...didn't mean it like that!
Apr. 13th, 2007 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sylph_ficsTitle: ...didn't mean it like that!
Word Count: 6,351
co-writer:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merfilly
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: *snicker*
Characters: Titans ensemble
Forcero_ate's Cliche-a-thon.
Cliche: #3, animal transformation
Continuity: Pre-Graduation Day
//oh. Shit. Klarion! Move, Harper!//
The damn (bum-bum-bum) witch-boy's profile wasn't exactly forgettable. Especially when he'd actually managed to miss his best-known stunt by some miracle--Roy damn well didn't want to be around for the encore performance!
Didn't look like he had a choice, though, when the little brat was suddenly in front of him on a nightly patrol, a very wicked look on his face as his hands moved. Some language Roy couldn't understand poured from his lips, and no matter that he'd started moving within a heartbeat of that half-panicked realization he didn't get out of the bolt of mage-energy in time.
It slammed into his back through the armor, dropping him to the ground in screaming pain, and he heard the witch-boy's gloating voice. "Now... to see what this does to those others..."
The feet were moving away, not closer, which confused him as he doubled over in another spasm of agony, feeling things change under his skin... //God.. what's...//
It hurt, almost too much to think, and he heard himself scream, but the cry was too high, too wild... He felt himself getting lost in the pain, and simply prayed he had some chance of coming out of this.
...Several minutes later, a fallen costume moved in the side of the abandoned alleyway, smallish lump under the quiver struggling, noises from no human throat. Eventually, the lump freed itself, and a harsh cry filled the air.
*~*~*
Black Canary being worried was nothing new. She did, despite the minx-play and the blonde act, worry over all those she called family or friend. No one could trip it more quickly than Arsenal, her very own Boy-o. After all, they had been through hell together and then some. So, when he missed meeting her, she did not even think to put the brakes on her concerns, and went looking immediately. He did, after all, have a habit of getting in trouble up to his neck.
The Titans still had Lian, she discovered after a phone call, and while Rose was puzzled by why he hadn't at least called to let her know he was going to be in late, but they were fine. She knew his usual patrol route fairly well, and for at least the first half of it, yeah, people had seen him, he'd stopped by one of the dives to pick up some information, pretty usual... but the trail people could vouch for suddenly vanished between one of his usual haunts and the next.
She retraced her steps along the route, and kept her eyes peeled for any signs of a struggle...and had to swallow her heart as she found her Boy-o's costume cast to one side.
Every piece of his gear was still there, amazingly enough. Apparently even New York's thugs had been frightened of the strangeness of a full set of hero gear dropped in place. Bow, quiver, arrows, comms, phone... everything. She knelt down, inspecting it very carefully by sight first, then slowly lifting each piece to look for anything that might clue her in. She ruled out an anti-organic weapon immediately; Roy used real feathers for fletching and carried some true wooden arrows for luck. It was just...odd, and that had her nerves prickling, rather than sending her into a full blown panic.
As she lifted the armor's torso, something fell down against her thigh, something soft that brushed lightly over her before settling to the floor. Feathers. Two that seemed as though they might have come from the breast of a bird, and one long, deep reddish pinion.
She caught the pinion and tapped it idly against her chin, getting a thoughtful look on her face. The number of feathers indicated that a bird had struggled...molting out the looser feathers...inside the costume. The bird had to be one with a larger wingspan than usually seen in the city proper as well. She closed her eyes, sighing softly at the mystery, and carefully gathered up the costume, the weapons, and the feathers, heading for the JSA museum.
As she moved the costume, there was a high, whistling cry and a rush of wings, and a dark, black-and-red hawk lit hard on her shoulder, though the talons settled only onto the leather as it gripped and chirred at her. The wings would measure a good four feet if outstretched, and the bird stood almost two foot at the shoulder, leaving her eye-to-upper chest with it.
"Well...that answers that." She used his own feather to stroke along the plumage.
The bird chirred harshly, and the lethal beak moved through her hair in tiny, obviously bitterly unhappy movements.
"Boy-o, settle down...let me figure out who can help us." She started walking toward the JSA building anyway.
The bird made another noise, low and unhappy, and kept running its beak through her hair, shifting on her shoulder.
"For what it's worth, Boy-o...you are beautiful."
