wally added. “I understand if he’s profiting off of Gotham’s crime wars, but why put himself in the line of fire if everyone’s expecting an assassination attempt to go down? Just to make himself look good by making everyone think he supports Reál?”

“That is what I want you to find out,” Batman said. “This mission has two tasks: protect Reál and any civilians from being targeted, while also finding out Luthor’s connections and motivations. Aqualad, I’ll leave it up to you how you would like to divide the team for this mission. Good luck.”

“Understood,” Kaldur said.

***

Robin had never enjoyed the large, overly fancy galas and fundraisers Bruce would occasionally make him attend (and by Bruce, he means Alfred pushing Bruce to do it, which would mean Dick would inevitably get dragged along). All the wealthy and important people in Gotham got together to look wealthy and important, while also being mean and judgy to anyone who wasn’t wealthy or important enough for their standards. It also didn’t help that there was barely ever anyone his age to talk to, so Robin always got bored. At least this time he was here with something fun to do.

Aqualad had split the team in two: Superboy, Rocket, Kid Flash and himself were to stay in civilian clothes and mingle amongst the crowd so they were close to Reál if they needed to rush to her aid. Batman gave them all fake invitations that claimed they were students from Gotham Academy who were there as part of the History club.

Robin, Artemis, Zatanna, and Miss Martian were to scout out the building, take out any of the crime families’ enforcers in the building, and keep an eye on Lex Luthor once he arrived. So far, Robin and Artemis had busted a stash of Apokoliptan weapons (it was hard to keep that telltale red glow out of sight, after all), but otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Luthor had chatted with the Mayor, shook her hand, and generally made small talk with the Gotham elite, but he hadn’t done or said anything suspicious. Robin guessed that the man either hadn’t found the person he was truly there for yet, or really was there for philanthropic reasons.

Yeah, Robin doubted that second one. It wasn’t just unlikely; it was almost impossible.

Robin took out his binoculars from where he was crouched on the rafters that criss-crossed the ceiling. Lots of the old buildings in Gotham had the perfect structures for hiding in, and the old Gotham Grande Hotel was no exception. The rafters also make the perfect spot for searching the crown for the Team’s targets. The Boy Wonder scanned the crowd below him. He easily found his dad, who was chatting with Mayor Reál about Gotham’s public transportation systems and other projects Wayne Enterprises had supported. Aqualad and Superboy were also hovering nearby. Rocket was rolling her eyes while watching Wally stuff his face at the buffet table.

Soon enough, Luthor began making a bee-line towards Reál again. Once Luthor reached the Mayor, he… cut around her? To talk to the person the Mayor had been standing nearby?

Robin zoomed his binoculars in on the person. He wasn’t sure why Luthor would be so interested as to purposefully subvert his own opportunity to talk to Mayor Reál. The person Luthor was talking to seemed perfectly normal; not one of the usual stuffy Gotham socialites. It was a young man with blond hair, blue eyes, rectangular glasses–Hey, wait a minute!

“Guys!” Robin called out mentally. “Our ‘mystery advisor’ is right here! He’s talking to Luthor right now!”

Chapter Text

“I still can’t believe you dragged me to this,” Canada complained, hugging Nanuq close to his chest. The bear responded with a playful lick under his chin.

“I didn’t drag you to anything,” his brother countered. “I said ‘if you’re already in Gotham, you might as well come with me to the fundraiser.’ Besides, you can get all the free fancy-people food you want!”

“Why are you even here?”

“Because they invited local historians and my name was on the list since I occasionally volunteer to restore the old Revolutionary War weapons they have on display at the Gotham History Museum.”

“Yeah, but there are tons of historical celebrations all over the country all throughout the year that you don’t go to. I mean, why did you come to this one, eh?”

“Well it is the 350th anniversary of Gotham’s founding–”

“Oh don’t lie. You want to see Batman.”

“Ok, I really wanna see Batman! And I know technically he’s standing only a few feet away, but you know what I mean! I would talk to him about what it’s like to be Batman if I could, but that guy is even more paranoid than I was back in the ‘60s. I don’t wanna spook him.”

“Please don’t tell me that you think there’s gonna be some kind of crime happening here tonight that’ll warrant Batman to show up…”

“Don’t worry. Even if there is, everyone’ll be fine. He’s Batman.”

“That doesn’t make it better, Al! I knew I shouldn’t have come to this… I’m here in Gotham for one reason only, and that is to see the Gotham Blades get their asses handed to them by the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little hockey-filled head, little brother. Everything’ll be fine, now eat up,” America said, grabbing some hors d’oeuvres and handing them to Canada and his polar bear. Nanuq gobbled up the little mouthful greedily.

“I thought I was the big brother. I do have more landmass, after all,” Canada smirked, taking and eating his food much more gracefully than his pet.

“That’s an interesting way to determine who’s the eldest,” an unfamiliar voice said. “I’ve never heard that one before.”

The twins both jumped with surprise, as they hadn’t seen the man approach them. While neither of them had found his voice familiar, they both quickly recognized his face. Lex Luthor was the leading tech producer in the entire country—probably even the entire continent—after all. The man was also followed by a woman in a suit, probably a personal assistant or bodyguard if America were to guess.

“Lex Luthor, right?” Canada asked the man, moving Nanuq to his left arm so he could offer the man a handshake.

“Yes, I am,” Lex said. “Though I haven’t had the pleasure of learning your names yet.”

“Matthew Williams,” Canada introduced.

“Alfred F. Jones,” America said, though he didn’t bother shaking Lex’s hand, instead putting his hands in his pockets. Luthor was an American citizen, so just by looking at him America could see all of the immoral and unethical ‘business’ ventures and fights against superheroes the man had participated in. America wasn’t a fan, to say the least. Not to mention the fact that Luthor’s interest in him only confirmed how badly he had fucked up by letting himself get caught by Luthor’s security cameras.

“I must say, Mr. Jones, you and your… twin? I’m guessing? are quite fascinating men,” Lex said. “Your skills are quite impressive. The family genes, perhaps?”

“Not at all, Mr. Luthor,” Alfred denied, trying to play off Luthor’s implications for as long as he could. “I’m just a local historian. I particularly have a fascination with Gotham’s 17th and 18th century history, so–”

“Let’s not beat around the bush, Mr. Jones,” Lex cut him off. “After all, I see the evidence of your talents right in front of me. I haven’t forgotten about my lost asset, nor the impressive manner you employed to acquire it.”

Lex looked at Nanuq, who whimpered in fear and held onto Matt’s chest more tightly. Matt in turn frowned and held his bear protectively. Now neither brother was happy with Luthor.

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Mr. Luthor,” Matt said passive-aggressively. “This is not, and never was, an asset of yours. This polar bear cub simply got lost while being transported through DC. Alfred was kind enough to return it to its home when he found it in your facility.”

“Is that the case? Well then I must applaud your brother in his… heroic endeavor. Though that doesn’t explain why it is here right now.”

America almost smiled at being called a hero, but stopped at the last second when he remembered who was complimenting him.

“I’ll have you know that I am an animal caretaker who works with the Canadian government to protect our threatened polar bear population,” Canada gave as his cover story. “He’s here with me because I am his home.”

“Is there anything else we can help you with, Mr. Luthor?” America interrupted, trying to end the conversation with Luthor as fast as he could.

“Absolutely! In fact, I have a proposition for you, Mr. Jones, that would make use of your skills. Just name your price. You too, Mr. Williams, if you share your brother’s abilities. I would be thrilled to work with such unique young men as yourselves.”

“I’m not a hitman, Luthor. And I’m not stealing for you either,” America said.

“Same here,” Canada added.

“I hope you keep my offer in mind, gentlemen,” Luthor said. “I imagine the Gotham History Museum, or any other virtuous institutions you two volunteer for, require more than just the occasional donation to stay open.”

“Yeah, thanks but no thanks. Final answer,” America insisted.

Luthor seemed a bit frustrated, but never lost his customer service smile. He instead took a business card out of his jacket and handed it to America, who reluctantly took it.

“We’ll be in touch, Mr. Jones,” Luthor said.

Suddenly, the lights in the ballroom dimmed. It was time for Mayor Reál to make her speech. Canada took it as the time to drag America to the edge of the ballroom to reprimand him.

“This is exactly why everyone is mad at you!” Canada whisper-yelled.

“Yeah, I know!” America whisper-yelled back. “You think I like having tons of people after me?! I was concerned for Robin when he was following me, but now I’m concerned for us! I don’t want Lex Luthor coming after us either!”

“I didn’t realize the guy was such a blatant criminal.”

“He’s usually more smooth than that. He must think I’m worth dropping the façade for since I stole from him so I must be better than most thieves. Plus, I don’t think he cares about keeping up appearances when it’s not in front of a camera. He’s practically a modern-day Al Capone.”

“Think you’ll be able to catch him on tax evasion?”

“I wish! The guy’s slippery, and has done way worse than Al Capone ever did. Luthor funds mad scientists to create monsters. He’s practically the Justice League’s enemy number one. They just can’t catch him on anything either.”

Canada shuddered at the thought that such a powerful man was now trying to convince them to do his dirty work for him. It just made the whole situation America had started by saving Nanuq even worse.

“You know what? Forget this stupid gala. Is there anything you need to do or anyone you need to talk to?”

“Yes. I need to talk to the mayor before I leave.”

“Fine. Talk to her when she’s done with her speech, and then let’s get out of here! I don’t want to spend another minute in here with Luthor.”

“Totally.”

A wave of applause rose up through the ballroom in response to whatever the mayor had just said. However, it wasn’t nearly loud enough to completely cover up the noise of gunshots ringing out as multiple people took the opportunity to shoot at Mayor Reál. Screaming erupted from the audience, who immediately began running for the exits. The twin Nations were not afraid though, so they just ducked down behind a table.

