Chapter 34 - 9

Gotham, NJ.

June 16, 2013.

Erika POV.

Once I made sure I was far enough away from the dynamic duo and their archer friend, I followed Cleo's suggestion to head west. in that direction I looked for a good place to land, and after a couple of minutes of flying, I found it. Gotham had so many uninhabited, dark alleys that it wasn't difficult, and soon we were back on the ground.

"Well, Ratgirl, you're free, now go back to nature. But try not to reproduce too much or the environment will be in trouble," I said to Cleo, after dispelling the energy sphere we had traveled in and starting to float in front of her.

"Hey, not so fast, you still haven't told me your name, and how do you know mine?" she complained, turning to look at me and crossing her arms.

I thought about it for a moment. Would it be so bad to tell her? After a few moments, I sighed in defeat.

"My name is Erika de Santis, and I know your name because sometimes I have a feeling about things." I shrugged. "I don't think I can be any more precise than that."

Cleo looked at me for a second before pulling down her scarf, revealing her face. She looked a lot like a younger version of Cleo from the Suicide Squad. She was pretty; our ages were also similar.

"I'm Cleo Cazo." She said extending her hand to me.

"You're too trusting for your own good, Ratgirl," I said, but I held out my hand to shake hers.

"If you keep saying that, you'll just make me trust you more," Cleo said, smiling.

"Maybe I'm just a mastermind trying to trick you."

"I don't think so, you're too big-mouthed to do something like that."

"Hey." I complained, and after shaking her hand, I decided to return to my normal size and land on the ground, which surprised Cleo.

"You're not small anymore," she said in an astonished voice.

"Yeah, you shouldn't judge things by their size." Although I had planned to leave here just a couple of minutes ago, I decided it was worth staying and asking Cleo a few more questions. "By the way, Nightwing didn't recognize you. I guess you haven't been in Gotham long."

"Yes, I arrived in America six months ago," Cleo replied, tilting her head thoughtfully. "And I've only been in Gotham for about two months."

"How did the Firefly people find you?" I asked curiously.

"I worked on a robbery for a guy and he put me in touch with them... I didn't know they were Firefly men until I came to the meeting." She shrugged. "I should find another job."

"Cleo, do you want me to give you some advice?"

"Sure, what advice?"

"I can't tell you how you should live your life, I barely know you, but you should leave Gotham." I didn't think Cleo would fit in with the criminal element of the city, and spending too much time in this trashy city would be dangerous for her.

"Huh?" she said, confused.

"Cleo, the people in this city aren't good. Your biggest problem if you stay here won't be Batman or his wonders boys.. the truth is, knowing them, they might leave you alone." Batman was already letting Catwoman do whatever she wanted. Maybe it was just Bruce thinking with his penis, but I suspected that he didn't care much about thieves as long as they weren't out there killing people. "What happened today with Firefly will happen again, and things might not turn out as well for you as they did today."

"Maybe, but you can find work quickly in this city," Cleo replied hesitantly. "I've been doing things like this since I was little, I don't know what else to do."

"Then earn enough money and go somewhere else, but don't stay here." I shrugged. "Fuck, I'm not staying here either. As soon as I have some money, I'm not coming back to this place for a long time."

No one in their right mind would want to live in this city... unless they were a criminal or had no other choice. Gotham was horrible; there was nothing good about it. If Batman wanted to fight for this city, I could respect that and understand why he was doing it, but I didn't care and I certainly wasn't going to join his fight.

"Do you want money? What were you planning to do?" Cleo asked.

I fell silent again for a moment, wondering if it would be a good idea to tell her, but there was something about this Ratgirl that made me trust her.

"I was planning to rob a big fish... but I haven't decided which one yet... although it would have to be a criminal, I don't want Batman paying any more attention to me than necessary." "

"A big fish?" Cleo tilted her head again, thoughtfully. "Who did you have in mind?"

"The Falcones... although I might change my mind if I find a better target."

"How about we work together? I need money, you need money." Cleo paused. "I like you, you like me..."

"I don't like you, Ratgirl." I snorted, but the truth was that I was starting to like Cleo a little, even though she was also irritating me a bit.

"I like you," she continued, smiling at me. "I think we could work together. You're very strong, but my rats go unnoticed and are more useful than you think."

Actually, it wasn't such a bad idea; I could think of a couple of things I could do with Cleo's help; besides, she would have more information about the city that I couldn't find on the internet; after all, she had been living here for months and working for organized crime.

"I haven't decided who my target will be yet, Ratgirl," I said.

"I'll take that as a yes. My apartment isn't far from here, we should go there."

"Ratgirl, don't tell me where you live, you've only known me for half an hour," I scolded her. "You really are too trusting."

"It doesn't matter," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But we'll have to be careful, I don't want my neighbors wondering why there's a blue girl in my apartment."

I shook my head in disbelief, but trust was a two-way street, so...

"Don't worry, I can do this." I concentrated mentally, preparing to cast a spell. "Quod olim longe est nunc in me."

Parts of my body glowed, and in a second I found myself dressed in some of the clothes I had left in my room at Nimue's house. A hoodie, jeans, and shoes.

"Wow! What was that?" Cleo asked in surprise.

"That was magic. I told you I'm magical."

"You really are magical...I thought you were fucking with me."

I shook my head again and concentrated on casting another spell, the same one I had used for the first time that morning.

"Fiat imago et ligabis me." The illusion of a human body took hold of me. "This way I won't attract attention."

"Is this how you usually look?"

"Something like that." I shrugged at that moment, remembering something important. "Wait, where's my money?"

"Ah, here it is." Cleo reached into her sweatshirt pocket and pulled out the money, but also the device I had seen before, the one she used to call the rats. It looked a bit like one of those old cassette tapes. I would have to ask her how it worked. She put it back in her pocket and handed me the money.

"Perfect." I took the money and put it in my pants pockets. "Now let's go to your apartment, Ratgirl."

"Sure, it's not far from here," said Cleo, turning around and starting to walk, looking back over her shoulder. "I don't mind if you keep calling me Ratgirl, but next time you introduce me, use my real alias, is Ratcatcher."

Watchtower.

Superman POV.

"...she's adapting, but she still has problems with many things that we earthlings consider common sense." reported Black Canary.

At that moment, Superman was in the Watchtower's meeting room. Seated at a long circular table were other figures, some of them his close friends, but all of them fellow heroes from the Justice League.

This was one of the League's biweekly meetings, although attendance was not mandatory unless it was an emergency. Superman tried to attend as many meetings as possible, as it was an excellent opportunity to stay informed about the cities where his colleagues operated. There, with him, were half a dozen members of the League: Batman, Green Lantern (Hal), Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, and Black Canary.

"I'm embarrassed to say that Koriand'r's time on Themyscira didn't teach her much about that either," Wonder Woman admitted. "Although my sisters have learned a lot in the last century, there are still many things about the modern world that confuse them."

"It wasn't a bad thing that he spent those weeks in Themyscira, Diana," Canary consoled her. "I know Kori liked it there and really needed the experience."

"We can't be too hard on her either, Koriand'r has only been on the planet for three months," said Martian Manhunter, prompting many to nod in agreement, including Superman. "I had a much harder time during my first three months on Earth."

That last comment brought a smile to Superman's face. It was true that the Tamarian had only been on the planet for a short time. It was also true that having fun and distractions had helped her cope better with being so far from home and dealing with the situation that was happening on her planet at the time.

"Anyway, Koriand'r gets along well with the team, and the team gets along well with her," Canary added. "It was a good idea to bring her."

Koriand'r had a good heart and was willing to help others; she was a good addition to the team. Superman also sincerely hoped that she would consider Earth her second home in the future.

"Changing the subject. I'd like to ask you something," Batman interjected, using one of the league's control tablets to activate a holoscreen in the center of the table. "Does anyone recognize her?"

What appeared on the holoscreen was the image of a small blue humanoid, apparently with female features.

"No, who is she?" asked Superman. The others in the room seemed unfamiliar with her.

"That's the problem, I don't know who she is or what she could be," said Batman.

"She's a villain," Canary asked, looking at the image. "I hope she's not a child."