The sharp beak clacked next to her ear as he made a very irritable noise, almost the ratcheting cry of an alarm call, and carefully did not tighten its talons as the wings fluttered indignantly. She laughed softly at him, walking slow and easy, her gloved hand occasionally coming up to reassure him.
He re-settled on her shoulder as she petted him, pressing into the touch of her hand on his chest-feathers, starting to make a low noise of contentment instead of the harsher cries.
She finally got them to the JSA HQ, and inside, settling Roy against the claustrophobia. She remained in the large open atrium, and called out. "Dr. Fate in? If not, I need a bit of help here!"
The bird that was obviously her boyo fluttered despite her calming hand, eyes darting around them.
"Hellcat? Fate's not around right now, though we can get him back pret-- What the? Hellcat, when did you start imitating Midnite?"
Dinah made a moue at him. "Uncle Ted, I'm going to need Fate. Or some other friendly mage. Can you arrange that for me? I'm going to take him on up to the roof." She eased his gear off her other shoulder into a chair, wincing when the quiver refused to stay and clattered to the floor.
The hawk made a definably indignant noise and clacked his beak next to her ear again. /
"I'll go see about getting him back here, Hellcat..." Wildcat was no stranger to magic, and the combination of the bird and that costume was making him shake his head. "That boy of yours got into some more trouble, I see."
The hawk shrieked, mantling at Wildcat aggressively.
The petite blonde glared at Ted, having to take a step back under the force of Roy moving that way. "UNCLE TED!" She got both hands up to him, and headed for the stairs carefully, as she heard others moving in.
Her uncle shrugged, having called it like he saw it, and watched as Dinah made her escape with the hawk, explaining only that they needed to talk to Dr. Fate about the screaming bird with their Canary.
*~*~*~
When Fate finally emerged onto that rooftop, there was no immediate sight of Dinah Lance, but the big hawk mantled savagely over a small, delicate bird of another variety. A canary, by the coloring...
"I fear I may have been a bit tardy in coming," he said softly, kneeling on one knee, and removing his helmet to look more closely at them. The little bird cheeped at him, in what sounded vaguely like annoyance.
The hawk's beak clacked protectively again as the basically-stranger got entirely too close to them.
The tinier bird cheeped stringently and beat her wings, pecking at the hawk fiercely.
The hawk made a jump sideways, ducking his head under a wing once he was out of pecking distance, and twisted its head back out from under its wing to chirr... apologetically? at the man in armor.
"I see she is still just as bossy," Hector Hall said with a smile. He ignored the cheep his way and sat cross legged, trying to determine the nature of the spell without touching them.
The hawk bobbed its head in a quick nod, due to that the canary was still looking indignantly towards the cross-legged stranger. The magic swirling around both of them now, searching for another target, was full of the resonance of Witch World, to one that so well knew how to read the currents.
"Klarion, again, it seems," Fate said with resignation. "What shall we do?"
The hawk skree-ed angrily at the name, then bobbed his head repeatedly. At the last question, the broad wings arched up and in in a very blatant shrug.
The smaller bird let out a very long stream of cheeps and twits that sounded profeane even to Dr. Fate.
"I will have to do some investigation," he told the pair of birds.
The hawk nodded once, dipping its beak to preen at the canary's wings, trying to settle her. The tinier bird cooed up at the hawk, settling under him while Fate sank back into meditation.
Said meditation was rudely interrupted by the Flash suddenly appearing on the rooftop. "Fate, we need you, Grundy's at it again!" He stopped a moment to stare, "If you can leave them, I mean... Junior, you do get yourself into messes..."
The canary squawked indignantly, but nestled into her larger companion.
"They should be fine." Fate settled his helmet back on and followed Jay.
The hawk cupped a wing around her protectively, apparently settling.... but when Fate finally returned, several hours later, the pair were nowhere to be found.
"This is not good." He had failed to put his 'mark' on them, and now finding them would be interesting.
***
Hunger had been the first thing to drive the hawk from his perch on the roof, and it had taken some flying to find prey he wanted. Rat might be fine for a true hawk, but city rat? No, thank you... squirrel, though... The most-human parts of his mind were commenting about eating raw food--he just reminded them it wasn't the first time. Having the fluttering tiny form of his Dinah there was distracting, hawk-instincts ruthlessly held down by what of his will he could bring to bear. //My Dinah. NOT food.//
Meal taken to a tree to finish, and it felt strange to grip bark like that, he let himself listen to the hawk's instincts, and flew. The call of his hunting-pack was too strong to resist.