Fortunately, someone was quick enough to help in front of not only the mayor, but in front of her bodyguards as well. A teenager with an uncanny resemblance to Superman. America, being all caught up on his superhero knowledge, recognized the teenager as Superboy. Canada did not.

“That’s not Batman,” he said in confusion.

“No, but he is a member of Robin’s little team of sidekicks,” America explained. “We need to GTFO, now.”

Before they could do so, the woman who had been following behind Lex Luthor appeared in front of them. America gasped when he realized what was happening, but Mercy Graves’ metal fists slammed down on their heads before they could do anything, knocking both of them out cold.

Chapter Text

As soon as Superboy heard gun safeties clicking off, the Team had sprung into action. Superboy had jumped in front of Mayor Reál to deflect the bullets, while Rocket and Aqualad defended the audience. Kid Flash sped through the crowd, confiscating any and all guns. The rest of the Team helped lead the civilians in the building to safety. However, with the appearance of superheroes, the would-be assassins broke out the heavy artillery and turned the ballroom into a battlefield.

“I knew they still had some Apokoliptan weapons on them!” Kid Flash exclaimed through the Team’s mental link.

“The weapons are just part of the distraction,” Robin said. “Correction: the whole thing is just one big distraction! Luthor’s goon just knocked out our ‘advisor’ and kidnapped him in the chaos! Luthor never cared about Reál, he must’ve just gave the Maronis and Falcones Apokoliptan weapons because he knew it would cause enough mayhem that he could get away without anyone noticing!”

“That does not change the fact that Gotham’s mob warfare is too much for Batman to handle alone now that it is armed with Apokoliptan tech,” Aqualad argued. And he was right. Bruce had changed into Batman as quickly as he could and began taking out the mobsters with the efficiency he was famous for, but the Apokoliptan laser shooters were forcing him to move much more carefully and cautiously. Even Superboy was unable to simply barrel through the shock discs being thrown at him.

Robin looked out the Gotham Grande Hotel’s expansive windows and spotted Luthor and his two captives getting into some cars. Luthor got into a limo, but the two ‘advisors’ were being thrown into a van, which was about to drive off.

“Artemis! Get a tracker arrow on that van before it leaves!” Robin commanded, sending her the image of the van in his mind.

“On it!” Artemis ran out of the building, zigzagging through the fleeing civilians so she could get a clear shot. Her arrow landed on the back of the van just before it turned the corner around the block.

“Got it!”

“Kid, Robin, follow that van and stop it from getting to its destination,” Aqualad ordered. “The rest of us will stay behind and take down the assassins. We will follow you once we can.”

Robin took that as permission to disappear. He swung and flipped his way down from the rafters and out of the building, running towards one of the hidden stashes of equipment he and Batman had built around the city. This one had one of his R-Cycles, which he hopped onto and sped off, following the tracker. He quickly caught up with Kid Flash, who was running along the highway out of the city heading east.

“Looks like the van’s heading into Massachusetts, probably to Boston,” Robin pointed out. “It’s only an hour and a half from Gotham, and since Luthor had put Cadmus in DC, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some similar secret labs in other cities too.”

“You think he would try and clone the ‘advisors’ the way he did Superman?” Kid Flash wondered.

“Wouldn’t surprise me. From what I heard during the gala, it sounds like Luthor tried to hire him, and when our ‘mystery advisor’ refused, Luthor decided to just make him do it the hard way. With the amount of meta abilities he has, I’d be surprised if Luthor didn’t try to get something out of him by force.”

Before long, they had left the Gotham area, and all the skyscrapers and urban sprawl around them gradually transformed into New England towns, forests, and the occasional empty field. Without the city lights, they were left with nothing but the headlights of Robin’s bike to lead the way through the inky black night. When they caught up to the van (it was still speeding even this far out of Gotham; no wonder it had gotten such a head start), its white exterior stood out like a beacon. The man in the passenger seat stuck his arm out the window and tried shooting at them, but Kid Flash burst forward to punch the guy and grab the gun from his hands. Robin grabbed an explosive from his belt and threw it at the tires, blowing them out and causing the driver to lose control. The van swerved back and forth before driving off the road and into a field. It bumped and hobbled along until it gradually slowed to a stop, unable to start again without any functioning tires.

Robin stopped his bike, taking a couple pairs of handcuffs out from his belt and tossing them to Kid Flash, who ran ahead and got the two henchmen out of the van and incapacitated them.

“Didn’t that seem a bit too easy?” Wally asked. “Lex normally has way more backup goons and backup traps and backups for his backups. All of the Light do.”

“I know what you mean,” Robin replied. “Something’s not right. Stay whelmed.”

Both of them were getting the same feeling, the feeling all superheroes get once they’ve been up against someone as cunning as Luthor before. It seemed like they had just won, but they could easily be walking into an ambush if the van was booby-trapped or a decoy for someone like Cheshire hiding in the trees, waiting for them to step into their range.

Robin took his communicator off of his belt, calling the Team.

“Robin to Aqualad. How’s your end?”

“Good,” Aqualad responded. “GCPD have arrived. The mayor is being placed in police custody, and the shooters have been taken down. Mission accomplished here. What about you and Kid?”

“The captors are now the captives, but we’re not feeling the aster just yet. Luthor’s guys went down way too easily.”

“You fear some kind of ambush?”

“Maybe. Not sure yet, but I am sure that we’ll need more than just me and KF.”

“Do not worry. Send us your coordinates and we will get in the bioship and join you shortly.”

“Got it. Robin out.”

Robin put his communicator back in his utility belt. He didn’t know what to expect, if he was being honest. Part of him was still preparing for the captured ‘advisors’ to suddenly start fighting back against him and KF. Nevertheless, they were still two captives who needed liberating, so Robin decided to go ahead and let them out. If they came out swinging, the Team would be here to back him up in just a few minutes. He stepped off the road and into the field, taking out his lock picks so he could open the van doors.

***

Far away, in a limo heading back to Metropolis, Lex Luthor’s brow furrowed in frustration as he watched the video feed from his van. It seemed his men weren’t able to outrun the sidekicks faster enough, even with the distraction he had left for them in Gotham. It was time for his backup plan. He pressed a button on his computer, bringing up the video caller the members of the Light used to talk to each other.

“Klarion, it seems you’ll be getting the playtime you wanted. Just please remember to bring them back to me in one piece.”

“Oh goodie!” The eldritch boy exclaimed. “I can finally get my favorite playmate back after so many centuries! Let’s go, Teekl!”

Chapter Text

It was quite well known amongst the Nations that America had a particular aversion to magic. Whenever the subject came up or one of his fellow Nations performed spells and summonings, he simply turned a blind eye to it and pretended it didn’t exist. He had even managed to convince himself that England’s magical friends simply didn’t exist.

What they didn’t know was why he was so afraid of it.

When Canada was first taken by the British Empire and brought into the British household, England had offered to teach the young Nation some basic magic, but Canada never showed any interest in learning the mystic arts. America was much more open-minded since his people were much more varied in their beliefs, but Canada had been raised strictly Catholic and didn’t want to get involved with something that was considered sinful. That doesn’t mean he didn’t acknowledge its existence, but he didn’t want to be a sorcerer like his new mentor was. England just sighed and dropped the subject, but not before lamenting his lack of a magical protege.

“I had hoped that at least one of you would show some interest,” England had said. “But if you’re not interested then there’s no point forcing you to learn. At least you aren’t terrified of it the way your brother is.”

“Terrified?” Canada asked. “Why is he so scared?” America wasn’t terrified of other sinful behavior, even if he was a bit judgemental sometimes, depending on the sin in question.

“He… uh, had an unfortunate run-in with something… frightening. Some kind of horrifying creature I had never seen before, must be some kind of demon that’s unique to the New World. I got rid of it, but it left your brother with quite the fright.”

“A demon?!” Canada exclaimed.

“Or something of the sort. Some kind of bogeyman out in the woods that tried to hurt him. It might’ve been attracted by the spell I was attempting to teach Alfred, now that I think about it…”

England seemed to realize how much the topic was scaring the boy, and quickly backpedaled to try and calm him down.

“Now now, there’s no need to worry about it! It’s gone now. In fact, neither of us have seen it in nearly a hundred years! It probably moved out into the Indian lands… or maybe some hunter got lucky and shot it dead. Either way, there’s no need to be afraid! But enough talk about frightening things! If we aren’t to use this time to learn magic, then we can use it to learn other things. Did the frog ever bother to teach you arithmetic?”

After a few weeks, Canada eventually forgot about the tale of the American bogeyman. He simply had more important things to worry about than a theoretical demon haunting his brother’s lands. He certainly didn’t ever think he would see the demon in person as it dragged his twin off into the woods to torture him.

The two had healed quickly after being knocked out at the gala, having been woken up rather unceremoniously by the van they had been thrown into rattling them as it hit bumps in the road. They had both been tied up with some kind of special handcuffs, and Canada opened his eyes to find Nanuq chewing on the metal in an attempt to bite them off, with little success.

America had taken one look at the handcuffs he had been put in and shrugged before pulling his arms apart and effortlessly breaking the bindings in two. He then snapped the cuffs themselves off of his wrists and threw the now useless metal pieces onto the floor of the van.

“I can’t believe Lex got one over on us so easily,” America chastised himself. “I’m such a moron; I totally forgot about his assistant!”

“Complain later, Al,” Canada told him. “Can you help me out of these? Not all of us have super strength.”

“Huh? Oh yeah!”

America leaned over and tore the metal into pieces, freeing Canada.

“Thanks.”