"I don't think she's a little girl or a villain," Batman replied curtly. "She first appeared a week ago, anging around Gotham, attacking criminals and stealing their valuables. Robin found her on one of his patrols, and she knocked him unconscious shortly after."

"Oh, I think I heard about it from Kid Flash; he was joking with Robin about something involving a dumpster a few days ago," said Canary, the team's psychologist who spent a lot of time with them at Mount Justice.

"Yes, Robin wasn't seriously injured. He just has a few bruises and a blow to his pride, something he really needed," Batman said humorlessly, as usual. "After that there were a few sightings of her during the day, but a week went by without her being seen again. Until tonight, when Nightwing, Robin, and Artemis saw Firefly, followed him, and found her after she defeated him in a fight."

"Is she a hero?" Superman asked. Stealing from villains wasn't particularly heroic, but he couldn't judge her too harshly for that; there were many reasons why someone might do such a thing.

"She caught Firefly and handed him over without resistance, but she also beat him, breaking five ribs, his legs, and arms," Batman replied.

"So she's a vigilante who uses excessive violence?" asked Detective Martian.

"Her modus operandi is consistent with that." Batman nodded.

Superman frowned; he had mixed feelings about those who used excessive violence against others, even if it was for the greater good. He looked at Batman. Superman knew that in the early years of her career, his friend had crossed that line a couple of times, although over the years she had learned to moderate himself.

"Did you try to get the boys to talk to her?" he asked.

"I did it, but she refused to engage in conversation, only identifying herself as Lazuli and hastily leaving the area. She wasn't alone that day; there was another girl there. I don't have much information about her either."

"What abilities does Lazuli have?" asked Wonder Woman.

"She can create energy constructs, shoot that energy, alter her size, and fly... I also suspect she has increased strength and durability," Batman said, turning his head to look at Green Lantern. "I was hoping you had some idea about her."

"Do you think she's an alien?" He asked.

Superman certainly knew it wouldn't be the first alien they had encountered and nor would it be the last.

"Maybe she's just a metahuman, I don't know yet, but some of her behavior on the first day we saw her is... curious."

"What did she do?" Black Canary asked.

"With the money she stole, she bought clothes and various electronic devices," Bat said.

Superman raised an eyebrow with some curiosity. If she were an alien newly arrived on the planet, it would make sense for her to do something like that, but something didn't fit.

"How did she go unnoticed?" Superman asked, pointing to the holoscreen. "I think it would be pretty hard not to notice her."

"I thought about that. It's possible that Lazuli has some means of blending in with the population or simply a place to hide," Batman replied, turning his gaze to Green Lantern. "So you don't know anything about her?"

"I recognize some alien species that resemble this Lazuli and can do some of the things you say she can do, but..." said Green Lantern, shaking his head. "Nothing quite like this. I'll have to check my ring's records."

"I'll check the data at the Fortress of Solitude." Superman had a lot of Kryptonian information about alien species stored there, maybe there was something there.

"Thanks, let me know if you find anything," Batman said, nodding.

Superman nodded, hoping that this Lazuli was also someone with a good heart.

A.N:Erika makes a friend and Batman is already on the case

If there is any mistake I apologize English is not my first language.Last edited: Yesterday at 3:42 PM Award ReplyReport249

Gotham, NJ.

June 22, 2013.

Cleo POV.

"Cleo... Cleo..."

The sound of her name pulled her out of the tender embrace of her dreams. Still half asleep, she slowly opened her eyes and saw a beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes standing next to her. Cleo wasn't alarmed that this girl had suddenly appeared in her apartment; in fact, it wasn't the first time it had happened. Although she had only known her for a couple of days, she was someone Cleo had become quite familiar with.

"Wake up, Ratgirl," Erika said irritably.

"I'm awake," Cleo muttered, yawning and stretching like a cat on the couch in her living room.

Cleo didn't ask Erika how she had gotten in, because Cleo already knew. She hadn't come in through the door, because it was locked and Erika didn't have a key; if not, she had surely come in through the window... Erika had gotten used to doing that, although Cleo didn't mind too much.

"Here, I brought some muffins and coffee."

Erika placed a paper bag on the table in front of Cleo, making sure it was far enough away from the tools Cleo had been checking before falling asleep.

"Thanks," Cleo said as she sat down on her couch.

"Did you fall asleep again while you were working?" Erika asked, raising an eyebrow and sitting down in a nearby armchair.

"I was just resting," Cleo replied, yawning.

It wasn't Cleo's fault that she liked to sleep so much; besides, it was almost dark, so it was perfectly understandable that she was sleepy. At that moment, a small animal approached the table where Cleo's tools were and quickly headed for the paper bag.

"Hey, rat, that's not for you." Saying that, Erika pushed Sebastian away from the food. . An indignant squeal came from the rat as Erika placed him on the floor. "Shut up, rat, or I'll call the exterminator!"

Despite those harsh words, Cleo smiled as she watched Erika take a roll out of the bag and place it on the floor where Sebastian was. The rat began to eat the roll almost immediately.

"You've spoiled that rat too much." Erika snorted with disdain.

"Sebastian isn't spoiled," Cleo replied, defending her rodent friend.

"If you say so, Rat Girl." Erika looked at the devices on the table and pointed to them. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you for days: how does all this work?"

"They're just cameras and microphones," Cleo said, confused. Sure, these cameras and microphones were smaller so that a mouse could carry them without any problems, but they weren't much different from the ones you could buy in a store, except for a few modifications.

"Not that, Ratgirl, I mean how the rat control technology works... although it's kind of a secret, I understand if you can't or don't want to tell me."

Cleo shook her head. She didn't consider her technology to be a complete secret. Much of it was fairly straightforward if you knew what to do. Although she preferred to keep the details of how to build her transmitter a family secret, that didn't mean she couldn't explain how they worked.

"My transmitters work by emitting specific wave frequencies. There are predetermined frequencies that cause rodents to act in certain ways. Commanding something like 'attack' or 'run' is pretty easy to transmit with basic frequencies, although I can do even more complex things if I get a little creative." Cleo explained. "

"So they're like code traps that get put in the rats' heads?" Erika asked.

"Sure, something like that." Cleo shrugged.

That was as good an explanation as any. Cleo remembered that when her father explained how the transmitters worked, he had used music as an example and how different melodies caused different reactions.

"What's the range of your transmitters?"

"It depends a lot on the size and materials used to assemble them," Cleo replied thoughtfully. "But even the most basic ones can send signals to rats within a 200-meter radius."

"And the maximum range?" Erika asked in a curious tone.

"I don't know, I've never tried to build a big one, since I haven't needed to, and the biggest transmitter I've ever heard of was one my father built when I was a child. I think one like that could cover an entire city."

Cleo never knew why her father built that thing. It was one of his last projects before he died.

"I see." Erika nodded, reached into her pants pocket, and pulled out a small bottle that appeared to be filled with ink. "By the way, I learned something new last night.

I want to show you; I think it could be useful."

"Something new?"

"It's something old that I can do, just applied differently. My teacher gave me some ideas," Erika replied with a smile.

"You haven't told me much about her," Cleo said, referring to the teacher Erika had mentioned a couple of times.

Erika took a paintbrush out of her other pocket and looked at Cleo thoughtfully for a moment.

"Once we're done with the job I'll introduce you to her."

"Really?" Cleo asked, confused.

Yes, I think she could teach you a few things."

Erika lifted Sebastian off the floor and placed him on the table.

"Teach me? What could a magician teach me?

"Duh, how to do magic."

"Isn't that super hard?" Cleo asked, stunned. She figured that if magic were easy to learn, everyone would be a magician or sorcerer or whatever.

"It can be difficult, yes, but much easier if you have natural talent, which you do. Your magical aura is five times more powerful than that of an ordinary human, which is very rare. It means you have talent."

"How am I discovering that now?" Cleo was quite confused.

"It seemed strange to mention it before." Erika shrugged. "But yes, you have natural potential... at least for a human, it will make it easier for you to learn magic, although

it won't be entirely easy.

Did she have a magical aura? Could she learn magic? For Cleo, that was a lot to process; she had seen the incredible things Erika could do with her magic. That she could do the same seemed incredible to her.

