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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2013 22:22:54 GMT
Jack was in Gotham for one reason. It was weirdly a vibrant hub for magical beings, and items, but also because Papa midnite was using his voodoo hoodoo to cause trouble. He would normally do this in Newyork, but because of John stopping him several times already he had apparently moved his operations to Gotham. He apparently thought he could get away from Jack. He was wrong. Jack always kept tabs on Midnite because of the danger he posed. Thats what happens when you're a druglord with the powers to control the dead at your finger tips. Someone will probably make sure you don't abuse it. Especially someone who protects the world from the supernatural.
He exited his taxi, and lighting another cigarette as he headed towards the docks. Of course there were people defending the boat that Papa midnite was on. So he did the first thing he could think of. Make an illusion copy, and sneak up, and knock them out with a pistol whip them to the back of the head. He created an illusion of himself as it sneaked closer to the guards, as John snuck behind. He heard gun fire coming from the guards shooting a the illusion. He saw 4 guards. He had easily taken care of one. He was cowardly, and hiding. Then there was the one with the sniper rifle on top of a crate. He climbed the ladder where you could get on top, and knocked him out as well. Then there was only one left. He jumped down, and whacked him. He put away his gun. lit another cigarette. He then thought "Wait weren't there 4?" He was then knocked at the back of the head by something hard.
He found himself on the ship. Apparently Midnite had a special room for some of the corpses he had apparently stolen. He also took John's trench coat so he was defenseless. At least he allowed him to keep his cigarettes, but no lighter He stood up, and looked at two corpses who had toe cards. He read them out loud to himself. "R. Gordon, and T. Gordon." He knew he needed help, and fast. He snapped the cigarettes, and made a circle with what looked like a triangle with a eye in the middle.
"If you're reading this it means you're the strongest magician in Gotham, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I need help. Hurry to the docks, and there will be a heavily guarded boat. Called the S.S Hoodoo. I'm trapped inside some sort of morgue, and I don't want to worry you, but they can turn into the living dead at any minute. So please hurry.
~Love John Constantine." He then watched all of the corpse to make sure they wouldn't turn into the dead. Hard to kill without weapons.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 0:05:08 GMT
Big shows in front of big audiences were always fun, and they helped pay the bills, but nothing was more rewarding for Zatanna than entertaining children, especially children who needed hope and laughter. So when Bruce Wayne asked her to do occasional performances at the Wayne Memorial Children's Hospital, she said yes in a heartbeat. She visited whenever possible, and enjoyed every minute of the laughter and smiling faces.
"Greetings and salutations ladies and gentlemen!" she said with a bow. "My, but we have a lovely audience today. Now, let's begin, shall we? Okay, so I know you were all expecting me to pull a rabbit out of a hat." Zatanna pulled off her top hat and sat it down. "But you all know how rabbits tend to multiply! Net Stibbar!" Ten rabbits then hopped out, much to the delight of the kids. Zatanna then handed them out. The rabbits were tame and Zatanna had gotten permission from the staff prior. "Here, why don't you keep them company while I go on with the show." Zatanna winked at them and continued.
She continued with the show until she was suddenly made aware of the message from Constantine, which appeared inside her hat! She recognized the name, and was admittedly shocked when the man admitted to needing help. That must have meant he was in serious trouble, and that meant she had to stop the show. She apologized to the kids and promised she would make it up to them.
Once outside, Zatanna vanished and teleported to the ship. Using her telepathy, which would certainly pick up the likes of Constantine, she located the area he was locked in. She sneaked past the guards and aimed her wand at the door.
"Nepo!!!" she ordered and the door opened on command. She ran in and saw the fellow. "John Constantine, I'm Zatanna Zatara."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 10:05:01 GMT
He waited as patiently as someone would came to his aid. Well as patiently as someone who could be surrounded by zombies at any moment, and not having any of his weapons made him more nervous, and what really drove him over the top that he didn't have his cigarettes. He just sat in front of the door as he heard footsteps pass the door, and laughing at how John failed at stopping midnite, and talking about some kind of trade which will pay everybody so much that they'll be settled for life. This meant it wasn't good. Not good at all, and that he was trapped really annoyed him.
While in there he could sense 2 things. One was his trench coat, thanks to it leaking demonic magic. Two was Papa Voodoo. He would know that magic anywhere. It left an after taste of cranberries in his mouth. He wouldn't have sensed the other one approaching if it wasn't for having one cigarette left, and put it in his mouth just to calm him down. He sensed the other power source just barely. Then high power source of it. Then a constant one, and approaching fast. He stood up, and stepped away from the door as he heard someone outside speak backwards. At least it wasn't Papa Midnite. His powers were more ritual like.