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire came from the front of the van, which was sealed off from the back. They had no idea if the driver was shooting at someone or if they were being shot at.

“What the hell?” America yelled, but he got no answer. Soon after the gunfire stopped, the van swerved from side to side, throwing them both into the sides of the vehicle. The ride then got much bumpier; they must have gone off-road. The two held onto whatever they could until the van finally came to a stop.

“Is it over?” Canada asked.

“Dunno. At least we can get out now.”

America stood up (well, stood as tall as one could in the back of a van) and kicked the back doors, busting the lock and forcing the doors open. Now marked with a dent the exact size of America’s boot, the doors hung limply on their hinges. The twins stepped out onto the grass, with Nanuq following right after them. Outside was an empty field, pitch black in the darkness of the night. He was sure America could sense instinctively where they were, but Canada was completely lost. The van’s tail lights lit up the few feet in front of them, but otherwise they couldn’t see much of anything.

That was when a ring of scarlet light appeared in the field, spinning open into a portal, out of which stepped someone… wrong. Nations could usually sense if a person belonged to them or not. Whoever came out of the portal was giving Canada the distinct sense that they weren’t just not Canadian, but not even human.

The… person… had the general appearance of a teenage boy who wore a black suit and tie, reminiscent of a uniform from a catholic school. He had pale skin, pitch black hair, and sharp, black nails, like talons. Two curved horns grew from the top of his head. He had pure black eyes and an unsettling smile, like that of a serial killer. He also carried a tabby cat in his arms.

As soon as America saw the boy (if this creature could even be called a boy), he froze and turned pale as a sheet.

“No, not you…” America whispered under his breath. The boy just smiled even wider once he laid eyes on America, his eyes turning blood red and his teeth sharpening to needles.

“It really is you!” The boy exclaimed with joy. “When Luthor said he found you, I was worried that after all this time you’d be a crummy, boring old geezer, but you’re perfect! We’re gonna have so much fun, just like the old days!”

The boy reached forward to grab America, not caring at all about how the cat that had been in his arms got dropped to the ground. The boy literally flew forward, grabbing America by his shirt and pulling him up into the air. America screamed in terror, wriggling and squirming to get out of the boy’s grip, to no avail. Canada could do nothing but watch in horror as his brother was carried off into the woods by the demon creature, America’s screams echoing through the trees.

For a second, Canada just stood there in shock. Of all the crazy I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening things he had experienced as a Nation over the last 400 years, watching America be kidnapped by a literal demon took the cake.

“It’s Klarion! Luthor called in Klarion for backup!” Someone yelled. Canada spun around to see two young superheroes. He wasn’t nearly as familiar with superheroes as America was, but the shorter one had an R on his chest, so Canada assumed he was Robin. The other boy wore a yellow and red outfit with a lightning bolt on his chest, but Canada didn’t know his name. The lightning-themed boy sped towards Canada, surprising the Nation by crossing the field and reaching his side in seconds. Wasn’t that what the Flash could do? Maybe they were related?

“Are you ok?” The superhero boy asked Canada.

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine. But my brother just got taken by a demon!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get him back.”

As confident and reassuring as he sounded, Canada wasn’t very comforted when the teenager ran over to Robin and asked in a not-very-quiet voice, “What are we gonna do? It took Doctor Fate plus the entire team to keep Klarion distracted, and we couldn’t even beat him until Doctor Fate went for the big guns!”

“The Team’s on their way,” Robin said. “And they know about Klarion. Zatanna will call her dad. For now, we’ve got to keep Klarion distracted for as long as we can.”

The two were interrupted by another one of America’s bone-chilling screams echoing out of the woods.

“Hurry up!” Canada yelled at the two teenagers. “You two are superheroes, aren’t you? Save my brother, please!”

The two heroes nodded, then took off running into the woods, leaving Canada alone in the field with his polar bear. He ran his hands through his hair, trying not to panic. He knew in the back of his mind that America was immortal. Even this demon couldn’t truly kill him… right? Nations only died if their country and all its people died, but magic was always a wild card. Canada honestly had no idea how badly something supernatural could hurt a Nation. It also didn’t help Canada’s mounting panic attack that the superheroes America was so proud of didn’t seem too confident in the face of this demon.

He took out his phone. Even if the superheroes couldn’t save America, Canada knew the one person who could. It was almost 3 AM in London, so England would undoubtedly be cranky, but Canada knew he would come running as soon as he heard that America was in trouble.

Chapter Text

Distracting Klarion was turning out to be even more difficult than usual. Even once the rest of the Team arrived, they weren’t making much progress. No matter what they threw at Klarion, his magic shield deflected, keeping him and his hostage inside.

What was worse was that they were on a time limit. Every minute they wasted was another minute where the ‘advisor’ got closer to death.

To start, Robin and KF had run into the dark Massachusetts forest to the horrifying sight of Klarion hanging their advisor with a noose made out of magic. The lord of chaos was cackling with glee as his captive struggled to breathe, his legs kicking desperately as he clawed at the noose, trying to free himself.

“You were always the most fun to play with!” Klarion said with joy. “No matter how many times I killed you, you always came back! Endless fun!”

Even when they targeted Klarion’s cat, the demonic boy just put a magic shield around his familiar.

“We need to call Doctor Fate!” Zatanna called out through the mental link. She threw more blasts of pure magic energy at Klarion, just to have him throw them back at her with ten times the power, forcing her to take cover behind a fallen log.

Robin did the same, taking out his communicator. But before he could call anyone, he looked up and noticed two people approaching. One was the identical twin of the ‘advisor’ they had been searching for all this time. He was also being trailed after by his loyal polar bear cub. The other was a man Robin hadn’t seen yet, but was immediately confused by his appearance.

The new person was a man in his mid twenties, with messy, sandy blond hair and bright green eyes. He also had noticeably bushy eyebrows, which were currently scrunched up in frustration. Strangely, the man was wearing a bathrobe over some pajamas and sneakers?

The two noticed the ‘advisor’ who had by now gone completely limp in the noose, and his bloodshot eyes had widened with shock. His face was turning a sickening shade of blue. The man in pajamas’ expression changed from one of frustration to surprise at the sight. He then did the absolute last thing Robin would have suggested a civilian do in a situation like this.

He drew Klarion’s attention.

“Oi! Demon!” The man called out—in a posh English accent, Robin noted—with far more confidence than most people would be able to summon when facing down a lord of chaos while in their pajamas. “Let him go, now! I banished you once, I can do it again!”

Klarion’s mood soured. “You again? Leave me alone, you party pooper!”

The man held his hands out to his sides and they began to glow with magic.

“I’m only giving you one warning. Let him go now or face the consequences.”

“Eh, no thanks!” Klarion said as he casually slammed Superboy into a tree with magic. He then threw a circle of magic towards the man, which sharpened as it flew, turning into a circular saw blade. Robin leapt out from his covered position behind a tree to tackle them to the ground. The one in pajamas was successfully pushed out of the way, but the one who was the spitting image of Klarion’s hostage wasn’t able to get away completely unharmed. He had ducked out of the way, but his shoulder got nicked by the spinning scarlet blade of magic and blood began gushing from his arm.

Robin ran to the man’s side, pulling out a rolled-up bandage from his utility belt. He tore the man’s sleeve open so he could reach the wound, then quickly wrapped the man’s upper arm. The bandages quickly turned red with blood.

“Don’t worry,” the man told Robin. “I’ll be fine. Save Alfred!”

“You’re bleeding a lot! I need to make sure you don’t bleed out!” Robin explained.

“Like I said, I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Don’t worry about me. Alfred’s the one in danger!”

“We’re doing the best we can,” Robin said. “Until Klarion’s cat is vulnerable, all we can do is distract him and hope he’ll lose concentration.”

“Is that so?” The man in pajamas asked, though he seemed to be simply thinking out loud as opposed to directly asking Robin. “Then the demon must be tied to that cat like he was the last time I fought him. That makes things easy. Matthew, may I borrow your bear?”

“What? Why do you need Nanuq?” The man, Matthew, asked.

“Don’t worry, he won’t get hurt. I just need his help to kick this demon back to hell where it belongs.”

“Uh, sure then. Just be careful with him, eh?”

“Of course, love.”

The man in pajamas began performing some kind of spell, which made his hands glow with magical energy. Robin was used to hearing Zatanna speak backwards to perform her spells, but this man was speaking in another language entirely. Even with Robin’s lessons in foreign languages from Alfred (his butler, not the advisor currently being held hostage by Klarion), he had never heard this particular language before. Maybe it was a dialect of a Scandinavian or Germanic language?

Whatever it was, the words being spoken caused a ring of magical light to form around the polar bear cub, who looked around itself with curiosity. Before Robin’s eyes, the bear—Nanuq, the men had called it—began growing, changing from a small cub into a fully grown adult bear in only a few seconds. Robin jumped back in surprise.

The magic ring around the bear then transferred itself, the light moving into Nanuq’s claws and making them glow with magic energy. Invigorated with magic, the polar bear let out a roar and charged at Klarion. Artemis had to jump out of the way of the furious animal, as it ran at full speed towards Klarion’s cat with no concern for its surroundings. Nanuq then slashed at the shield Klarion had erected around the cat. The bear’s magically enhanced claws pierced the shield, which began to stretch and make a horrible noise, like nails on a chalkboard. The shield didn’t give away immediately, forcing the bear to tear into it and slash at it until there was a big enough hole in the shield for the bear to enter through.

Klarion screamed, his fun suddenly cut short.

“Oh no you don’t!” The lord of chaos yelled. “I’m not done playing yet! Teekl, take care of this nuance for me?”

The cat meowed in annoyance.