"I can't promise that Nimue will take you on as an apprentice, but I think it would be good for you to meet her." Erika dipped her brush in the ink and began to paint something on Sebastian's fur.

"Why do you want to do that?" Cleo's gaze returned to the table.

"Because I think you're talented, and because I think you should learn everything you can. You've achieved so much with so little. I'm interested to see how far you could go if you learned magic."

Cleo had told Erika a little about her life on the streets of Portugal since she was orphaned at age 11. She had been to many places and met all kinds of people

who had taught her many things.

"I hardly know anything," Cleo said, blushing.

"Cleo, I think you could compete with any technician or mechanic I've ever met."

"Why do you want to do that?" Cleo asked again.

"Because you're a good person and... because I like you." Erika said with a shrug.

"You like me?" Cleo asked, smiling.

They had only known each other for a short time, but Cleo liked Erika too. Had it been foolish to trust someone so quickly? Perhaps, but growing up on the streets had made Cleo someone who could judge a person's character with little interaction, and everything she had learned about Erika since the day she helped her told her that she was genuine in her behavior and intentions.

"It's just a wau of speech, don't let it go to your head, Ratgirl." Erika said with a grimace.

Cleo smiled, even though Erika could be quite grumpy. She wanted to believe they were friends, or at least almost friends; Cleo didn't have many friends, which is why she valued the people in her life.

Erika finished painting a symbol on Sebastian's fur and put him back on the floor.

"What did you paint on him?" Cleo asked, looking at Sebastian.

"A Focus... it's something you'll learn in the future, but basically it allows you to channel magic."

Erika clasped her hands together and murmured a few words. Where the rat had been a moment before, the figure of a tall man in a black cape and suit appeared.

"Hey, that's Batman," said Cleo, pointing to the superhero's figure.

"It's an illusion through the symbol; I can create it and anchor it to the world," explained Erika. "I thought it would be useful for what we were planning."

They had already decided on their objective; tonight Cleo would start sending rats and mice to gather information about the place.

"Yes, I think it will be useful. I can think of a couple of things we could do with that," Cleo agreed.

"I hope so, Ratgirl, I hope so. I'm also working on something to disrupt electronic signals... Think about the apprenticeship. Even if Nimue isn't willing, I'll teach you, although we'll have to wait until you have less work."

Batman's illusion disappeared and only Sebastian was back on the floor.

"Sure, I'll think about it," Cleo nodded with a smile and looked at Sebastian. "And you should use invisible ink."

Erika blinked in surprise.

"The truth is that I had not thought about that."

June 29, 2013.

Oswald POV.

Sitting on his desk in his office on one of the upper floors of his club reviewing a document that corresponded to the acquisition of a new property, Oswald Cobblepot thought and not for the first time that he was living a great life. And how could he not? He had money, influence and a reasonable amount of power that was growing with every day that passed. Certainly he was no longer that weird little kid that everyone at school made fun of and that only his mother could love. Now he had become one of the most feared and respected men in Gotham.

It had been a year and a half after spending a vacation time in the local penitentiary that Oswald had decided to change the way he did things. No more complicated plans, no more unnecessary notoriety and, of course, no more Batman. He had not been winning anything else with that behavior than newspaper articles and have to spend large amounts of money on lawyers to get out of jail.

That is why Oswald had created his club/casino The Iceberg and had decided to leave his life as a villain ... at least publicly. He still had deals with Gotham's criminals, but he was much more subtle and practical to do so. It had been so careful that the Bat had not bothered him to much in the last year.

Sure, Batman still poked his nose into Oswald's business from time to time, but the Penguin had managed to get away with anything that made his life too complicated for him. If it was a legal matter he had his lawyers, if it was because someone was going too far talking about his dealings with him... well he had his men who he could discreetly send to get rid of the problem.

His more "legitimate" way also had a secondary objective, for Oswald it was a means to an end, he had not forgotten his youthful dream of taking over Gotham's underworld. The time for his big score was slowly approaching as his fortune and contacts grew.

[Soon I'll get rid of those Falcone guys, after they're gone there'll be nothing to stand in my way.] The Penguin thought with a little chuckle.

When Oswald finished reading the ownership document obtained by more than dubious means, he stood up and walked with his duck-like gait to the wall behind him. A large painting covered that wall. Oswald reached his hand to the corner of it and pressed a button, that made the painting slide down the wall to reveal a safe box.

The safe needed an access code so he entered it and when it opened it revealed on the other side a considerable amount of money and many other documents. This was not the only safe Oswald had at his disposal, he had another one in his house and two others in places only he knew.

After Oswald put the ownership document in the safe box, he checked his pocket watch. It was just after 9 PM and he thought it would be time for him to go down to his Club. With those thoughts in mind, he picked up his cane that rested near his desk and headed to his office door. The hallway on the other side of the door was not alone. Two burly men, his bodyguards, were guarding the door to his office and another man the janitor was mopping the floor.

Oswald closed the door behind him and motioned for the men to follow him as he headed to the elevator.

This elevator was guarded by two members of the security personnel waiting just outside the elevator. This was because only authorized personnel were allowed on this floor.

Both security personnel nodded to Oswald as he came up to them. Oswald returned the salute and entered the elevator accompanied by his bodyguards who marked the floor below.

It didn't take long for the elevator to arrive downstairs when the doors opened to reveal a hallway that split into two. The path to his right led to the casino and the one to the left to the restaurant area. Oswald went to the left, dining in their restaurant was something he often did, so he could see for himself if the food in their establishment was good enough. Many things could be said about the Penguin, but not that he was a bad host, he liked to make sure his clients were having a good time.

But just as he arrived at the restaurant area he was greeted by a small commotion.

"What's going on here?" Oswald asked to the other two security men who protect the hallway that leads to his elevator.

"There seems to be a problem with the customers, Mr. Cobblepot. You should ask the bartender." One of them replied.

Oswald nodded and frowned in confusion at what was happened, but it didn't take long to get an answer to what he was witnessing when the head waiter quickly approached Oswald when he saw him.

"Mr. Cobblepot, there's a problem." The head waiter said rubbing his hands like a housefly.

"What problem?" Oswald asked.

"A couple of diners have found mice on their plates Sir."

"Really, mice?"

"Yes, Sir, they are asking for their money back." The head waiter replied apprehensively.

Oswald wondered how this was possible? Although his business had some gray areas in the way it was run, Oswald knew perfectly well that his restaurant was not unhealthy, proof of that was, he had not even had to bribe the health inspector.

"Take me to the Chef...."

In that moment some frightened female screams were heard in the restaurant..It was a couple of women pointing at the floor with a gesture of disgust. On the other side of the restaurant, Oswald saw how through the tables a lot of small mice began to move arround the floor of the room.

All this caused a small pandemonium in the place. Oswald was angry, he didn't know what was causing this but he didn't like it one bit.

"You two help bring some order here." Oswald ordered the pair of security men who were not his bodyguards, then he turned to the head waiter." and you take me to the Chef now."

"Yes, Sir." The head waiter replied

Oswald soon followed the man. The journey to the chef was slow because several of the angry customers tried to approach Oswald with complaints, but fortunately the burly bodyguards who accompanied him kept them away. After passing through the tide of people, when Oswald was already at the doors that led to the kitchen, one of Oswald bodyguards touched his shoulder and stopped him.

"Sir." Oswald turned to see his bodyguard, he had a hand in his ear clearly spoke in the earpiece that all the security personnel in the building were wearing. "There's a another problem a couple of minutes ago, the signal from several of the surveillance cameras in the casino were cut off."

"That the signal from the cameras was cut off?"

"Yes, Sir."

Oswald began to think quickly. There was something very suspicious about all this, first those mice appearing out of nowhere, all this commotion in the restaurant and now the signs of the cameras that are being interrupted.

"Which cameras were affected?" Oswald asked.

"Several facing the parking lots, the main casino area and some floors. ...." The man interrupted himself holding his hand to his ear." Sir, they are also telling me that

the vault cameras were disrupted."

The vaults were two heavily guarded rooms. The first room contained some of the cash that was used in the day to day operations of the Casino. There were kept the money that was exchanged for the tokens of cacino iceberg.

The second and more important room was only accessible with the authorization of Oswald and two other trusted members of his staff. There were some of the money that Oswald used to launder the proceeds of his most illegitimate business dealings was kept.