He looked at the girl who entered. She was dressed as a magician, but like one of those halloween costumes that were made to be more sexy. John had to say it looked good on her. As soon as she said her name he knew who she was. The daughter of the great Giovanni Zatara. Which meant she herself would be a powerful magician. He would have felt honored that someone like her would rescue him, but John himself had reputation as well. "Nice to meet you Zatanna." He said to her.
"If you have the time could you help fight Papa midnite. He's planning something big, and I think it would really help of I had someone help." He said to her hoping she would agree. He knew he could defeat Papa midnite by himself, but she came all the way here to help, and he could use the company. "But first we need to get my Coat" He said walking out the room.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 12:43:33 GMT
Zatanna's father had spoken of John Constantine, but this was certainly not what she was expecting if she ever had the chance to meet him. He was a bit more rugged than she envisioned him. But at the same time, he was quite handsome too, enough to make her blush just a tad when he said it was nice to meet her. But the pleasantries didn't last long. Constantine mentioned another name that Giovanni once told Zatanna about... Papa Midnite. The mention of his name again after what her father had told her made Zatanna almost sick to her stomach. A man who practiced Voodoo was one thing. Heck, Zatanna and her father had aligned with Voodoo experts at one time or another. But Papa Midnite was devilishly evil and had a fun little habit of raising the dead. Zatanna couldn't even bare to watch zombie movies, let alone face an army of them. Still, she was just as much a hero as she was a showperson, and this man needed her help. With a smile, she bowed to him.
"Zatanna Zatara at your service, good sir," she said. Okay, mission number one... get Constantine's coat back. Apparently the coat must have a powerful object... or perhaps an overly-prized possession, but Zatanna was guessing the first. "Alright, I'll follow your lead, John. I'm guessing Papa Midnite has your coat on high watch, but between you and I, I think we can handle the rift-raft before we confront the big man himself." She then nodded that she was ready when he was.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 16:26:19 GMT
It was weird that she called him sir. He wasn't much older than her, and didn't have military training. So calling him sir felt weird. If someone else called him sir he would gladly enjoy, but with her he felt a bit disappointed that she called him. He would just ignore the comment for know, and focus on what was important. Getting back his Trench coat. He took it from his former master, who was one of the strongest magicians in the world then. To bad that he taught John everything he knew, and then decided to kill him just for the Book of Magics. John knew that the book was to dangerous to keep he held it hidden the house of mystery, but the coat itself was layered with demonic magic. It helped with the more powerful spells.
He laughed at the enthusiasm she had. It was the good kind. The one that could help keep alive in this kind of job. "Midnite knows me as well as I know him so it will be heavily guarded yes. They'll go down easy if you don't get killed by the guns, and the knives, and the occasional voodoo priest we'll do fine." He said happily as he sneaked down the hallway. He knew exactly where his trenchcoat was the same place where he would be keeping Midnite's electric chair. The cargo bay. This wasn't the first time he was captured by Midnite, and it certainly won't be the last. He always tried to execute him in the chair. It nearly killed him once. Thank god for power outages.
"Lets head for cargo bay." He said to Zatanna as his hand glowed an eerie shade of green. It wasn't a spell it was a build up to one. Just charging to let it go at the right moment. He began walking in a crouched position. There were 3 guards to the entrance to the cargo bay. He whispered to Zatanna "Let me take care of these 3 guys. It will very easy to take them down." He raised his hand that was glowing green, and said "Ignis Fatuus." This created three little will o wisps. This was a very easy spell to use, but John knew how to use them just right. The 3 little lights approached the guards. The 3 guards were more curious then scared of these things. They wisps approached the faces of the guards, as John clenched his fists creating 3 small arcane explosions. Not lethal just a small electric pulse that would make them unconscious.
He approached the guards as he checked there pulses. Still beating. Sometimes the electric pulse would also stop the heart, if you don't know how to control them. Plus John was showing off, and was being a bit reckless. He stood up after checking all there pulses, and opened the door to the cargo bay. "After you." He said to Zatanna. It wasn't because he was scared. He wanted to see her powers in action there was also another reason, but you can guess why he wanted to go afterwards.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 17:18:07 GMT
As John described what they would be dealing, Zatanna couldn't help but give off a light laugh. She had dealt with some heavy hitters fighting alongside Young Justice. Common goons with weapons wouldn't be a problem. Her main concern was when they got to the big boss. It was almost like one of those silly video games video games some of her teammates played during down time at Mt. Justice, where the hero wiped out a bunch of lower character easily than almost died fighting the guy at the end of the level. But this was not a video game. Midnite and his powers were very real.