“Whatever! He knows I meant ‘nuisance’!” Klarion yelled in exasperation. He then snapped his fingers, causing his cat to grow, turning into a vicious sabertooth tiger.

Matthew, scared for his polar bear, tried to get up and run to it, but Robin forced him back down. Not only was his shoulder still bleeding, but his polar bear didn’t need any extra help. Nanuq was easily double the size of Klarion’s cat, even in its sabertooth form. The polar bear and tiger both growled at each other, but they were in no way an equal match. The polar bear stood on its hind legs, rising to its full height. Ten feet tall and incredibly strong, the polar bear slammed into the tiger, knocking it down to the ground and cutting into it with its glowing claws. The tiger whimpered, and Klarion was affected immediately. He started fading in and out of reality.

“No no no no no!” He cried, stomping on the ground and going into full-on tantrum mode. “How dare you harm my precious pussy-cat?”

“Leave now, demon,” the man in pajamas commanded. “Or else your familiar will be slaughtered and made into a fur rug. I feel that’s fair, considering how you’ve tortured my son.”

Klarion groaned like a child being told to clean their room. He snapped his fingers again and the sabertooth tiger shrunk back down into a house cat, which then crawled out from under Nanuq’s giant paws and limped towards Klarion before jumping into the evil boy’s arms.

“Ugh, fine.” Klarion groaned. “Old geezer, ruining my fun again…”

With that, he summoned a ring of scarlet magic which opened up into a portal. He stepped into it, disappearing from reality. Once Klarion was gone, any magic he had been maintaining disappeared as well, including the noose that had been holding Alfred off the ground. He fell to the ground like a rag doll, completely motionless.

Kid Flash raced over to him, took off a glove and put his fingers to Alfred’s neck to check for a pulse. After trying multiple times and finding nothing, he tried performing CPR. He only managed a few chest compressions before Matthew put a hand on his arm.

“You don’t need to do that,” Matthew said. “He’s already dead.”

“I’m so sorry…” Wally apologized.

The men didn’t react. They didn’t even emote. If anything, the man in pajamas just shrugged.

“Give him a little time. He’ll be fine, if a bit shaken up,” he said. “For now, Nanuq? Come here, sweet bear.”

The polar bear walked over to the man in pajamas, who began speaking in the same language as before that Robin couldn’t recognize. With a flash of light, the ten foot tall polar bear was replaced with the adorable cub that it had been before. The cub then waddled over to its owner, who picked it up and cuddled it in his arms.

“Now I believe that’s everything sorted,” said the man in pajamas.

“That’s some impressive magic, sir,” Zatanna complimented the man. The man lit up.

“Why thank you! It’s so rare that my magical skills are recognized. You are quite the talented sorceress as well, my dear.”

“Thank you. And, I’m very sorry about your friend.”

“Oh please. It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last time Alfred dies. I feel sorry for the lad that this time was particularly traumatic, but he’ll be fine. You lot are those superheroes he loves so much, aren’t you? I’m sure when he wakes up he’ll be more than happy to explain everything to you. He’s already gone and blown more than any of us are happy with you knowing, what’s a bit more? Now I’d prefer to return to London before the National Guard arrives. They tend to be quite bothersome.”

“I believe it’s too late for that, Mr. Kirkland,” a new voice said.

Matthew and the man both turned around, looking back in the direction they had come from. Soldiers came rushing through the woods, quickly encircling everyone and pointing their guns at the Team and the advisors. The person leading the squadron was the person who had spoken. A woman dressed in a very professional looking suit, her outfit completed by the very miserable frown on her face.

“What is Mr. Jones’ current status?” The woman asked. A soldier pushed Kid Flash aside so he could check the body.

“Dead. Cause appears to be strangulation,” the soldier reported.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” the woman said. “Mr. Williams and Mr. Kirkland, you are free to leave and return to your homes. However, all the superheroes present are under arrest for murder.”

Chapter Text

The Team was shocked. They had never been arrested before. Wally didn’t know what to do. He was still personally trying to get over the fact that they had failed to save the man they had been trying to protect for weeks now. Wally was still kneeling next to the man’s body, having not moved since he had announced the man’s death. Aqualad looked like he was about to step up and defend the Team’s innocence. The Atlantean teen straightened up, opening his mouth to speak… but was cut off.

“That’s complete bullshit,” said the man in his pajamas.

He was going to defend the Team?!

The man was now quite disheveled, still in his pajamas and having just survived a magical fight against Klarion of all people, but he didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by the woman. He simply launched into a tirade, as if he got into arguments with very powerful people regularly.

“The heroes here were trying to protect Alfred from the real threat, which I managed to get rid of, no thanks to you or your completely useless National Guard! You can take the witness accounts of both Matthew and I if you truly need them, but simply declaring these kids guilty of murder when you weren’t present to witness it yourself is utter bollocks!”

“Mr. Kirkland–” the woman started.

“That’s Sir Kirkland to you, madam,” the man corrected her.

“Well, Sir Kirkland, I will have you know that you do not have any authority in this country. ARGUS has determined this team of superheroes to be a danger to our Nation, and is hereby taking appropriate measures.”

“Very well then,” Sir Kirkland said. “If you won’t take my word for it, listen to Alfred’s. He has authority over you and I guarantee that he’ll say the exact same once he wakes up. It’s been a few minutes already; he should be waking up any moment now.”

It wasn’t exactly on cue, but after a few awkward minutes of hearing nothing but crickets from the forest undergrowth, the corpse Wally was sitting near suddenly started breathing again. It was the raspy, rattling gasp of someone struggling to take in air, but it was, in fact, breathing. Wally jumped back in surprise. Despite the people around him saying casually and confidently that Alfred was going to come back to life, Wally was still shocked when he actually did.

“Give him some space!” Kirkland commanded, so Wally stepped back. The soldiers around them also stepped back, lowering their guns in the process. Alfred gingerly sat up, coughing up a lung as he attempted to clear his throat. Wally couldn’t imagine it was a comfortable process, considering his windpipe had been crushed. A National Guardsman quietly offered him a bottle of water, which Alfred accepted, gulping it down greedily.

Kirkland knelt down in front of him. “Careful,” he warned. “Too fast and you’ll choke. Your throat isn’t entirely back to normal just yet.”

Alfred took the water bottle away from his lips.

“Artie? When did you get here?” Alfred asked.

“Matthew called me here to banish the demon, so I came right away. You should be thanking him, by the way. It was his bear that allowed me to save you.”

Matthew joined the two on the forest floor.

“How’re you feeling?” Matthew asked.

“Like shit. I thought after Arthur got rid of that thing back in the 1650s, it would be gone for good. Do I have to, like, demon-proof my house now?”

“I do not believe Klarion will return any time soon,” Aqualad piped up. “It is likely that he only appeared because he was summoned.”

“Who was crazy enough to summon that thing?” Alfred asked.

“It was Lex Luthor’s goons who had kidnapped you, so he had to have been the one to summon Klarion to go after you,” Robin said. “Not to mention that Luthor has partnered up with Klarion in the past. He’s pretty much the only person who has the means and motive.”

“Well, yeah, that tracks. It was Luthor’s assistant who knocked me and Mattie out! Amanda, call the FBI! Get them on Luthor’s ass! I doubt we’ll be able to press charges or whatever just because of who I am, but at least try something!” Alfred said to the woman in charge of the soldiers.

“I’ll let them know about the kidnapping, but that does not change the charges being pressed for your most recent murder,” she said.

“Wait, what? What charges? How do you expect to arrest a demon?”

“She’s referring to your superheroes,” Matthew explained. “She’s assuming that they’re the ones who killed you and wants to arrest them for it ‘cause she didn’t see what really happened and she doesn’t trust their word. Arthur convinced her to wait until you woke up and could explain.”

“Goddamnit, Amanda!” Alfred yelled. “I’ve told you time and time again that the Team is not a threat! They weren’t the ones who killed me! They rescued me and Matt from being kidnapped and then helped Arthur fight off that freaky demon thing! That’s what killed me!”

Amanda didn’t respond. She simply took a deep, exasperated breath.

“Fine. If that’s your complete testimony, I suppose the charges will be dropped, but this needs to be where these superhero interactions end,” Amanda said. “I know you’ve been putting yourself in extra danger in these last few months because of your obsession with heroes, Jones. You are to return home as soon as you’re physically well enough. Understand?”

Alfred just rolled his eyes, taking another sip of water. Amanda ignored his disrespect. She clearly was not satisfied with this outcome, but didn’t have the power to go against Alfred’s orders.

“Alright, we’re done here. All units, fall back and return to base!” Amanda ordered. The National Guard retreated, heading out of the forest and back towards the highway. The woman then looked around at the Team.

“And as for you,” she addressed them as a whole. “I do not want to see you junior superheroes interacting with any of the men here in the future. I especially do not want to see you digging into secret government assets again. The UN charter for the Justice League allows for humanitarian aid and protection of civilians, not hacking into government databases and tracking special agents. This is your only warning.”

With that said, she turned around and followed the National Guard back out of the woods. The Team breathed a collective sigh of relief. Aqualad in particular, since he no longer had to worry about defending the Team against incarceration. He walked over to Kirkland, who was rubbing Alfred’s back as the man was overcome by another coughing fit. Alfred’s neck, which had been painted purple with bruises from the noose, was gradually returning to normal. His eyes had been completely bloodshot, but his scleras were now returning to white. It was an unsettling transformation, to say the least.

“I must thank you for standing up for us,” Aqualad told Kirkland. “You have saved us in multiple ways tonight.”

Kirkland stood up from where he had been crouched down. He also wrapped his bathrobe more tightly around himself; it seemed that now that the immediate danger was over, the man was more self conscious over the fact that he was here in nothing but a bathrobe, boxers, and a Sex Pistols t-shirt.