".... Sir I am being informed that unknown persons were seen inside the second vault just before the camera signal was interrupted."

Something clicked in Oswald's mind at that instant. The restaurant thing was a distraction, someone was in the vault .....a someone was going for his money. Oswald tightened his grip on his cane.

"You have permission to enter the vault. Capture them, I want them alive, but make sure you capture them." Oswald wanted them alive even if it were just so that he could harass them personally. "And let's go in there, I want to see for myself who's doing this."

It took them about ten minutes to get to the doors of the casino vaults where Oswald's Security head, Robinson and two other members of the casino security were waiting for them.

"Where are the intruders?" Oswald asked immediately.

"Mr. Cobblepot, there is no one inside." Robison replied.

"They got away." Oswald asked with anger. "How in the world did that happen?"

Robison must have seen something in Oswald's eyes maybe how close he was to going to visit the bottom of Gotham Bay if Oswald didn't like his answers because he responded quickly.

"No one escaped Sir...apart from a couple of mice there was no one else inside the vault and it doesn't look like anything was taken."

"Mice?" Oswald said in confusion.

"Yes, mice." Robinson confirmed.

Oswald frowned thoughtfully

[Mice again? What is happening here?]

"Are you sure they didn't take anything?" Oswald asked.

"We are still doing the accounting, but at first glance it doesn't look like anything has been touched, in fact it doesn't look like anyone has recently been inside. The technicians are checking the connection to the cameras and they believe that someone somehow interrupted the wiring and there is something else. Sir in the parking lot five minutes ago someone found the janitor, gagged and tied in the trunk of his car."

Oswald blinked in confusion looking at Robinson with disbelief evident on his face.

"Five minutes ago? How long had he been in his car?"

"He doesn't know but he estimates a couple of hours."

"That's impossible I saw him ....." Oswald mind clicked once again. " My office...they're in my office."

10 Minutes ago.

Erika POV.

Once I made sure that the pair of security guards at the end of the hallway leading to the Penguin's office received a couple of mana bolts that knocked them unconscious, I headed to my target.

I opened the doors to the Penguin's office and looked around the place. It looked more like a small library-museum with numerous books and pictures on the walls. There wasn't a single damn window either, which was irritating because if there had been, it would have saved me having to dress up as a janitor and copy a man's face to infiltrate here.

Cleo and I had been planning this for a week. Days of sending mice and rats into the ventilation system of this place, equipped with small cameras and microphones and couple of visits from me to the Iceberg Casino and restaurant disguised with different illusory faces had allowed us to gather information we needed.

I walked to the back of the desk in the room until I was in front of the wall. I knew what I was looking for. The second day since we started watching this place, Cleo mice had gotten a small recording of what the Penguin was hiding behind the wall in front of me. It was this revelation that made me change my plans about steal the vault even though there would be more money it would be much harder to get out of there without being noticed.

Minutes ago, just before activating the spell that would interrupt the signal of the cameras, I had activated the little illusion that I set in the glyphs on the mice. This would lead the security personnel and the Penguin to the vault where they would be distracted.

But this would only buy me a little time, I had to hurry because it wouldn't take long for them to figure out what was going on.

I pressed the button hidden in the corner of the painting to reveal the safe box. Days of seeing the Penguin opening and closing this thing gave us the codes we needed to open it, so without too much trouble I quickly entered them.

[Although even if I didn't have the codes, I could have ripped the door off.] I thought to myself.

With my super strength it wouldn't be that hard to rip the door off but that might have set off an alarm. When the safe box was open revealing its contents I extended my hand to one side and visualizing what I wanted to bring from afar I chanted a spell.

"Videtur hic nunc"

In my hand a black bag appeared, I used this to put the bundles of bills. I also put the legal documents inside the bag. They would not be very useful to me, but it would help me to divert the penguin's suspicions making him think more about the objective of this robbery.

I had to admit that I had a lot of fun planning this and although Cleo was the one who had given me the necessary information to do it, I was the one who came up with it.

Certainly, stealing was like a great parlor magic trick, you drew attention in one direction while in others you performed the trick.

Once the bag was full, I walked again to the office door to head to the elevator while I cast another spell.

"Fiat imago et ligabis me"

The spell transforms the illusion of my body of a middle-aged man with the clothing of the casino staff to another young man in the clothing of the security guards. Now I had exactly the same appearance as one of the unconcious security members on the floor.

I enter the elevator and one minute later, when I was already on the floor below, I headed directly to the restaurant, nobody paid me attention. The two men who guarded the exit of this corridor were quite busy with the diners.

I went directly to the exit, once I was outside the building I would cast another spell to change this Illusion and I would go where Cleo was waiting for a me couple of streets away from here.

Even when we had surely angered the Penguin, certainly no one could deny that our night would have been extremely productive.

A.N: Sorry for the late but I was quite busy.

If there is any mistake I apologize English is not my first language.

New York, NY.

June 30, 2013.

Erika POV.

It was nice to just sit on the floor of my room and study the notes of my little grimoire, or maybe it was nice to do it knowing that I no longer had to worry about money.

It was the morning after Cleo and I stole from the Penguin and felt quite satisfied. Last night after I left the casino and met with Cleo, we not had any reason to stay in that city, so I used one of my mana spheres and flew with Cleo, some of her luggage (including Sebastian) and our money to New York.

The trip to New York didn't take us to much time and once we were in the city, I left Cleo in a hotel not too far from where Nimue's house was. There I spent a couple of hours with Ratgirl counting our loot and mocking us of a certain avian-themed villain, before saying us goodbye and promise to see us the next morning. We also agreed that until Cleo could get a more permanent residence in the city, I would keep most of the money and in a safe place.

And what was that safe place? Well, that place it was under my bed ..... yes I know, this was not the most imaginative thing of my part, but if we keep in mind that the house where that bed was belonged to a sorceress with a significant power and that I also lived in that house....I can't think of a better place to keep that money, at least for now.

The robbery had allowed us to get 1.2 M $ and although I knew it was not an impressive amount compared to the fortunes of a certain bald and bat, for me it was more than enough for to not have to worry about my financial stability in the near future.

With my financial problems solved, I could now concentrate on other problems, the main one of this problems was to find a way to create a body to inhabit. Recently I didn't make much progress on that issue because what I was studying for the last two weeks were things that would help me steal from the penguin more easily instead of things that I thought would give me quick progress to solve my actual problem.

However, what I learned during these two weeks of study was not useless. The glyphs were decidedly effective and I could think of many things I could use them for besides a robbery.

The Glyphs were symbols that could be carved, engraved or painted on different surfaces in order to be used as Focus, which allowed spells to be used over long distances. There were many variations of glyphs that combined with each other in a sort of language of their own, with each permutation allowing a desired effect.

They were useful, of that there was no doubt, but they were also somewhat difficult to use. Spells cast through glyphs tended to require more magical energy and other extra components than other spells used directly. Most of this extra magical energy expenditure was used to prepare the components of the glyphs.

If you wanted to use ink as a medium to paint glyphs (as I did last night), the ink would first have to be "charged" with the magician's magical energy in order for the spells to work properly. This "charging" process could take several minutes and had to be done in small amounts of ink at a time, otherwise it risked exploding. Even for me who could easily create mana bubble and put a jar of ink inside to charge it, it was tedious thing to do.

Although this was not the only means by which glyphs could be used, (the process of carving and engraving glyphs was somewhat different and less tedious than painting). If all this was combined with the fact that glyphs were practically a language, their study became something that could last years.

Since the study of the glyphs did not offer me many clues about the creation of a human body I did not feel inclined to continue studying them. Perhaps in the future once I solved my current problem I would return to learn about the glyphs, but at this moment my attention was once again on the magic of projection. So today I returned to my projection studies, I had already come up with some ideas to combine some basic Transfiguration spells with these, but for the moment I would have to experiment and refine them a little more before putting them into practice.

Something curious that I noticed during these three weeks of studying different magical disciplines and the Latin language, (Although I was never a bad student in the past) was that my ability to memorize and retain information had increased.