The canary kept up by cheeping indignantly or plaintively at him, making him circle back numerous times, until he just caught her smaller form in his talons, carrying her like prey, but carefully. Moving was much simpler, after that, and the shape of a familiar building loomed across the too much! water.
***
Nightwing wasn't really that worried, it was hardly the first time Roy had disappeared for a night or two, but generally he did call to let Lian know. He was walking the outer rim of the Tower grounds when a high, whistling cry caught his attention--just before several pounds of feathers moving at high speeds slammed into his shoulder and latched on. For a minute he thought Changeling had had a run in with a dye bath, but what Gar was doing out here... Then the natural coloring caught his attention and made him study the bird perched out on his shoulder.
"Who the heck do you belong to, and why're you here?" he felt a little dumb talking to the bird, but Harris' hawks didn't belong in this part of the world, even if they were easy to train and social...
The hawk shrieked at him, mantling, and he swore to god the bird shook its head.
"Ow, OW, stop screaming, sorry... Donna!"
Argent and Jesse had charge of the kids for the day, they were out in the city proper at some cultural thing she wanted them to see--he had a sudden feeling that that was a good thing as a tiny yellow bird //a canary?// started fluttering around the hawk, making very, very unhappy noises at it.
"Little thing, you're not two mouthfuls to this guy," he said worriedly--and the hawk cried out again and bit his ear.
The canary fluttered up into Dick's face, cheeping indignantly before pushing onto his crowded shoulder, between the hawk's legs, clinging to the shirt fiercely.
Donna came at a run, wondering at the tone of voice, and saw the very odd couple of birds using her best friend to roost. "What in Hera's name?"
"I'm really, really not sure, Donna... The hawk landed on me, then the canary followed... Hawk... Canary... ROY?"
The hawk bobbed its head, making a happy, content almost-purring noise as it shifted to run its beak through Dick's hair,
The canary gave a happy cheep, before turning her attention to preening herself.
Donna looked dumbfounded for one long moment, then shook her head. "Which one ticked off what mage?" She paused a long moment. "Circe's fond of animal transformations...but it doesn't feel like her."
"I have no idea. Roy, what did you do?" The hawk made an annoyed sound, ducked its head to nudge the canary out from between his talons, then flung himself at Donna to cling to her shoulder instead, tail and wings flicking. Part of him knew he shouldn't be bouncing between them like this, but they were his pack, his kin...
Dick stroked the canary's wing-feathers carefully. "Um... hi Dinah. Man, O is going to pitch a fit and--" he lost his balance, dropping to a knee to hiss in pain, arm coming up against his chest hard. "Nnn..."
"Dick?!" Donna rushed over, not commenting as Dinah flicked into her hair, at the loss of her steady perch. She knelt by Dick, trying to comfort him.
The hawk made nearly panicked high noises, fluttering back over to Dick's shoulder in worry, despite the way the body moved under his talons.
"H... hurts, Donna..." he fell further into himself, pain ripping though him, looking up at her from agonized eyes before jet-black fur ran up his spine, his face twisting, reshaping, his entire body reshaping, shimmering though magic into the form of a long, sleek black panther.
The hawk had moved as the magic surged, wings beating to keep him hovering over Dick's body...
"Hera have mercy," Donna said, reaching out to stroke the sleek cat to soothe her friend. Dinah cheeped in worry and lifted from Donna's hair, hovering nearby.
The cat rubbed into the touch, purring deep and harsh at the feel of Donna's petting, aware enough to know that it might not be smart to keep touching, but... it felt good...
Dinah gave a long low cheep of warning, just as Donna felt a twitching in her muscles. "Oh...the more of us affected..." She barely got it out, before the transformation pains became crippling, taking her ability to speak away.
The hawk flung its head back and skreed as loudly as he could. Maybe he could keep anyone else from touching them, but they needed someone to pay attention.
Within seconds, Wally was there...and had laid hands on all four of them, trying to figure out why there were wild creatures consorting cross species on Tower grounds. As he was touching the deer standing on the remnants of Donna's costume, he doubled over in pain.
It was barely another moment before there was a tall bird standing there between them looking horribly confused, long neck stretched up and out, twisting his head around. The hawk made a whining noise and pecked the emu-that-was-Wally on the top of the head, hard.