“Not at all, lad,” Kirkland dismissed. “Alfred would’ve put his neck on the line for yours in a heartbeat. He absolutely adores you superheroes; he would never allow you to get arrested for something you didn’t do.”

Alfred nodded enthusiastically.

“And besides,” Kirkland continued. “You lot were quite helpful against that demon. It may have seemed like a waste, but by distracting the creature, you made the process much easier and less painful. The last time I had to banish it, I was a much less experienced sorcerer, not to mention that I had to banish it on my own. It took hours before the thing was tired out and I was able to find an opening.”

“It was a shitshow,” Alfred succinctly summarized.

“We’ve struggled with Klarion in the past too,” Zatanna said. “Even with help from other sorcerers, he’s a handful for anyone.”

“Dude, he’s a lord of chaos,” Wally said. “Dr. Fate called him a personification of chaos itself.”

“Is that so?” Kirkland asked. “I thought he was just a run-of-the-mill demon. He’s definitely sadistic enough to be one.”

“‘Personification of chaos’ does sound pretty metal,” Matthew commented. “And also like something you’ve called Al in the past.”

“I call Alfred many things, but I don’t think ‘personification of chaos’ is one of them. Sounds a bit too grand for him.”

“Speaking of names and badass titles,” Robin piped up. “What can we call you guys?”

Kirkland offered his hand for Robin to shake. “Sir Arthur Kirkland, at your service.”

“Matthew Williams.” “Alfred F. Jones,” the twins introduced themselves.

Wally could see Robin wasn’t satisfied with their answers. He wasn’t frowning, but he definitely wasn’t smiling, and Alfred noticed.

“Oh don’t give me those eyes, Robin!” He whined. “I know you’ve been detective-ing for weeks now but I swear I can’t tell you anything more than that! I’ve already been yelled at by practically the entire EU! Personally, I think telling you guys exactly what we are would actually be more helpful than harmful, but no one wants to listen to me.”

“Dude, you wanting to see Batman in action is the reason we almost got kidnapped tonight,” Matthew reminded him.

“Which is why I’m saying that telling them what we are will be more helpful! If they actually know who we are and what we do, they can better keep us safe from people like Luthor!”

“Who is only after us because you got impatient and busted into his place in the first place.”

“Hey, I only did that because you couldn’t keep an eye on your bear.”

“Enough squabbling!” Arthur stopped them. “It won’t fix anything. Honestly, I don’t think this mess even can be fixed at this point. Even if not every detail has been revealed, the worst has already happened. It doesn’t matter what Luthor thought you two are, he kidnapped you anyway. For all intents and purposes, the cat’s already been let out of the bag. If Alfred really wants to spill everything, I don’t see how he could possibly make anything worse. We’re already out in the middle of… Alfred, where the hell are we?”

”Massachusetts.”

”Perfect!” He exclaimed, words dripping with sarcasm. “We’re standing in a forest in Middle-of-nowhere, Massachusetts. No civilians could possibly overhear us, can they? No one else is out here but woodland animals! What could go wrong?”

“Famous last words,” Matthew muttered.

“They’re heroes, Matt. I’m not yelling from the rooftops for the entire world to hear,” Alfred said, though Matthew didn’t look very reassured. “They already keep the secrets of the Justice League. What’s a few more secrets?”

“Mr. Jones, you are not required to tell us anything you are not allowed to reveal,” Aqualad said. “We have already heard from the royal families of both Atlantis and Vlatava that we do not have the clearance for such information.”

“Yes, because those two are actually responsible Nations who know how to keep a lid on their secrets,” Matthew said, clearly aimed at Alfred.

“Sure, usually we keep this a secret from most of the population. But that’s because of people who’ve taken advantage in the past. I know these kids. I trust them. And now I need you two to trust me. You listened to me when we wrote the charter for the Justice League! Look how well that’s turned out!”

"I already told you, I don’t see how you could possibly make this any worse by telling this little team of teenagers,” Arthur said. “Go ahead for all I care.”

Even with Arthur’s approval, Alfred stayed silent, waiting for Matthew’s opinion. His brother was still quiet though, thoroughly mulling over the decision. Matthew ran a hand through Nanuq’s thick white fur, a habit that he had been doing all night. It seemed to be a nervous tick of some kind. Finally, he let out a deep breath.

“Fuck it. Fine. Let’s do this,” he said.

Chapter Text

“Believe me, we know how to keep secrets,” said Artemis.

“I don’t doubt it,” Alfred agreed. “Only problem is that technically I’m not allowed to tell you, even if I want to. But if you guys manage to figure it out on your own…”

“We’ve been trying for weeks,” Conner said. “Even with Robin’s detective skills, we still haven’t figured it out.”

“Could you at least give us some hints?” Raquel asked.

“You’re already so close!” Alfred grinned. “You just need an itty-bitty push. You guys already know I’m not human or a meta. Plus, you’re already familiar with something similar. Didn’t you just say a little while ago that Klarion is a ‘personification of chaos’? That’s pretty darn close.”

“So you’re a personification… but, of what?” Wally asked.

“I think you’ve got enough to connect the dots now,” Alfred said. “Think of all the things you’ve found over the last few weeks; who recognizes me and who doesn’t; what people in-the-know have told you. I know you’ve talked to Aquaman and Queen Perdita of Vlatava, and I know they’ve given you at least some clues.”

The Team dug through their memories of the last few weeks of all the times they had researched, brainstormed, or talked to someone about the people they had simply been calling ‘advisors.’ What had they been seen doing? What did the members of the team who felt strange when looking at Alfred have in common? What could they possibly represent that was so important as to warrant such strict government supervision?

Suddenly, Kaldur remembered what Aquaman had told him. With a human personification in mind, it made far more sense.

You look at Atlantis and see your home because that is who she is: your home.

Kaldur chuckled. “He is right. We had already been told exactly what you are. We simply had not realized it yet.”

“What do you mean?” Artemis asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty still lost,” Zatanna said.

“They are the personification of countries,” Kaldur explained. Alfred threw his hands up in the air victoriously.

“Yes! I knew you guys could do it!” He exclaimed.

“Excuse me?” Wally asked. “Entire countries?!”

“Bingo!” Alfred said. “So, Aqualad, who—or what—am I?”

“You are the United States,” Kaldur answered. “That is why Robin, Kid, Artemis, Zatanna, and Rocket all recognized you: they are all Americans.”

Several members of the team let out noises of realization. Alfred did a little victory dance, celebrating their discovery. Robin, however, was frustrated, still trying to figure out how Kaldur had solved the riddle.

“How? How did you figure it out?” Robin asked, the when I didn’t left unspoken.

“When my king told me to stop investigating, he specifically referred to Atlantis as ‘she,’ not ‘it.’ At the time, I thought he was simply being poetic. I did not realize until now that he meant it literally. The woman I had seen in Atlantis, to whom I had felt a camaraderie similar to what you all had described when looking at Mr. Jones, she is not simply an advisor of Atlantis. She is Atlantis. The reason we feel such a connection with the personification of our nation is because we are quite literally looking at our home, and so we feel ‘at home’ when we look at them.”

“Exactly,” America said. “It’s your Sense of Home. And in return, I can sense which ones of you are American, along with some other important parts of your identities. It’s a two-way street, really.”

“What do you mean by that?” Robin asked.

“I’m not telepathic, but I have a sixth sense for this stuff, literally. I know your real names, for one. Your birthdays, where you’re from, etc. I know the aspects of yourselves that you consider an important part of who you are. For example, Wally, I know you were born in Blue Valley, Nebraska but your family moved to Central City when you were in middle school. I know you’re a chemistry and physics genius and that you’re proud of the fact that you’re able to keep up with the Justice League’s tech talk. You keep souvenirs from each mission you do with the Team and you consider yourself the Team’s unofficial record keeper because of it.”

The Team turned to look at Wally for confirmation. He was shocked.

“Woah,” Wally said sheepishly. “That’s pretty impressive.”

“Thanks. I would do the same with the other Americans, but you were the only one who would be comfortable with me baring their soul like that. Robin and the girls are more secretive, it seems.”

“I guess so–” Wally said, cutting himself off as he had a sudden realization. “Wait! Superboy was born in the US cause he was made by Cadmus back in DC. Doesn’t that make him American too? Like, automatically?”

“True!” America confirmed. “Anyone born on American soil is an American citizen. However, you do need to identify as an American for me to be able to sense you as one of my citizens and for you to see me as your home. I’m guessing Superboy doesn’t see himself as an American.”

“I guess Cadmus didn’t find it important enough to give me a nationality when they programmed me,” Conner shrugged.

“That’s funny,” America said. “And ironic. I can sense Superman, even though he wasn’t even born on this planet, and yet I can’t sense you when you were born in my capital city.”

Conner didn’t look too happy. It was yet another thing about him that separated him from Superman, not to mention everyone else on the team. Thankfully, Matthew noticed his visible discomfort, even if his brother didn’t.

“Don’t worry about it, man,” Matt said. “Even regular people struggle with finding a home to identify with sometimes. You’ll get it eventually, even if it isn’t even in the US.”

Conner huffed. “Thanks.”

“I wonder if Mars has a Nation!” M’gann thought aloud. “Or Krypton! Well, if Krypton had a Nation.”

“If anything, that’s something only you could tell us, Miss Martian,” America said. “Ever found someone on Mars like us?”

M’gann shook her head. “Not that I can remember. But, I’m not very close to the royal family, so I’m not the best person to ask.”

“Mars has a royal family,” Arthur muttered. “Never thought I’d ever hear that before.”