I did not have a eidetic memory, but when I decided to read and study a text, the information I acquired seemed to stick in my mind more easily and it was much more difficult for small details to be erased from my memory. I assumed that this was due to my actual body, the Anodites did not have brains, their bodies were made of pure energy and lived for eons, it made sense that our short and long term memory functioned differently than that of the average human. I did not complain about this, the ability to memorize things at an accelerated pace seemed to me to be an advantage.

At that moment my phone rang, It was on the bed near me, I extended my hand and took it.

In the inbox there was a message from Cleo informing me that she was on her way to Nimue's store. Knowing that it wouldn't take Cleo more than 15 minutes to get to the store, I replied that I was waiting for her here. and checked the time on the phone screen.

"Fuck, it's already 10:00 am." Lately time seemed to be flying.

I was not exaggerating when I said this, other thing that I had noticed in these three weeks of living like an Anodite was that when I got distracted or concentrated on something, from my perspective the hours seemed to turn into minutes. Things like hunger, sleep or body fatigue did not affect me, so without this I could spend hours in one position. It was not alarming, but this was something I had to be careful, because I could easily lose the track of time.

"It's not all advantages."

Little things like this always made me think that even though being an anodite was great and there were many advantages to being one, I still wanted my human body back. Food and drink didn't feel the same as an Anodite and I missed a lot of other things that I couldn't experience in a body made of energy. This was the main reason why creating a body was my priority now and I would not give up until I got it.

When Cleo sent another message telling me that she was only 5 minutes away from Nimue's store, I went down to the second floor of the building.There I found Nimue sitting on the couch reading a book. I approached her and told her.

"Hey, Nimue, my friend will be here soon." She had already known about Cleo for almost two weeks. I had asked Nimue's permission days ago to invite Cleo to this place.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot she was coming today." Nimue closed the book in her lap and looked at me. "You know, I feel a little like a mother whose daughter is introducing her to her girlfriend."

"Hey, she's not my fucking girlfriend." I replied.

"Don't you sneak out of your bedroom window every night to go see her?" She smiled at me as she said that.

"I'm not a teenager and I don't do it every night." I wasn't surprised that Nimue knew about it, the building protections surely warned her of my entrances and exits in the middle of the night.

Cleo was very lazy and her sleep habits were a disaster. One of the things I learned when I met her was that I had to keep an eye on her. If I neglected her too much and she got bored, Cleo could fall asleep for several hours at any times. So I used to go to her apartment at night to make sure she was working on what I asked her to do and not sleeping like the sleepy bitch she was.

"But well what can I think when you seem to be quite interested in me meeting her." Nimue smiled she was definitely teasing me.

"That has to do with what I noticed about her." I ignored the teasing and replied.

"Yes, you told me she has magical potential, that's weird, but ...."

"It's not just that, you'll see." There was something more interesting about Cleo than her magical potential or rather the way she had been using that magical potential for years without knowing it.

"Okay, I'll trust you on that. So how did it go last night? Did you succeed in what you were going to do?"

"Oh, yes, definitely." I smiled I wasn't using an illusion to hide my anodite body so I moved my prehensile hair. "The glyphs were useful and the spell I created worked perfectly."

The spell to interrupt electronic signals was something I thought after remembering how the mana could interfere with technology. My mana domes could be selectively permeable and I had discovered that if I concentrated, I could block the signal from some devices such as my phone and an old radio that was in Nimue's house.

Beyond that, I discovered that if I charged mana into a physical object with electronic components the result could be quite... explosive.

I had to experiment for two days, but after that I was able to implement what I had learned into a spell that dispersed mana into the air ruining nearby technology.

The only drawback of this was that it could only affect simple devices like surveillance cameras.

"You didn't cause any trouble to anyone?" Nimue asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"Not anyone who didn't deserve it." I responded, fuck that penguin-faced asshole I needed the money more than him.

"Sure." A suspicious Nimue nodded in my direction.

Nimue asked me some more questions about my spell, she had seen some like this in the past, but it was the first time she knew of one like mine. Apparently I used so much magical energy that for almost any other mage it would be a waste if they didn't have access to my mana reserves.

Our conversation was interrupted when the doorbell rang and I went to open the door. One of the second floor hallways led to a staircase at the back of the firts floor, which was where Nimue received her visitors.

I looked through the peephole in the door to check that it was Cleo, when I confirmed that it was her, I opened the door.

"What's up, Ratgirl." I waved my hand and invited her in. "Come in now."

"Good morning." Cleo greeted me as she entered the building.

"Did you have any trouble finding this place? "I asked, closing the door.

"Not much. "Cleo replied. At the sound of my voice Sebastian peeked through the collar of Cleo's sweatshirt to see me. "The sign was pretty easy to spot."

It was true, I had asked anyway because Ratgirl could be pretty clueless.

"Okay, Nimue is upstairs, let's go."

"I feel weird, I'm going to meet a mage."

"I'm a mage too, Ratgirl." I reminded her.

"Yeah, but you're too pretentious that I forget." Cleo said with a smile

"You know something Ratgirl, suddenly my foot has an urgent need to meet your ass." I replied to the impertinent ratgirl.

We exchanged a few more pleasantries as we made our way up the stairs, when we reached the second floor living room Nimue was already standing there waiting for us.

My teacher smiled at the sight of us and as we approached her, she said.

"You must be Erika's friend, she has told me a lot about you."

"Good morning, I'm Cleo Cazo."

I smiled a little, Cleo looked like a little girl introducing herself to her classroom.

"I am Nimue Inwudu it is a pleasure to meet you Cleo." My teacher nodded towards the ratgirl and turned around walking towards the living room furniture. "Come on sit down, if you are a friend of my apprentice you are welcome here."

"Thank you." Cleo said.

Cleo and I sat down on the couch, while Nimue sat in a nearby chair. I didn't want to waste time so I extended my hand to Cleo.

"Give me the rat."

"What?" Cleo asked in confusion.

"Bring out your rat, Ratgirl, I want to show Nimue something."

Cleo frowned, but did as I told her and took Sebastian out of his sweater and put him in my hand. I took a look at the rat and all around him I could see a small halo. The first time I saw sebastian I had not been able to detect this. It wasn't until three days after I met Cleo when I saw this.

"You notice something strange?" I showed Sebastian to Nimue. My teacher also seemed to be a bit confused, but Nimue didn't seem to be bothered by the rat's presence and after a few seconds, she raised her right hand to pass one finger over the rodent's head and frowned thoughtfully.

"I think so..." Nimue looked at ratgirl. "Cleo please give me your hand."

After a second Cleo gave her hand to Nimue.

Although all living beings had a certain amount of "mana" or magical energy in their bodies, in animals this amount of energy was usually minimal, much less than any human. What I could see in Sebastian was not his magical energy, at least not entirely.

"She has bound the rat to herself." Nimue said after a minute of holding Cleo's hand.

"Yep, I think she's been doing it for years." I smiled knowing Nimue would notice it if I told her to look for something on the rat.

"I've been doing what?" Cleo asked, looking at both of us.

"Cleo, how old is Sebastian?" I asked.

"I don't know....four years." She replied.

"Cleo, the life expectancy of a rat is three years. You told me that when you were a child you had another rat before you had Sebastian. No?" I said, Cleo nodded. "You mentioned that she lived for seven years."

"Yes, her name was Isabel, Sebastian is one of her children."

"And didn't you think it was strange that a rat lived so long?" I asked

"No." Cleo answered immediately.

I sighed tiredly and rolled my eyes.

"What Erika is trying to tell you Cleo. Is that you've been supplying Sebastian with magical energy." Nimue told her.

"And what that mean?" Cleo asked.

"That you've turned him into some kind of pseudo-familiar. That would explain why Sebastian has outlived the life expectancy of his species." Nimue replied as she let go of Cleo's hand.

I had come to the same conclusion. When I noticed Sebastian's magical energy for a moment I was scared thinking that he could be like Peter Pettigrew, but after studying for a few hours the rat's magical signature. I noticed it had an uncanny resemblance to Cleo's own magical signature and that this matched with something I had read in Nimue's library about magical familiars. All of this information caused me to do more research and confirmed my suspicions.

"Really? And how did I do that?"