"Guns and knives aren't a problem," she said to John. "And I can combat a little bad Voodoo too. My father had taught me well."
She followed him into the cargo bay, her wand ready. However, she ended up just standing and watching him in action. When he took out the guards, she wondered if he needed his magical coat after all. Nevertheless, with him so close to his coat, she was sure the action was about to really roll over into the supernatural side of things.
And then he offered Zatanna to go on ahead. So Mr. Rugged and Handsome decided it was Zee's turn to play a bit. She smiled and nodded to him as she passed.
"You're quite a gentleman," she said. She then turned with her wand ready again as she could already hear movement. Two men suddenly leaped out with guns ready. "Snug egnahc otni sredips!" The men looked down to see their guns crumble and crawl as they became small armies of arachnids. The men screamed and ran.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 20:48:17 GMT
He knew that Zatanna was taught well. John was taught by someone who studied under Zatara so he knew when someone was taught well, she could be as strong as John was. Maybe even stronger. John still was learning two new types of magic before he was finished. Well that was what John thought. He just needed to know spells that would keep the dead, dead. Which meant to control fire, and the darkness itself. Fairly easy to control once you know how. At least he didn't abuse the two. When he had the jacket he could cast spells without having to say a phrase out loud in there original forms. Even then he would need the trenchcoat to do the more powerful spells.
He smiled as she called him a gentlemen. He tried his best to be less of a hard ass. Apparently it was working. He saw her enter the room as she was attacked by two guys with guns. He wanted to come out, and help her, but then he saw that she had everything under control. He found it smart that she instead of hurting them, scare the hell out of them. Not a strategy that John would normally do, but still quite effective. He clapped as a joke to replicate an audience applauding after a good magic trick, but he knew something bad was going to happen. Since the two were running in a direction they hadn't been there could be more guards on there way. He quickly grabbed Zatanna, covered her mouth, as he said "ūtain ab visus." A few seconds after he said that a group of armed guards ran past them.
"Sorry about that. It would have taken to long to explain what was happening." He apologized towards Zatanna. The last thing he needed was to have a pissed off ally trying to help him. Espicially if she was pissed at John. He made his way further into the Cargo bay, and thats where he found the chair. His trench coat was right behind it. He picked it up, and put it on. He took the reserve cigarette he had, and lit it up. It calmed his nerves. "Ok seeing as the chair is here Midnite would have probably installed a security camera here which means..." As soon as he said that no other then Papa Midnite showed his face. Midnite plus all the guards that pasted them.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2013 3:13:45 GMT
Zatanna was quite pleased with her little trick. Whenever possible, she tried to not use her magic to harm someone. That wasn't always the case, but one thing one could at least not accuse Zatanna Zatara of was being a murderer. She was about to laugh and bow as Constantine clapping for her, but then he suddenly put his hand over her mouth. She only struggled a second out of surprise, but then realized he wouldn't have done it without a reason. When he let her go, Zatanna hardly felt he needed to apologize, but it was a nice gesture from a guy she really didn't expect to be one to apologize to others.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "Maybe later we can talk about it over a nice cup of tea." She then turned and noticed the coat her ally had been looking for... as well as a chair she had only heard some rather uncomfortable stories about. Yet there it was in front of them. She watched as Constantine put his coat back on, and grimaced a little when he lit up a cigarette. She was not crazy about being in the path of cigarette smoke.
But a moment later, cigarette smoke was the least of her worries. There, in front of them, was that "video game main boss"... Papa Midnite himself. The man was a voodoo master, a man who could wake the very dead. Zatanna did not possess that power, nor did she want to. She hoped between her wand and Constantine's coat, they could take down the villain.
"Papa Midnite, I'm Zatanna Zatara, daughter of Giovanni Zatara and friend of John Constantine," she said. "I'm well equipped in the mystical arts and I humbly suggest you surrender."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2013 19:05:20 GMT
He smirked as she said they should have tea together. It's a stereotype that all the english enjoy tea, but dammit he couldn't help it. Tea was one the things that calmed him, and out of the 3 it was the only one that didn't cause damage to his body, but it didn't calm hid down as much as drinking, and smoking did. He was trying to quite the two, but it was hard with his life style. "Yeah maybe we should do it after we take down midnite. How about you pick the place, and I'll pay." He whispered back with a bigger smirk on his face. He didn't know if it was a really proposition, or a joke. If it wasn't a joke he would gladly accept it. If it was a joke he would look a bit foolish for the answer he gave.