“Well, who identifies as what and what alien planets have Nations aside, I’m sure you guys have lots of questions,” America said. “So, go ahead, shoot.”

Chapter Text

“Yeah, I have one,” Robin said, raising his hand like a student in class. “First of all, who—or where—are you two?” He asked, pointing to Matthew and Arthur. “With that accent, I’m guessing you’re England…” Arthur affirmed this with a nod. “But who are you? You and America are identical. Are you twins? How does that even work?”

“I’m Canada,” Matthew explained. “And yes, America and I are twins. Or at least, we assume that we are.”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “Assume?”

“I suppose you might as well be asking how Nations are born in the first place,” Arthur, or England, said. “Which is honestly a much more complicated question than you would guess. To be truthful, even we aren’t fully sure. As far as we know, when a group of people develop a new common identity, a new Nation Personification simply… appears. According to ancient myth, the Roman Empire supposedly rose from the earth fully formed.”

“I mean, China has been saying for decades that he was born 5000 years ago when he was pulled from the flooded Yangtze River, but we can’t tell if he’s pulling our leg or not cause he’s an overly theatrical guy who refuses to give us anything else to work with,” America complained.

“So, I guess you two, uh, ‘appeared’ at the same time then?” Raquel asked.

“Close enough,” England said. “The problem is more that because Nations simply… pop up, there isn’t always someone around to document the event. America was easier to keep track of, he was born around 1610… ish. As soon as the colonists noticed him, they made note of him, and then eventually the news reached me. Canada on the other hand… Who knows how long he had been alive and wandering the territory before France found him. Our perception of time is much slower than that of humans, days can seem to pass in an instant if we don’t focus sometimes. Not to mention that Canada was only a small child at the time. Without someone keeping track, it’s hard to determine if he had been fending for himself for months, years, or decades.”

“Then, why do you look so alike?” Conner asked.

“Honestly? We have no idea,” Canada admitted.

“Fate?” America guessed. “We’ve always called ourselves twins because humans always assumed that we were twins. We’re identical, and we look like we’re the same age now, but we haven’t always. Nations aging or growing depends on a whole bunch of factors, so there have been times when Canada and I didn’t even look like we were the same age. During the Revolution, I was a teenager, but Matt was still a kid. Then a few decades later, he had caught up to me again.”

“Would a DNA test say anything?” Conner asked.

“Nations don’t really have DNA the way humans do,” America said. “The government tried to do a few on me back when DNA tests were first invented, but they always came back a jumbled mess. Apparently my test said different things depending on the state of the country at the time. It even claimed that I had different hair and eye colors sometimes. But our appearances don’t change with time or anything; what we looked like when we were born is how we’ll look forever, even if our population demographics change.”

“That explains the security tech!” Robin exclaimed. “The reason those scanners let you through is because you naturally were drawing from the DNA of people who had access! Er, probably.”

“Maybe! Who knows?” America laughed. “The thing is, not everything about us is a one-to-one ratio for our people. My love of heroes doesn’t mean all Americans love superheroes. But it’s hard to tell where certain traits come from sometimes. Some come from the people, some are from other Nations, some come from who knows where.”

“Sometimes Nations share similar traits with each other, like human relatives do, but it varies somewhat randomly,” England said. “I look a little bit like my brothers, but we’ve also had quarrels in the past over whether or not we should even call each other brothers. My theory has always been that there was something unique to the New World that you two shared and that something is what made you identical. Of course, that’s just my theory. Hell, you two aren’t even exactly identical; your eye colors are slightly different and your hair grows differently. If you two were human, I’d say that Canada got his curlier hair from France, but that doesn’t explain why your eyes are violet. America is solely mine, but that doesn’t explain why his eyes are blue when mine are green.”

“So, are you his dad then?” M’gann asked. “You did call America your son earlier, too.”

England blushed, quickly getting flustered as he realized what he had just let slip.

“That’s nonsense, I must be more out of it than I thought!” he exclaimed. “When Canada called, it was close to 3 in the morning after all. I’ve only had about 4 hours of sleep; I must have been completely loopy!”

“Aw, Iggy! You really do love me!” America teased, grinning widely.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now, you brat!”

“Even if you two don’t consider each other father-and-son, I’m pretty sure the American people do,” Wally said, grinning right along with his Nation. “I very clearly remember those old Schoolhouse Rock videos saying ‘America was missing Mother England.’”

“Mother England?” Artemis asked.

“Oh, that’s an old misunderstanding humans have had for ages.” England said. “Back in the days of Ancient Rome, many of the European Nations were worshiped as gods or goddesses, and many of them just happened to be female. Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Gaul, Britannia, all were female. So even when the times changed and those Nations were replaced by newer and younger Personifications, the humans just stuck to those images anyway. It’s not like we can correct them now.”

“Why not?” Kaldur asked. “Why the secrecy in the first place, especially when you used to be treated like gods?”

“Two reasons, really,” England said. “Number one: the spread of Christianity. No more worshiping gods other than the Christian god, at least not in Europe. Even if we had remained public figures, we certainly wouldn’t be treated like gods anymore. Number two… well, I guess it was the end of Pax Romana itself. With the fall of the Roman Empire, every Nation was constantly looking for others to conquer. If you could simply look to your neighbor and see that their Nation Personification was healthy and happy, you could tell that the land they represented was probably valuable and worth conquering. Or, on the other hand, if their neighbor was sick, you knew that they were vulnerable and wouldn’t be in a great shape to defend themselves. Kings all over Europe simply decided it would be more to their advantage if they kept their cards close to their chests and hid their Nation Personification from others. And that’s how it’s been ever since. We work for our governments, try to guide them or help them with our expertise, and in our free time, we simply hide in plain sight by blending in with our populaces.”

“We also hide—well, usually hide—because of some… bad experiences in the past,” Canada added. “Humans aren’t always as chill as you guys are to know that we exist. Especially when they’re not big fans of the current government. It doesn’t matter that we try to stay neutral of political parties or regimes. Lots of humans just assume that we have way more power or control over their lives than we really do and, uh, overreact. France still has the scar around his neck from the guillotine…”

“Hey, that’s nothing!” America argued. “I’ve got the entire Mason-Dixon Line on my stomach. Practically all the nurses in DC had to repeatedly stitch me back together just to make sure I didn’t fall apart from the waist down, like Frankenstein.”

“All of us have Indirect Injuries, you hosehead,” Canada reminded him. “I meant ones caused by humans directly.”

“What do you mean by ‘indirect injuries’?” Wally asked.

“When something happens on our land or to our people, the result shows up on our body,” America explained. “Disasters? Famines? Wars? Plagues? All hurt us, even if we weren’t directly affected by them. See this?”

America lifted up his shirt, showing off his stomach. A horrifically large scar stretched across his entire waistline. It was clearly not something a surgeon would ever make. It was perfectly straight at some sections, yet as jagged as broken glass at others.

“All throughout the Civil War, my stomach kept tearing itself open whenever tensions rose and battles were fought. I was stuck in bed rest for the entirety of the war. Nurses tried to keep me together, but then a few weeks later, a new battle would happen and all their work would go out the window.”

He put his shirt back down.

“So national growth makes you grow, harm to the country hurts you guys,” Robin summarized. “Makes sense. But, does it work the other way? I mean, Klarion just strangled you to death. Is there gonna be an earthquake somewhere in the country now because of that?”

“Thankfully, no,” America said. “It hurts, but it only hurts me. It doesn’t hurt the people. Doesn’t stop it from sucking though, and it’s part of why I think telling you guys who we are will help us out: less pain and suffering overall if you guys are on our side. Speaking of, has my neck gone healed yet? It feels much better.”

Over the course of their conversation, the bruising on his neck had slowly disappeared. What had looked like a watercolor painting only a little while ago was now close to normal, with just a few patches of mottled yellow still visible. A few members of the Team nodded, so America continued on with what he had been saying.

“Ok, good. But yeah, lots of humans just don’t know how to react when they learn what we are. Even the governments sometimes don’t know what to do with us. I’ve had some presidents that learned that I exist, then just used me like a human barometer to see if the country was doing well. Barely talked to me or anything, so I would just leave and go to do my own thing most of the time. Definitely made me thankful that our powers let us blend in pretty easily.”

Hearing that made Kaldur feel a bit guilty, thinking back to how the team had initially assumed the Nations were hostile. They had simply been guessing at the time that the Nations might be controlling people. It stung a bit to realize how close they had been to accidentally reaching the wrong conclusion and choosing to hurt America.

“The Sense of Home and the teleporting, sure. But the super strength? Dunno how much that helps you blend in.” Robin said.

“Oh, that’s not actually something all of us have,” America said. “Ever heard of the term ‘global superpower’? That affects us pretty literally. I’ve had it ever since the Industrial Revolution, but others have had it too. Russia had it during the Cold War for a few decades. Even Iggy here had it for a bit! Back when ‘the sun never set on the British Empire.’”

“Yeah, but America using it to do stupid stuff is entirely unique to him,” Canada snarked.

“Hey!” America elbowed him. “Like you haven’t done stupid stuff with your powers before, Mr. I’ll-stay-out-all-night-playing-hockey-in-the-wintertime-because-I-can’t-die-of-hypothermia.”

Artemis started counting on her fingers for each one of their powers: “Sense of Home, healing, resurrection, occasional super strength, teleportation–”

“Hopping,” the twins corrected her in tandem.

“Excuse me?” She asked.

“Hopping. It’s what we call it,” England explained. “It’s not exactly teleportation because we can’t go absolutely anywhere. We can only Hop within our own borders.”

“Then how did you get here?” Raquel asked.