The canary cheeped sadly, perching prettily on the graceful deer's shoulders, barely gripping with her tiny claws. The five animals looked around and then the hawk gave a worried squawk, heading inside. At the squawk Dinah shook herself into flight and followed just as worried by her cheeps.
The cat was barely a step behind them, bounding along in low, running strides... and it wasn't many more moments before the emu and the deer were right behind them.
They followed Roy through the tower to his own room, where he seemed very relieved to find Lian's going-out jacket gone. The field trip with Argent had slipped his mind until that point.
Down in the pool, Tempest's eyes suddenly shot open as the feel of a powerful magic suddenly raced through the Tower. He closed his eyes, focusing, trying to feel it out... and shuddered. //Oh, my... Oh. I am not getting out of my pool.// He surfaced and reached out for his communicator, paging Argent.
"Argent here."
"Argent, Tempest. Stay off the grounds. We've got something very strange going on. Don't bring the kids back. I'll let you know when things go back to normal. You might have to book a hotel, depending on how long it takes to do something about the problem. ...and keep your eyes open for that witch-boy, just in case."
"The one that kid team and the League and the JSA had trouble with?" Argent asked, filing away instructions.
"Yes, him. ...Klarion."
"Okay Tempest. I'll keep Cerdian and Lian and Rose with me."
"Thank you, Argent. Tempest out." He swam backwards, kicking his feet idly as he considered who to call next. He didn't have the kind of power it would take to break the spell upstairs, with the JSA gone dealing with Grundy Dr. Fate was unavailable... Zatanna, perhaps?
Upstairs, the hawk skreed in alarm as the big cat suddenly leapt at his tailfeathers. The canary immediately flew at the cat, pecking at his head and cheeping furiously. The emu made one bleating honk and went to hide his head, while the deer shook her graceful head. The cat swatted carefully at her, not willing to risk the wrath of a set of talons and beak like Roy's, mrowling.
As the animals batted at each other, and wound up in a full out chase through the Tower, a single entry point alarm flashed once, and was silenced, unseen by human eyes, as an old acquaintance came to see how his daughter was doing.
The Tower seemed almost deserted for a moment, but then his ears caught the scream of a hawk over the eerie cry of a panther, and strangely high, fluting chirping.
//Not Gar... and he was on the West Coast last I checked.// He moved steathily to where he could observe things.
It wasn't long before the watcher got a eyeful of five creatures bolting through the Tower. An entirely-too-reddish emu skidded past first, quickly followed by a lanky, graceful doe, a black panther right beside her, pair of birds flying overhead, large desert hawk and a small bright canary.
The small bright canary actually looped...and came right to him, fluttering in his space but not touching him as she cheeped and cheeped at him.
His head tilted to the side, an impo--implausible--thought flicking through his mind. "Sister?"
The cheeping turned to pleased singing for him at that.
"How do you get yourself into these--" the rest of his words cut off as the black cat came racing back up the stairs, mrowling loudly and springing at him before it twisted in midair, landing hard just in front of him as if it had thought better of the jump, ears pricking up along with the whiskers in obvious kitty confusion.
Right behind the cat came the very large hawk, who evidently was second-guessing an urge to attack him, aided by the fact the canary had turned and begun scolding with cheeps and flapping wings.
"Did the entire Tower fall into Wonderland, my little bird?" he asked in a low soft voice under the noise of the mantling hawk, the mrowling cat, and the clicking of the deer's hooves. The little bird in question turned and gave a long, mournful cheep back at him.
The cat meowed, rearing up on hind-feet and balancing carefully to meow at him again.
"Grayson...Harper...That must be Donna, one of Artemis' sacred deer. And the emu hiding from us must be West." Slade was quite bemused. "Where are the girls? And Garth?"
The cat dropped back down to hind paws and tossed his head in the direction of the city, then dipped head to look at the floor. The deer, on the other hand, simply nodded. The hawk? The hawk was apparently having a furious conversation with the tiny canary.
The canary finally gave one belligerent cheep and landed on the floor, not touching Slade, but as close to his feet as she could get. The deer, the cat, and even the emu peeking into the hallway were left with the firm conviction Dinah had just defied Roy on getting away from the man.
Slade just gave a very sly smirk, and crouched down, carefully not touching her. "Little Bird, did you speak to your uncles already?"
She gave a fluttering cheep of assent ruffling her feathers up before giving a mournful one to that as well.
"No help... or not right now." He shook his head.