"It's quite rare that something like this happens, but it's not unheard of. People with magical potential do it from time to time by unconsciously seeping magic energy into an animal with which they share an emotional bond." Nimue explained, giving Cleo an appraising look. "But bonding an animal to the point of increasing its lifespan and harmonizing your magical energy with it in this way requires a natural affinity for this type of magic."

"That also explains why this rat is too smart for his own good." Between my hands Sebastian squealed at the sound of his name, he definitely knew that I was referring to him.

"As I said Sebastian is a Pseudo-Familiar, the bond is not complete due to your lack of training, but given your affinity, I don't think you will have a problem achieving it with a proper guidance." Nimue looked at me. "I understand now why you wanted to introduce her to me. You want me to help her."

I nodded agreeing with her, the magic specializing in familiars was one of a curious sort of magic.

"Erika told me a little about it, but I just met you today I don't want to bother you." Cleo said shaking her head.

"I know you're already teaching me, so I don't plan that you take Cleo as an apprentice, I just want you to help me a little to help her."

I didn't want to push Nimue, she had taken me on as an apprentice, but I assumed that was just luck.

"It's true we only just met today, apprenticeship is something we'll both have to think about." Nimue shrugged and smiled at Cleo. "But Erika seems to trust you and so I think I can trust you a little and give you some advice."

"What would happen to Sebastian if I learn those things?"

"There are different types of Familiar, but most bonds are not harmful, you don't have to worry about causing him harm, if you don't want to."

The conversation continued until noon came, Nimue went to make lunch and invited Cleo to stay. When lunch was done and we were seated at the table, Nimue continued to explain to Cleo, some more things about the Magical Familiars.

These were an extension of the will and power of the mages, certain types of magic could only be practiced through such a bond like that. This conversation made Cleo start to reminisce things about her past that in hindsight seemed to make a lot of sense now that she knew about the bond she had with Sebastian. Like how she could know where the rat was in a room or how that she could sense his mood.

"How the hell did you not notice anything weird was going on?" I asked incredulously.

"I don't know, I just thought that's how things were." Cleo replied with a disinterested shrug.

I shook my head, if I wanted any proof that Ratgirl could be clueless about some things, here was one. Nimue smiled at our exchange. We continued eating and just before we finished, Nimue pulled her phone out of her pants pocket and frowned as she looked at the screen.

"It's a message from Zatanna." Nimue looked at us. "She tells me she'll be here in an hour."

"Oh..... " I knew Zatanna kept in contact with Nimue, but I hadn't seen her in person since two weeks ago. "I.... think I'll take a walk out there later."

"I know you have your reasons for avoiding her, but you can't do that forever, after all she is my niece and you are my apprentice." Nimue reminded me.

"I know. 'I grimaced and shrugged my shoulders. "I don't plan to do that, I don't have anything against her, just give me a little time."

Zatanna wasn't even my biggest concern, my concern about the league was a certain Green Martians. I had a healthy fear for the telepaths and was a little paranoid about the idea that they could read my thoughts. I was devising some countermeasures for that, but I didn't know if they would work until I met someone who could read my mind.

"Okay." Nimue nodded.

"Zatanna?" Cleo asked, jumping into the conversation. "That name..."

"Her father was a member of the Justice League, you know the wizard Giovanni Zatara. Nimue is his friend." I explained.

"A member of the League. You know the heroes of the League? "Cleo opened her eyes in surprise and nervously looked around, she seemed to be waiting that Batman come out of nowhere.

"I only know Giovanni and a couple of other members." It was the firsttime I had heard of those other members, I would have to ask her about that later.

"Calm down, Ratgirl, if she hasn't reported me, she won't report you unless you are evil." I joked, but as I did I looked at Nimue, she smiled at me.

"So you, are you a heroine?" Cleo asked Nimue.

"No, I don't consider myself a heroine. The League is an organization worthy of respect, but that doesn't mean I agree with everything they say or do." Nimue responded." And don't worry Cleo. Erika is right in that it's not my problem what you do with your life as long those actions do not irreparably harm others. If Erika trusts in you, I don't think you're the kind of person that do things like that."

A rather curious statement that also explained why Nimue didn't seem to care much about what I did in my free time.

When we finished lunch, I used the illusion of a human body on me and Cleo and I left the building, now that I had money I wanted to buy some things, so I would use this afternoon to do it

As we walked down the sidewalks of the city to a store a few blocks from Nimue's house, Cleo told me about her search for an apartment and the rental prices,(which was not a problem since we now had money) this led me to ask her about something I was interested.

"An ID?"

"Yes, I need documents." Legally I was a Phantom, it hadn't been a problem until now, but if I wanted to get a property in the future I needed legal documents. "Do you know anyone who can help me with that?"

"I know a guy in Gotham." Cleo replied.

"Ratgirl, let's not tempt fate, let's stay away from Gotham, at least until the penguin forgets about us." I told her immediately, Oswald could be a pain in the ass so I didn't want to give him any more clues about us.

"Well, then, no, I don't know anyone, but in a city like this there must be people who take care of that, if you give me time I could find out who they are."

"Help me with that, I really need at least a driver's license." Ratgirl had a lot of what I called "street smarts" so I knew I could trust her with something like this.

"Sure, I don't think it would be that hard to find someone. Especially if you have money."

At that moment we arrived at the store where we were headed and went inside. This was a place with many shelves full of books that created hallways. I discovered this bookstore in a tour I made a few days after I created my first illusionary body..

Something curious about this version of planet earth was that many of the books that existed on my old earth also existed here, but some of them had sequels or

or alternate stories. As a reading fanatic I couldn't help, but promise myself that when I had the money, I would buy some of those books.

This would be our first stop this afternoon, once I satiated my reading curiosity I planned to go with Cleo to buy some clothes and a few other things.

"I'll buy some books, take a look if you want." I told Cleo.

"Okay, but I'm not a big fan of reading." Cleo informed me.

"And now all makes sense, I know why you're a philistine." I replied.

Cleo sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to the bathroom."

"Fine, I'll be in the fantasy section."

I separated from Ratgirl and walked down the hallways of the store, this bookstore was quite large and popular so there were a few other people hanging around.. I soon reached the fantasy section, which was arranged in alphabetical order. I was interested in buying one the books of what appeared to be George RR Martin's "Asoaif" version of this world.

I found what I was looking for and took the book out of one of the bookcases and had a look at it.

"I'll make you a little spoiler the saga has a good ending, but its protagonist can be quite frustrating."

Behind me, a female voice brought me out of my thoughts, I turned around to see that the voice belonged to a woman in her mid 20's. She had black hair, brown eyes and porcelain skin. She was made up with black eyeliner and black lipstick and she was wearing pants and a blouse of the same color.

I was surprised I hadn't noticed her before when I looked around the place, it was strange becasuse she definitely could caught my eyes....she was hot.

[Mama likes what she is seeing.] I like gothic girls and had to say that this was a pretty sexy gothic girl.

"Seriously, a silly protagonist?" I asked raising an eyebrow

I noticed that she was wearing a silver necklace in which a Ankh was seen. There was something in her that seemed familiar to me. I concentrate and look at her, but i dont saw nothing weird on her.

"....But the secondary character compensate." She smiled me slightly. That feeling of familiarity still did not disappear from my mind, but I decided to concentrate in the conversation, it was bad education to leave waiting a sexy gothic talking alone.

"What would you recommend? I'm looking for something new to read."

"Mmm." She walk and stopped by my side leaning slightly to take a book of the shelves. "Here, I am quite sure of this. "

I took the book and read the cover, "The King of Edoras." I did not recognize the author's name, but I had already noticed that if some books could be similar to those in my world, that does not mean that they were written by the same author .

Anyway, the title of the book reminded me of something from my world, but

Before I could ask the Sexy Gothic about it, she moved away from me and began to walk around the hallway.

"Hey wait, what is your name?" At least I wanted to know that.

Giving my her back, She looked at me over her shoulder, I noticed that her smile had become bigger and her eyes seemed naughty.

"It was good to see you again, Erika."

With those words, Sexy Gothic reached the end of the hallway and turn to the next one. I take me a couple of seconds to process that she somehow knew my name, but when I did it, I ran to the next hallway where Sexy Gothic had moved.