“Magic,” he responded. “Plain and simple. It takes a lot of energy to cross the pond like that… and I’ll have to do it again just to get back before dawn. Ugh, I swear I’m calling in sick to work tomorrow just so I can sleep for 24 hours…” England groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. “You better be grateful I came to help you, you git,” he told America, nudging him with his foot. America just nudged him right back.

“Anything else you lot want answered before I can go home and sleep?” England asked, yawning halfway through the question.

“One last question,” Wally said. He then sped over to Matthew. “Since it did start this whole… adventure, I’ve gotta ask: what’s up with the talking polar bear?”

“Oh, Nanuq?” Matthew said. “He’s my pet. I’ve had him for a long time, actually.”

“No, dude. I mean why can he talk?”

“Oh, that’s because of me, actually,” England said. “I enchanted the bear with the ability to speak so poor Canada wouldn’t get lonely with no one around but America or the frog. See, there’s another reason we can’t be around humans that much. Our immortality rubs off on others around us if they spend enough time near us. Problem is, it has a tendency to drive people mad; humans aren’t really able to handle the loss of time perception that comes with elongated life. Animals are typically fine though, so many of us keep pets as companions, since we have no other options other than to spend all our time with our fellow Nations, and honestly, I think that would simply drive us all mad.”

“Why didn’t you give me a talking animal when I was little?” America asked him.

“You didn’t have a pet back then, you greedy boy,” England told him. “You played with wild rabbits as much as you chased after venomous snakes and dangerous beasts. Not to mention that you spent your childhood wandering amongst the colonists. You found enough companions on your own. I never had to worry about you getting lonely.”

England yawned again, even bigger than he had before.

“Now, if that’s everything sorted, I’m heading back home to London,” he said. “Goodnight!”

With that said, he muttered a spell in Old English, the voicing of which caused a glowing magic circle to appear on the forest floor around the spot he was standing. The next moment, he and the circle disappeared in a flash of light.

“We should be getting back soon too, dude,” America said to his brother. He checked his phone. “It’s getting late. If I Hop back to Gotham now, I can grab my car and pick you up within an hour or so, so I think we’ll get back to my apartment by midnight.”

“We can give you a ride back in Bioship!” M’gann offered.

“In what?” Canada asked.

“My Martian Bioship! It’s our spaceship. We can get you back to Gotham in ten minutes flat!”

America’s eyes widened.

“Did you say Martian spaceship?!” he asked. M’gann nodded.

“Are you serious?!” America squealed with excitement. “A real alien spaceship?! That we can fly in?! Oh my god! Can I pilot it?!?!”

Canada just shook his head at America’s antics. “Now you’ve gone and done it. You guys are mixing together all his favorite things: superheroes, aliens, and aviation. He’s like a kid in a candy store.”

“The Bioship takes some practice to pilot,” M’gann said. “Her controls aren’t like how airplanes are designed, so I wouldn’t recommend trying without practice, but I can show you some of the cool tricks she can do!”

If anything, that just seemed to make America even more excited.

“I know we got kidnapped and I got killed just a little while ago, but this is officially the Best. Day. Ever!” America shouted.

Chapter Text

After a ride which was made longer than necessary because America kept asking to see Bioship do tricks, America and Canada were dropped off on the roof of the Gotham building America had an apartment in. Bioship camouflaged and parked itself a few inches above the roof before opening itself up and lowering a ramp for its passengers to descend.

America hopped out, then put his hands on Bioship’s hull in a facsimile of a hug.

“Bioship, you are easily the coolest thing I have ever ridden!” He complimented the ship, which replied to him with a soft hum.

Canada, Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash exited behind him.

“Dude, give me your keys,” Canada requested. “I want to get to bed before anything else crazy happens to us tonight. I don’t want to run into any other super wealthy/powerful kidnappers or magic demon-boys that try to kill us.”

America backed away from Bioship, digging through his pockets for the key to his Gotham apartment.

“You have no sense of adventure, man,” America teased him. “We just got a free ride in a Martian spaceship! How are you seriously choosing to just go straight to bed after that? You are so lame!”

Canada turned to Team members who had come out to say see them off.

“Look, you guys are really cool,” he told them. “And I have to thank you again for saving me and Al from Lex Luthor and Klarion–”

“No need,” Robin said. “It’s what we do.”

“–But I really don’t want to ever experience this kinda thing again. I know Alfred practically lives for this kinda action/adventure stuff, but I’m good letting this just be a once-in-a-century thing, so this is where I say goodbye.”

Canada then turned back to his twin.

“You can chill with your new superhero friends all night if you want,” Canada said. “I, for one, am going downstairs and passing out in your guest room. I swear to god, Alfred. If something else superhero-related prevents us from going to the Blades-Canadiens game tomorrow, I will tell your friends what your Puritan name was. I’m not fucking around.”

America’s smile quickly disappeared and his face paled slightly.

“Ok, ok fine. Goodnight,” America said. He quickly tossed his brother the keys to his apartment.

“Goodnight,” Canada replied as he caught the keys with the hand that wasn’t holding his polar bear.

“Goodnight!” Nanuq repeated, waving goodnight with his paw, which was ridiculously cute. Canada opened the rooftop door and walked inside, letting it swing shut behind him.

Kid Flash then zoomed over to America.

“Sooo, ‘Puritan name’?” The speedster asked, leaning in close to the Nation, who pushed him away.

“I like you guys a lot, and I’ve already told you a lot, but I am never telling you that,” America said. “Come on, Wallace. You of all people should know I’m taking that one with me to the grave, whenever that is.”

Wally backed off, albeit with a smile.

“Nevertheless, I am so glad I got to meet you guys in person!” America said. He couldn’t help but break back into a smile. “I always love meeting my citizens face-to-face, and heroes are my favorite kind of people. Even though I got killed, I’m still counting tonight as being totally awesome!”

“Bit of a low bar there, dude,” Kid Flash ribbed him. America shook his head.

“No way! I got to witness you guys do your superhero thing and I rode in an alien spaceship! I still can’t get over that!”

“I still can’t get over that you’re the literal embodiment of the country,” Wally admitted. “I still get the feeling whenever I look you directly in the face that you’re an old friend and I should offer you a fist bump.”

America shrugged and put up a fist. “Put ‘er there.”

Wally snorted and bumped him.

“I’m just glad we finally solved the mystery we’ve been stuck on for the past few weeks,” Robin smirked.

“See? Win-win! Tonight was awesome!” America said.

His phone buzzed, telling him to take it out of his back pocket to check it. It was a text from Canada that read ‘I am not liable if Nanuq eats all the leftover fast food you have in the fridge.’

“… And I think that’s the clock striking midnight telling Cinderella to go home,” he said, re-pocketing his phone. Bioship lowered its ramp again for the three teenage superheroes to get in.

Aqualad offered America a handshake, which the Nation accepted.

“Oh! But before you go, here’s my glass slipper,” America said. He pulled out a business card. He was about to hand it to Aqualad but realized it was the one Lex Luthor had given him earlier that night, so he tore it in half before digging through his jacket pocket for a second business card. This one was his own. It had his phone number and human name on it, along with the fake position the State Department had made up for him so he could explain why he had access to so many government branches and secrets.

“If you guys ever run into international trouble, call me. But seriously, emergencies only. I don’t want you guys getting in trouble if Amanda Waller and her stupid task force decide you guys aren’t cool cause you hang out with me too often,” he told them. Kid Flash took the card.

“Souvenir!” Wally cheered.

“Goodnight boys,” America said, giving them a two-finger salute. “And good luck figuring out how to explain this all to Batman.”

Chapter Text

June 27th, 2016

Artemis took another tissue from the pack in her bag, blowing her nose. It was pointless to try drying her eyes at this rate; the tears just kept coming. At least she wasn’t the only one though. There weren’t too many dry eyes at the funeral. Wally just had too many people who loved him. His family, the Team, the Justice League, even the people he had befriended during his career as a hero, like Queen Perdita.

“Truly an appropriate send-off for a hero, huh?” A familiar voice said from behind her. Artemis turned around to face the person and almost jumped from the wave of safety and home that hit her.

“Wally?” She asked almost instinctively, before her brain caught up to what she was really seeing. “Wait, no. Goddamnit, your home-sense thing trips me up every time.”

America rubbed the back of his head.

“Sorry, wish I could turn that off sometimes,” America apologized. “It makes sense though; you associate him with home. You guys had been dating for nearly five years now, hadn’t you?”

“Five and a half actually,” she corrected him.

“Ah, I was close at least. Six months really fly by sometimes,” he brushed off, which really made her wonder just how fast time passes for him and his people. He looked exactly the same as he did when Artemis had first seen him five years ago, if you ignored the black suit he was wearing for the funeral. Despite him being more than four hundred years old, she now looked the same age as him. It wouldn’t be long before she looked older than him.

“I mean, the whole Reach thing only lasted a few months. Really, for an alien invasion, you’d think it would last longer. There’ve been TV shows that lasted longer than six months. But I guess it did end with a pretty big bang. It’s not everyday that an emergency like that ends up taking a superhero with it.”

Artemis started crying again. Thankfully, it was the silent kind of crying. She was too exhausted for anything else. America offered her a tissue from his pocket, which she took.

“I’m so sorry,” America told her.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a shuddering breath. “You know, he actually put more effort into his history classes after he met you. He used to not bother much with history cause he thought it was boring, but then he changed his mind. He said that ‘history is a lot more interesting when you think of how many crazy things those guys must’ve got up to.”

America snorted. “Well, he wasn’t wrong. I’m just sorry he won’t be able to hear anymore of those stories now that he’s…”

The Nation trailed off, looking over at the memorial. The gravestone was absolutely surrounded by flowers, but instead of being contemplative or mournful, America had a look of frustration on his face.

“Artemis, I… Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but… That casket is empty, isn’t it?”