He never really enjoyed fighting Voodoo, but the more he did the easier it got. After a while it got easier to know what he was going to do next. It mainly involved summoning the undead. After a few times encountering Midnite, he taught himself the basics of Necromancy. Helped him to take out the UN out of undead, but after the first few times he used he saw the advantage in knowing how to control the dead, but instead of learning how to force life into corpses, he took souls who wanted to help him out, and gave them a bit of power, and a push them in the right direction. He found it a nicer form of necromancy, but still most people felt it still a bad form magic, and John didn't disagree.
Midnite laugh at Zatanna introducing herself. "Of course I know who you are. I worked in this business long enough to know all da big players." John normally liked exotic accents, but not when hearing Midnite's accent. It annoyed him. "You know I want to do the whole what is your plan to get your big payday, but I believe I can guess what you're doing. You ransom families with lots of money to give back there deceased, or you turn them into Zombies. Am I close?" Midnite growled at him. "Close, but no ball Mr. Constantine. I'm releasing a zombie horde to scare away people from areas with banks, and museams. Then rob them." John did a little salute of gratitude. He always manipulated Midnite to tell him everything.
"The good thing is Papa Midnite, isn't the smartest cookie around, but still we should be careful." He whispered to Zatanna. Apparently Midnite heard him as he shouted 'ENOUGH!' The next thing he knew there was a lot of commotion coming from some of the crates in the cargo bay. "Well Zatanna I hope you know a way to fight off zombies because were about to face an entire horde." He said as he dropped his cigarette, and his hand grew the same eerily shade of green again, and the first zombie came out. He raised his hand, and clenched it as the zombies eyes glowed the same green something began leaving his mouth.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2013 18:16:35 GMT
Zatanna smiled when John agreed to tea. She didn't invite him because it was British stereotype or anything. Zee simply loved a good cup of tea whenever she could have one, and wanted to learn more about John Constantine in his own words. He was a most interesting fellow.
"I know just the spot, and thank you, John. That's very generous of you," she said.
After Midnite mocked her warning and explained his plan, Zee wanted to mock him as well. Like Constantine would tell her, he's wasn't the brightest guy.
"You know, ask most criminals around this city, there are far most simple ways to get into banks and museums," she said. "Well given Batman isn't around to stop you." The good humor didn't last when the cargo bay started rocking. That wasn't good. John didn't really have to tell her what was about to happen. She had a pretty darn good idea.
"I've dealt with the undead before," she said. "I'm...sure I can handle this." Zee soon had to prove that as the zombies came forward. While Zatanna came up with a better way to take out the zombies in mass, she fought the first few off with Eldritch Blasts to the head. She then turned to John. "This may sound like a bad idea at first, but we need to draw them out and away from this ship. That way I can conjure up a fire spell. If I do it here, the zombies go down, the ship goes down, and you and I go down."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2013 22:17:57 GMT
Nice one." He whispered as she finished mocking Midnite. It never was such a smart idea to mock Midnite, but it was incredibly fun to do. He always took the mocking to personally which made him such an easy target to mock. One of the lighter sides to fighting Papa Midnite. The other side was mainly fighting the dead, but it was worth it. Really, really worth it. Plus John knew that Batman wouldn't be scared by zombies. John gets monsters. He didn't get the insane, and they did scare him, but not to the Batman. Taking the insane means you can't be scared by the undead.
Midnite was laughing at the two fighting of the zombies. John heard that, and stopped trying to preserve the corpses, and took out his lighter, and said "Drakōn Rārian!" Every time he said that the lighter let out a fire ball in the shape of a ring. Every time it hit a zombie the zombies looked like they were being burned from the inside. Both of there efforts only seemed to do little to the huge size. He did enjoy seeing Zatanna in battle. Mainly because she was keeping her cool, and also because he saw a bigger part of her power.
He looked at Zatanna as she told that they needed to lead them out of the boat. John got an idea in his head. It was a bad idea, but an idea none the less. "Zatanna can you teleport yourself out of the ship I have an idea. It might not be a good idea, but it'll work." He approached the zombies, and whistled loudly. "Hey you A**H***S! I'm actually the most nicest tasting person in this place, so how about a nice dinner!" H shouted as he literally tackled a zombie to get access to the door out of the cargo bay.
As he was running being followed by zombies only one thing went through his mind. Why the hell were these running zombies. He was almost got caught twice, but escaped. He tripped over at the entrance to the boat, and slid down. He quickly regained his posture as the zombies also rushed down onto the pier. He stood up, and said "I hope you know what you're doing." He hoped that Zatanna was there as he was a bit exhausted with running. Happens when you're running for you're life.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2013 19:01:38 GMT
Zatanna seemed less fond about Constantine's idea than he did. Leave him on the boat... with all these creatures? He was as good as zombie food. But something also told her to trust him. After all, from what she had heard, this man had been to Hell and back... literally! That made her sure he could survive a ship load of zombies... well sort of sure. She supposed she would know soon as she had decided to go with his plan.