But It was in vain when I arrived that hallway it was alone. There were no traces of Sexy Gothic. Now I was scared.

"Who the fuck was that bitch?"

A.N: No Erika did not recognize her, I remind you that her knowledge of the cannon is less than mine. It won't be the last time we see Sexy Gothic. She has a special interest in Erika.

Catskill Park, NY.

July 04, 2013.

Erika POV.

It was the early morning of the 4th of July, a holiday in the United States and for celebrate it, I was digging a hole in the middle of a forest. No, I wasn't hiding a body, I don't had the need to do that....at least not yet. The reason why I was digging a hole between trees and bushes in the middle of the night using a mana construct as a shovel, was simple.

I was doing my best imitation of a pirate at burying a treasure.

I finished digging the hole and took a look at it, it was quite dark, but thanks to my excellent Anodite eyesight, I could see it perfectly, the hole was not very wide, but it did have some depth going almost a meter and a half into the ground. I nodded in satisfaction and dispel the shovel-shaped mana construct, and then I created a small mana platform that I used to lift a wooden box that was on the ground near me.

This box was the size of a briefcase, two days ago I had bought another one just like it. Then using a knife and some enchanted ink, I had modified the boxes a bit by engraving some glyphs inside. The glyphs weren't the only thing inside, there was also about $150k stored.

I put the box into the hole in the ground. The glyphs engraved on the inside of the box would allow me to do several things. The first was that they would allow me to find the box if I ever forgot where I buried it, the second was that they would allow me to know if the box was ever opened by anyone other than myself and the third was that they would allow me to selectively summon from afar what was stored inside the box.

I didn't have a bank account and leaving all my eggs in one basket was not something I was comfortable with, so I decided to take half of my money and hiden it in two random places far away from New York. The first box I had buried in another forest further north dozens of miles from this place and now I was just finishing burying this one.

Once the box was in its designated place, I created a mana construct in the shape of a hand and used it to drag the soil over the hole. It was quite fast and within a minute the hole in the ground was gone. With my work done, I rise into the air and flew in a south-east direction.

I had been feeling a bit angry and paranoid the last few days. I had wasted a whole day trying to remember who was that sexy gothic from the bookstore. That woman was familiar to me, but I couldn't remember who she was. I guessed she must be some Dc character, but I could deduce little else about her other than that she must be quite powerful. Since she not only knew my name, but somehow knew me personally and was able to pass unnoticed by my senses.

I hadn't told Cleo or Nimue about that encounter, but I had thought about it a lot. What was Sexy Gothic, a god, a being from the seventh dimension or some fucking metahuman? Sexy Gothic puzzled me, but since she had not caused me any harm, until she reappeared in my life or I had proofs that she was screwing me in some way, for the sake of my mental health, I would banishe her from my thoughts as much as I could.

[Otherwise, if I continue to be so paranoid, I will become Batman.] I hadn't even wanted to read the book she recommended me, although I ended up buying it and now it was in my room of Nimue's house.

Flying over the forest I looked at my wristwatch, this was the only thing I was wearing, since right now, I was naked in my anodite form. It was a little after 4:00 am, I couldn't tell if it was quite early or quite late. As I had no need to sleep, when I thought about it the days sometimes seemed to be quite long for me.

I stopped looking at my watch and looked at the forest below me. Since I was in a place like this, I thought maybe it was time to try out one of my anodite skills. I flew about two more kilometers, before I landed in an area of tall trees and approached one of them.

I put my hand on the trunk of the tree and concentrated a little, almost instantly I could feel small amounts of energy inside it. This energy was not magical energy, but it was the same vital essence of every living being, the mana in its pure state. In the trees, even in those as big as this one in front of me, those traces of mana were very small, but nevertheless, they were still present.

Some time before because I had not been able to sense the mana in the plants, I had not been able to test this ability. But in the last two weeks my body seemed to be adjusting and I was able to perceive more things around me when I concentrated a little. However in this moment I had not been able to perceive the mana in anything else that was not alive. I still didn't know if this was because my perception was not fully expanded or that things in this universe worked differently than in the Ben 10 universe.

Sensing the mana within the plant, I attracted it to me. In a matter of seconds the tree seemed it to wither completely. I saw how the green leaves turned brown and then gray, this process also affected the trunk which became brittle between my fingers. It was interesting, but I didn't like the result.

I walked to other trees nearby and repeated the process three more times, but it was always exactly the same.

"Fuck." No matter how hard I tried. I couldn't absorb just a part of the mana from the trees, every time I ended up draining all the mana inside the plants. I lacked practice and this was definitely something I should not use on a person. "..... unless I want to kill them."

I could imagined how horrible it would be if I tried to do this to a human being. I was pretty sure I would quickly end up killing him. I would have to practice this skill, but it would not be tonight, nor in this place. I returned to the skies this time I rised to reach beyond the clouds and headed again in a south-east direction.

From the sky I soon found the Hudson River and followed it to the south, it took me a few minutes to get close to New York, but once I was there I slowed down a bit my speed.

At that moment something caught my attention, it was a flash of light in the middle of the sky. I stopped in mid-air and looked in the direction from which it originated, wondering if the fireworks had already started, but also wondering how they had reached so high up there, but what I saw a little more than a kilometer from where I was, made me stop in amazement for a couple of seconds.

It was not fireworks, it was a Airliner. The front part of the plane, where the cockpit was supposed to be, was no longer there, it was mostly gone. I wasted no time and flew to the plane, in two seconds I was next to it.

Now being closer to the aircraft I took another look at it. Whatever had destroyed the front of the plane had also affected the passenger cabin behind it. I peered through the hole in the fuselage and could see that inside there were dozens of passengers clinging to their seats with oxygen masks on their faces.

"Fuck, fuck." The front of the plane began to pitch forward. It didn't take a genius to realize that without pilots this thing would crash.

Where was Superman when he was needed? Probably he was fucking with Louise, that lazy piece of shit. Obviously I was panicking, but that didn't stop me. I had so little time, that I doubted that if I didn't act right now, all those unfortunate idiots inside this plane would die very soon.

I created a mana dome to cover the front of the fuselage isolating the passengers and flew to the top of the aircraft. From there, I created a giant ring of mana around the fuselage at the front of the plane and then proceeded to create two more rings of mana around the back of the plane. I hesitated for a second, but quickly I created three additional mana constructs around each wing partially covering it.

I channeled and started sending a lot of energy to the mana constructs surrounding the fuselage, I needed to reinforce them. The plane came down through the clouds. I was running out of time, but I had to be careful. If I did this too quickly or too abruptly, I would break the fuselage of the plane into several pieces. Already, we were almost over the city and if I let it continue on its trajectory the plane would crash into a building.

How much did this plane weigh? I didn't have time to ask myself that either.

Gradually I used the mana constructs to push the fuselage and the wings of the plane in the opposite direction and reduce its inertia and momentum. It was slow, but I noticed the change after about 10 seconds just as we were over the city. I couldn't let this thing crash into the city, so I started to redirect the aircraft towards the river which was the nearest water source. Because even if I failed in my mission only those inside the plane would die and no one else.

At one point I panicked because a part of the wings was breaking a little, but my efforts paid off and I redirected the plane towards the river. The last part of all this madness turned out to be the most difficult. I knew little about airplanes, but I remembered reading somewhere that I had to make sure that the landing weight should be distributed evenly over the surface as much as I could when making a splashdown.

Soon the aircraft encountered the waters of the river, but to my great relief it did not break apart as it splashed down and gradually stopped moving until it was almost immobile on the water.

"Suck it that Superman!" I sighed tiredly, seriously that boy scout had to do stuff like this every day, this shit was exhausting. I looked around, I wasn't too far from the coast, maybe a mile or so. "That was close."

Someone should send help soon, but anyway I not dispel the mana constructs around the fuselage. I wasn't sure if the plane would float or not and until I was sure, I would leave them where they was. However, I had to be careful not to create too many constructs, because if I lost track of where they were, they would disappear after a few seconds.

I flew down the left side of the plane and looked out the windows. The people inside seemed quite surprised to see a flying blue girl, but they also seemed quite relieved to be alive. I reached the front of the plane and dicipe the mana dome, I had created to close the hole and entered the cabin, landing between the seats.