Artemis couldn’t help but remember Barry’s words back in the Arctic.

“Yeah, it’s empty,” she confirmed. “The Flash tried to explain what happened, but it was way too scientific and confusing for me. From what I got, Wally was… targeted by the Reach’s device, and he got… well, he…”

“Hm,” America hummed.

“What? Did something happen?” Artemis asked him. Even over the five years they had known America, the Team had never bothered to ask him what happened to a Nation when one of their citizens died, but from America’s reaction, Artemis could guess that this wasn’t normal.

“I can’t sense Wally anymore,” America said. “But it wasn’t a prick. It was more… fuzzy, or maybe blurry is a better word for it? Deaths feel like pinpricks most of the time, but Wally didn’t feel like that. Usually, it’s sharp and definitive when it’s over, but not here. I don’t know why. It’s weird.”

Artemis felt a spark of hope peek through the fog of depression she had been floating in for the past week.

“Wait, do you mean he might not be dead? If you didn’t feel him die?” She asked.

“I don’t know about that. I can’t sense him at all now, so I don’t think he’s alive. I just can’t tell what made his death so strange. It felt less like a death and more like he just… stopped existing all of a sudden.”

Artemis didn’t know how to process that. Repeating her Nation’s words over and over in her head, she felt like she was trying to solve a riddle, and looking at America showed that he looked just as confused. America was staring at the memorial like it was a particularly difficult math problem.

“Oh well,” he said after a few seconds. “Guess it’ll just be another one of life’s great unsolved mysteries.”

He handed Artemis a bouquet of vibrant blue daisies that she hadn’t noticed he had been holding.

“Here, for Wally,” he said. Just looking at the flowers made America’s eyes glisten with tears, which seemed odd to Artemis. America had been alive for four hundred years and had hundreds of millions of citizens. Surely he had lost people who were more close to him than Wally had been, right?

She took the flowers from him, walked over to the grave, and knelt down to prop them up next to the other bouquets that were already there. She then stood back up and turned back towards America, but he was gone. He must’ve Hopped away when she was looking. Artemis just sighed and went to find the rest of the Team. They would want to hear that America had dropped in to pay his respects.

***

August 2nd, 2018

M’gann watched through the window as Prince Brion paced outside. His frustration and fury was visible even without telepathy. She sighed. He had been through so much in only two days. She wanted to sit him down and talk, but he was still too furious to be rational. He had rejected her offers to talk every time.

She checked her phone again. America had said that he would come by to check on the exiled prince, and that he would be bringing the Personification of Markovia with him. She could only hope that the two Nations were able to get Brion to listen to whatever they had to talk about.

America and Markovia are here, Conner let her know telepathically. Their car’s pulling into the driveway right now.

I’ll be right down! M’gann responded. She could already hear the door opening and Conner welcoming the two Nations inside. M’gann looked over the second floor banister to see a man with the same auburn hair as Brion, albeit without the sideburns. The man also had green eyes and he looked exhausted, no doubt because of the chaos that had been happening in his country over the past 48 hours. America looked the same as youthful and cheerful as he always did.

“Conner, this is Vasile. He’s a special advisor to the Markov family. He and I are here to help with the paperwork of getting Brion an emergency visa,” America introduced. When he had texted them, he had said he was bringing ‘a Markovian friend,’ but they could all infer who the man really was. America wouldn’t be bringing anyone less than the Markovian Nation themself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Vasile,” Conner greeted, shaking the Nation’s hand. “Here, Brion’s out in the backyard. You guys can talk to him out there if you’d like. Let us know if you need anything.”

“Alfred, before we get down to business, I would like to talk to Prince Brion for a bit. Privately,” Markovia said.

“Sure, go ahead,” America said. “Take all the time you need; I’ll hang in here.”

Markovia nodded, then followed Conner to the backyard. America made himself comfortable in the kitchen, where M’gann joined him.

“Hey M’ga–” he started, but abruptly stopped when he saw her.

“What? Is something wrong?” She asked, but the smile growing across his face said otherwise.

“I can sense you,” he said quietly, as if he was in awe that it was actually happening. “Awww! You didn’t tell me you consider yourself American!”

M’gann hadn’t even realized it herself, but she quickly thought about it and knew it was true.

“I guess so!” She concluded. “I have been living here for eight years now. Plus, working at the high school has definitely made me feel more like I’m a part of the community.”

“I’m so happy!” America exclaimed. He then jumped up and wrapped M’gann in an enthusiastic hug, which she returned. He was an old friend, after all.

“I’m so close to having the full set!” He joked as he let her go. “If I could only get Kaldur… I doubt Andome’ia will let him go though. Conner made the funniest face when he first saw me after the Kents had finally accepted him. I don’t think I’d ever seen him with his mind blown.”

“True,” M’gann giggled at the memory. Conner had taken a few years before gaining a Sense of Home, but it had been confirmed when America dropped in at Wally’s funeral. The face Conner had made when he made eye contact with America had been priceless.

“But there’s not just Kaldur,” M’gann said. “There’s way more members of the Team now than there were when we first met.”

“Yeah, but you seven are the only ones who know who I am, so you’re special to me!”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of arguing in Markovian from outside. Soon enough, Markovia popped his head inside.

“Alright, Alfred, if you could join us now?” He asked. America groaned.

“Yay, super boring visa applications! With extra files specific for foreign royalty! M’gann, please kill me now.”

***

September 5th, 2020

Zatanna put her phone down on the table. Unfortunately, her call to England hadn’t helped her at all.

The two had bonded over the past decade. Ever since the two had first met when rescuing America from Klarion, England has taken an interest in Zatanna as a magical protege, especially since she was no longer able to learn magic from her father any more. Plus, the two would also meet up occasionally just to have tea and gossip.

Despite the Nation’s centuries of knowledge concerning both magic and ghosts, England had been completely lost. She had shown him her vision of Conner’s ghost, but England hadn’t had the slightest idea what it meant. He had guessed that maybe she was being haunted, but when he attempted to summon Conner’s ghost, the spell was a dud. He had even repeated the spell twice more to see if he had simply made a mistake, but got the same result each time and had to admit to being absolutely stumped. He had said he would call her after doing some research and asking some other more magically-inclined Nations for their advice, but he just ended up calling her back to let her know that the research had been a dead end and that he wished her good luck.

Zatanna scrolled through her contacts to reach the number labeled ‘Alfred Jones.’ Though he hated magic and the supernatural in general, she wondered if America would be able to tell her anything. Conner was one of his citizens, after all. Maybe America would be able to tell her where Conner’s ghost was?

She called America. He picked up after a few rings.

“Hello?”

“Hi Alfred, it’s Zatanna.”

“Hey Z! How’ve you been? You need help with something? I would’ve thought you’d go to Arthur first.”

She chuckled. “I did call Arthur first, actually, but he wasn’t able to help me.”

“So this isn’t a magic problem, this is a me problem.”

“Yeah. You think you can come over here so we can talk face-to-face? I’m in my living room right now.”

Before he even responded, Zatanna could hear footsteps behind her. She put her phone down on the table and turned around in her seat to find America standing only a few feet away from her. He leaned in with a barely contained smile, like he was waiting for her to whisper a secret to him. Even after a decade of being in on the Team’s activity, America still got like a kid at Christmas when he got to be involved himself.

“So?” He asked. “What’s the sitch?”

“America, can Nations sense the ghosts of their citizens?”

America backed away from her, his eyes widening dramatically.

“Oh no, no no no no no! I do not mess with ghosts! No magic, no ghosts, no demons, but especially no ghosts! Please, Zatanna, tell me there’s something else I can help you with! Anything but ghosts!”

“You don’t have to interact with any ghosts, necessarily. I’m only asking you to answer my question. Can Nations sense the ghosts of their citizens?”

America calmed down somewhat, but he was still very unhappy. He crossed his arms, looking away from Zatanna.

“… Sometimes,” he muttered. “If they’re strong enough. It’s harder to sense them than the living, but I can do it if it’s strong enough.”

“Great! Can you try sensing for Conner?”

Now America just looked confused. “Conner… Superboy Conner?”

“Yes.”

“He’s dead?! He doesn’t feel dead. I thought you were asking about a ghost!”

Zatanna practically jumped out of her seat.

“Conner’s alive?!” She yelled.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t he be? I think I’m missing some critical information here, Z! Is he MIA or something? Take it from experience, Z: if there’s no body, there’s no way to be sure someone is dead. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve assumed a Nation had died because their lands got conquered or drawn off the map, only for them to show up again a few decades later.”

Her heart started racing with excitement. That’s why England’s summoning had failed! Conner wasn’t dead!

“So where is he?” She asked.

“That’s the weird part: I can’t tell. He still feels alive, but I can’t… place him. I would ask if maybe he was off-planet, but you clearly thought he was dead so I doubt he’s on a deep-space mission or whatever.”

Zatanna sat back down. “So he is alive, but somewhere unfindable. Sounds like how the Tower of Fate works.”

“Like I said, Z, I don’t do magic. I can’t help you there.”

Zatanna leaned forward and hugged him, which America returned.

“That’s fine,” she said. “You’ve already helped me out. Now that I know Conner’s alive, I have somewhere to start.”

“Glad I could help,” he said with a smile. “You do have multiple detectives in your life. Why not ask Dick for help?”

“My thoughts exactly. Thanks, America.”

“No problem! Let me know when you find him. I know you guys can do it. Oh! And also, if Conner and M’gann are still getting married, let me know when the wedding is!”

With that said, he stepped away from Zatanna and disappeared, Hopping off to who-knows-where. Zatanna grabbed her phone from the table, finding Dick’s contact.

Time to get the Team back together.