The cat meowed unhappily, prowling close, making circles around Slade and the bird, trying not to touch, but fairly obviously wanting to get close. The hawk made frustrated noises and circled to settle on the deer's back, mantling in irritation.
The tiny bird eyed the cat with clear indication she was not happy at him for being so close. Slade watched, before sighing. "Both of you need to calm down. Let me go talk to Garth and see if he has suggestions."
The cat gave him the most offendedly innocent look he could possibly manage, fairly obviously saying He was fine, he just didn't like the news.
The bird was unrepentant, flying just ahead of Slade as the mercenary moved down to the pool area, panther prowling at his heels. "Tempest...I mean no harm," he called ahead of himself. "I'd like to hear your thoughts on the menagerie."
"Wilson," Tempest growled softly, not exactly best pleased to see the man. "First thought? Don't let them touch you. I'm trying to get in contact with Zatanna, but no luck so far... And the JSA got called out just before they showed up."
"That explains Canary's answers to me." Slade's words got a solid cheep of assent. "No one on my side I'd trust near you kids right now."
"No one on your side I'd let you bring near them," Tempest agreed. "The gals took the kids into the city, I commed Argent to tell her to keep them out there. I thought about Blood, but..."
"He is good friends with the Bat and would have an interest. Do please warn me first...I'd rather not run afoul of a demon."
"I'd prefer to try Zatanna again," Tempest muttered, eyes dark. "Or wait for Fate to get back."
The panther meowed softly and spun in a quick game of chase-the-tail, burning off energy.
The canary fluttered up to perch in the rafters, very tired and feeling the fact it was not the right time for her bird self to be awake at long last. Slade glanced up at the perching bird, and shook his head. "You seem like you've got decent control while awake, sister, but I don't think Tempest would appreciate you falling into his pool and I'm not fishing you out of the drink again. Come down."
The phrasing got a very angry round of cheeping his direction as she protested soundly all the way down to him.
//I can just guess what she's calling me...// "Those insults again, little bird? Here." He shook his head slightly and pulled the outer sweater off over his head, arranging it on a nearby table. She cheeped gratefully and settled in its warmth to nest and sleep.
Tempest watched that byplay with baffled eyes, shaking his head slightly. He tried the comm again, watching the cat circle and prowl around the edges of his pool with a glare.
"Hello?" came a baffled female voice.
"Zatanna? It's Tempest."
"Hi...this is a surprise."
"It's also business. We've got a magical... mishap... in the Tower, and could really use someone's help to reverse it..."
Zatanna paused a long moment. "You have Fate right there..."
"They're dealing with Grundy. Again."
She sighed. "Be there in a bit."
"Thank you, Zatanna." He glanced up at Slade, laying back in the water. "She's on her way."
The cat meowed at that, perking up, and bounded over to Slade again, staying close but not touching him.
"Yes, Grayson. Soon, things should be normal for all of you." He looked at Tempest. "I feel I should stay, in case this was a prelude to an attack."
Tempest nodded once. "Wouldn't mind the help, if someone does come."
The hawk finally flew down to check on everything, and made some very unhappy noises at the sight of the canary so contentedly curled up in the shirt that reeked of his scent. He settled onto the table next to her, wings spread protectively.
She opened one eye, cheeping softly, inviting him to join her so she could feel truly safe, and he dipped his head and preened her, moving closer, standing on the sweater despite who it smelled like.
She cooed peacefully, closing her eyes again and nestling down to rest. The cat padded over and reared up, placing his paws on the table to nuzzle at the hawk, who leaned into it.
A few moments later, the deer and emu came close, with the emu laying its neck over the deer's withers. The hawk tucked his head under a wing after a bit, wanting to get some sleep of his own, and the cat dropped and stretched lithely, sniffing at the deer, then growled softly and took off again, bounding up the steps out of the pool room more easily than he might have been expected to.
The deer gave chase, soon followed by the restless emu. Slade thought the pool room was likely a safe haven, and followed the three alert animals, not wishing anything to happen to any of them.
It soon became obvious just what the cat's problem was when a frustrated, rippling cry that sounded more than half like a woman screaming came from the general direction of the kitchen.
Slade could not help but let out a chuckle, as he went to tend to his favorite Titan...and to see if his friends needed food. He had to be careful to restrain the impulse to physically check the cat over when he got in there.