"What the fuck happened here?" From the layout and space, this cabin appeared to be first class.

"Bomb, there was a man with a bomb, he blew himself up." Said a woman sitting nearby, blinked and looked at me. "We crashed?"

"Of course, you crashed, silly." I corrected, addressing everyone. "Only that you did it with style, thanks to me. We're in the river."

[So it was a bomb.] I thought, was it a terrorist attack? If so I couldn't see any terrorists nearby. Looking around the cabin I realized that the explosion had killed at least half of the passengers in this section. Now that I remembered it, in those seconds that I was watching the plane before I flew into it, I saw a couple of people being blown into the air. [What bad luck, but it's not like I could have saved them all. Even if I had moved faster, it was them or the whole plane.]

I could see that at the back of the cabin there were a couple of hostesses sitting on a seat. I started to walk up to them, many people were complaining about injuries and asking how the people around them were, among the crowd of voices a sudden shout caught my attention.

"AHHH, My armmmmm!" The extrident sound seemed to belong to a child, but when I looked towards the source of the voice, I saw that it was a huge fat man in a business suit. His arm was broken, but otherwise he seemed fine. When he saw me, he said in a pleading and even higher-pitched voice. "Help me."

"Shut up, fat-ass." I said annoyed, I didn't have time for this shit. "I'm literally looking at a kid next to you who has a cut on his leg and screams less than you, if you keep screaming like a bitch, I'll throw you in the water and see if all that grease can float."

The fat reacted as if I had slapped him and my words caused many to stop complaining. I continued on my way to the flight attendants who were already undoing their seat belts and standing up.

"So..... what the heck do we do now?" I asked to the pair of women.

I was inside the plane for about 10 minutes, several people who realized that I was the one who saved them thanked me, but there was also another group of people who were simply surprised to see a bright blue girl. There were fewer wounded in the other sections of the plane, but these people had minor injuries such as bruises. Apparently the worst injuries of the bombing and landing was suffered by those in first class.

Once I made sure that there was no direct danger inside the place I got out of the aircraft and flew to the top of the fuselage. From there I could see that some ferries and other ships were approaching the aircraft. I wanted to get out of here, but just as I thought to test if the plane would float without the help of the mana constructs or if I could drag the plane to the shore, a new a strange sensation caught my attention. I looked to the sky in the direction of the coast and located the source of the strange presence in my head.

It was two .... not three glowing people .... Well, at least they seemed to glow from my perspective.

Two of them emitted presences similar to each other, but varied in intensity with one exceeding the other by a factor of 10 and the third emitted a totally different kind of precense, more similar to what I felt in a normal human when I concentrated a lot on them, but amplified it several times.

"What the fuck?" I mumbled, I had never sensed anything like this.

I was so fascinated that for a few moments I forgot to look at the sky and I concentrated on feeling these strange sensations. It was different from what I had felt from gifted magicians like Nimue or Zatanna, although the first two presences had some similarities.

But quickly the owners of the presences came close enough for me to come to my senses.

I had no trouble recognizing the three of them. The attractive girl, with red hair and slightly orange skin color, was Starfire, her costume was very similar to the one I had seen in the DC animated movie universe. The pretty girl with caramel colored skin and wavy black hair, was wonder girl .... No, I was wrong, here she called herself Troia, her costume was identical to her version of the new 52 and the last one was a imposing woman with pale skin and straight black hair, Wonder Woman, her costume like her sister's was her version of the new 52.

Both Amazons even had a sword and shield slung on their backs. The three of them quickly descended to where I was looking at them like a complete fool.

Once the three women landed in the fuselage of the plane my attention was completely on the woman in the middle of the group, Diana.

I had seen pictures of Wonder Woman, I knew she was attractive, but seeing her with my own eyes was something else. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life, she looked like a freaking Greek statue that some particularly horny and talented sculptor, had sculpted with his bare hands. I had an almost irresistible urge to throw myself at her feet and beg.

[Please, my goddess, sit on my face.] But that would obviously make a bad impression so I restrained myself.

"Hi, I don't think we've met....." Wonder Woman greeting.

It wasn't just that she was attractive, there was something in the air that came from Diana and also from Troia. It was a rather peculiar, but pleasant smell. If I had to compare it to anything it would be vanilla. This smell did not come from their bodies, but from the aura that emanated from them. On Diana this smell was overwhelming.

[Could I ask her permission to sniff her?] I felt completely bewildered, why the fuck did their auras smell like that? [...Concentrate brain, she is talking.]

"Yes, yes, I'm Lazuli." I replied, I hadn't heard half of what she said.

"Nice to meet you, those energy bands were created by you, can you tell us what happened here?" Wonder Woman asked me.

"Yes, I did that. I saw the plane flying to the ground and I stopped it from crashing." I shrugged my shoulders. "According to the passengers in the front of the plane, it looks like it was a bomb."

"And the cause of this?"

I looked briefly at Starfire, with her fiery red hair, bright emerald eyes and orange skin, she was exotic and the tallest person here. The aura the alien girl emitted was different from Diana's and Troia's, this one had no scent, but still it was curious.

"Dead." I looked back at Wonder Woman. "I went into the plane, but I didn't find anyone suspicious, apparently the guy who did this killed himself in the explosion."

Seeing the three of them here was not uncommon, New York was sort of Wonder Woman's official city, or at least it was the city where she was most often seen fighting crime. The two girls with her were her sidekicks (according to the internet) so it would also be very likely that they were around here.

Wonder Woman nodded and looked at Troia.

"Troia, please, you and Starfire check the plane, see if anyone needs help. I'll ask Lazuli a few more questions."

"Sure, let's go Star." Troia said before starting to fly to the front of the plane.

"Yes, friend Troia." Starfire nodded and flew after Troia.

"Thank you for what you did here, you sure saved a lot of lives." Wonder Woman said.

The surprise at the auras and appearances of these women was beginning to fade, allowing me to notice other things. Those shields and swords that Diana and Troia carried were magical, but they paled in potency with their bracers and in Diana's case her lasso seemed to glow almost as much as her own aura.

"It was nothing... it wasn't like I was going to let the plane crash when I could have prevented it, Right?"

I could be pretty selfish, I knew that well, but to me it was common sense to help others when you can, especially if the help that you gave to other people cost you nothing.

"You would be surprised, but many people just look away when they see something like this." Wonder Woman said in a solenme tone. "How did you realize what was happening with the plane?"

"I was flying around when I saw a flash of light." I replied with another shrug of my shoulders. "When I saw that the plane no longer had a cockpit, I knew things were pretty bad."

"I see." Wonder Woman looked the coast where the lights of several ships were approaching. "It won't be long before the coast guard arrives."

"That's good, because I think it's the time I leave these place, with you and your companions here, I don't think I'm needed anymore." Saying that, I dispelled one by one the mana constructs around the plane to verify if the structure sink. Luckily it didn't and remained floating. I nodded in relief.

"I understand." Wonder woman nodded in my direction. "And once again, I thank you for what you did."

"Don't worry, It was nothing." I replied as I began to rise into the air.

"If you don't mind, I just have one more question for you. "I paused in midair and looked at Diana. "Are you human?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no." I answered reluctantly and flew as high as I could into the clouds, leaving the demigoddess behind. Tonight had turned out to be more than interesting for me.

Metropolis, KS.

July 04, 2013.

Lex POV.

"...an incident that almost turned into one of the worst airplane bombings of the last decade...."

Sitting in his office on the top floor of the skyscraper he owned, Lex Luthor watched the news on the television in the room. Apparently there was a new piece on the board of superpowered people in the United States. A new piece that to his frustration he knew nothing about. She was a Metahuman or an Alien? What motivated her? And what she wanted? So many unknowns.

"But it doesn't matter because she'll see the light too..." Lex's eyes grew hard watching the images of a blue humanoid on the news. "At least my light."

A.N:Oh yes Erika got distracted by the sexiness a little bit, this will not only happen with women she will also find attractive men, as you can seen, Erika is very bad comforting victims. And yes, I don't like some of Young Justice's costume designs of the first seasons so I changed them

The conversation with Diana and her sidekick was a little short, but I promise there will be much more of them in the future.

If there is any mistake I apologize English is not my first language.