"Ekat em ffo eht pihs!" she chanted. "Tup em kcab eht skcod!" And then she vanished, re-appearing on the docks and looking at the ship, hoping at any moment to see John heading off as well... unharmed and not bitten. Meanwhile she looked about for a place to lure the zombies should some of them come off. If she caused a fire spell on the docks, the wood would burn and John and Zee would still wind up in the water. She looked over and found an open area nearby with a concrete floor. That would do.
Turning back, she saw John heading her way with the zombies following. When John said he hoped she knew what she was doing, she couldn't help from smile a little.
"So do I, John, so do I," she said. "Hurry up and head over here, then you can rest on that stack of stuffed sacks behind me while I draw those creatures in." Once Zee would have the zombies where she wanted them, she would put her pyrokinesis to work, forming a mystic fireball to torch the creatures.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2013 20:27:45 GMT
Still out of breath he slowly made his way towards the sacks. He sat down, and tried to calm down. His muscle hurt because most of the energy he used came from an adrenaline rush, and know his muscles hurt badly. God it was like the time he ran with the bulls. That turned out bad He ended up jumping into a river. He started floating in the river till someone was nice enough to come with a boat to pick him up. They were a nice family. John still kept in touch. He sent, and got, christmas cards every year. Of course they were sent to the house of mystery in Vermont, and the mail box could send the mail some place else.
He looked at Zatanna as created the mystic fireball. He knew that would make a big fire display, and hopefully burn the zombies without making collateral damage. He had to say he couldn't have done it better himself. Of course his would be more reckless, and maybe destroy the ship in the process, but then thats how John did it, and that was one of the main reasons he got such a huge reputation. That and the fact that he met devil, went to hell and back, exorcised so many demons if they kept a record of it he would be holding it right know, and that he was trained by the best. Those were the 5 main reasons.
He stood up, and approached Zatanna as the last of the zombies burn. He looked at Zatanna. "Well you did a great job with the fire spell. Even managed to spoil Midnite's plans. He even is running away from you." He said pointing at the ship that was taking off. "So know about having tea." He said smiling at Zatanna.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2013 0:15:39 GMT
Zatanna conjured up the fireball and went to cooking. The fire spread, yet hovered in the air. Zatanna still didn't want to risk it spreading on the ground in case there was a gas tank she happened to look over. The fire hit its targets, burning the zombies in mass. The smell of burning dead flesh was disgusting, but Zee could handle it. She had confronted creatures who had smelled worse in her time. Soon, she watched as the creatures burned to ashes. Once she believed they were dead... again, she conjured some water from the ocean nearby to put the bodies out.
"Boy, the authorities are going to love this, though I think most of these guys are a pile of ashes now," she said. She then turned and smiled at John as he gave her praise. He might have been rough and tough, but there was a sweetness in there.
"Thank you, John," she said. "You were amazing too. The stories my father told about you are true. I'm honored that I had a chance to work with you. Let's just hope that creeps like Midnite stay away, so they next time you and I meet up, we can go out for a night on the town instead of battling demons and voodoo witch doctors." She then took his arm and kissed him on the cheek. The kiss was a friendly one and nothing more... at least for the time being... but Zee definitely felt he earned it. "And yes, that tea would be amazing right now."
(Zatanna's out)
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2013 13:12:03 GMT
John laughed as she made the joke about the authorities. "Welcome to my world Zatanna." He wasn't kidding. There were unsolved cases around the world that Jack had committed. Of course he was never accused for them. Most of the time it went unsolved, but ever so often they blame someone else. Either way people didn't know what the so called victims were the murderers, but John wasn't always to worried about the whole after effects that what he did caused. He made the world a safer place. To an extant of course.
He felt a nice sense of gratitude when she praised him. He tried his best to keep secret, but it's hard to keep secret from a magical community. It seems like everything you do somehow people find out, but then again he heard a lot about Zatanna to. The whole thing that she was part of a team, and saved the world. Also that whole ordeal with her Father disappearing, and coming back as Dr. Fate. "Well I should be honored that Zatara knew about me, and lucky enough he told you about me. Don't worry Midnite will go back to Newyork make voodoo dolls of use, and try to make us kill ourself, or kill each other, but fail miserably, and I believe by you saying the next time we go out on town you mean you want to meet up again after tea." He said towards Zatanna.
He smiled as she kissed his cheek, and walked with Zatanna to the tea shop.
(John's out)
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