The cat looked up at him plaintively, rubbing at his nose with the back of one paw, tail lashing in frustration, low growl having replaced the wailing cry.
"Next time, ask for help." Slade did not even bat his eye at the almost-hypocrisy of his own words, not even when the emu and the deer glared at him.
The cat gave him a look of complete disdain, and turned his back in offended feline dignity.
"After all, you can't operate a can opener," Slade teased.
The cat turned and growled, batting at the fridge door again, insistently.
The mercenary started tending to the three animals with him, as both deer and emu looked intent on the fridge too. "Never thought I'd play zookeeper."
The big cat growled, lips curling back from the long fangs, but waited patiently until Slade put something in front of him to attack it, bolting the food ravenously.
The mercenary left the animals to eat, and went on the prowl, checking the security of the Tower. He was enjoying the chance to tease the kids, but he did have things he wished to do, not the least of which was to see how Rose was doing.
The cat was soon at his left side, prowling along, silent other than the contentedly rumbling purr.
"Still can't be still, Grayson?" Slade smiled down at the sleek cat. "Not too long, and you'll be airborne again."
That got a very pleased noise and a quick bounce, bringing him within a few inches of Slade's body before he yanked himself to a stop, growling.
The one eyed fighter nodded. "Very odd, to not touch you, or..." He shook his head, thinking of the tiny bird below. "Wish the witch would hurry up."
PURR. The cat very much agreed with that, obviously.
"The WITCH is here; the question is, why are you?!" Zatanna stood there in her stage costume, half ready with a spell on her tongue.
The cat snarled and shoved his way between Slade and Zatanna, bristling at her with teeth and claws bared protectively. The sound of fast hooves came from behind Slade at a dead run and the doe skidded between them, piece of her star-spangled costume clutched in her mouth.
Not to be outdone, the emu arrived with Dick's mask in his beak. Slade smirked at the other fishnetted beauty. "As the Titans are trying to tell you, they are the victims of a spell. I remained, having come to legitimately see my child, when I learned they were not very well defended. Tempest is below, in the pool, with the other two affected by this."
Zatanna looked miffed at his ready reply and the three animals defending him.
The cat purred softly and moved--and had to stop himself from rubbing his head against Slade's thigh as he turned to go below. He did rub up against Donna.
The doe looked imploringly at Zatanna from huge, liquid brown eyes, then turned to follow.
"I'm coming...Troia. I do not like the idea that he has access to you kids' home."
"Might as well get over that, witch. I've been a part of their lives for more years than you were in the League."
The emu dropped the mask to peck Slade in the back of the head at that.
"WEST!"
The little bit of contact, so close to three of them, and the transformation was almost instantaneous. Where the man had once stood, there was now a very large, white tiger standing on the remains of his clothing, growling at the emu.
"Well, that explains that," Zatanna said.
There was a loud, hard purr, and the black cat leapt at the white, rubbing up against his side affectionately.
The emu ducked its head and looked remorseful, then looked back at Zatanna, flapping the short wings.
The menagerie plus one continued down below, where the tiger's imperious roaring woke the nested birds. The tiny canary gave one startled cheep, shook her wings, and flew to the tiger, perching on his head, above the empty eye. Her chirps were soft and regretful, as she turned accusing looks Dick's way.
A defensive 'nrow!' and a quick, violent shake of the head denied any such responsibility, and he lifted a foot to point at the emu accusingly.
That got the emu soundly scolded from the perch on the tiger's head setting the hawk to making amused noises.
"Hi, Zatanna. Hope you don't mind if I don't join you out there... I always said the Tower was a zoo, but I didn't mean it like this... Fleetfeet, what'd you do?"
Zatanna looked at the powerful mage in the pool, and then at his transformed friends. "Your doing?" She knew he was still learning. "And Wal...Flash, took a bit of offense to what Slade said."
"Oh, no. From the camera I managed to see, Arsenal and Canary came in first, and contaminated the rest of them... I'm just glad the kids weren't here. No, not my magic... it feels like the Witch-world, to me."
"Not real good at identifying the magic yet," she muttered. "Mine...flows different." She closed her eyes, concentrating as she gathered the arcane energy already wreaking havoc around them. She then stopped and gawked at the little bird. "CANARY?!"
"Cheep." The tiny bird did, for a moment, look abashed, but Slade was lying down, inviting her to his paws, and she wanted to be there.
The black cat draped himself over the tiger's back, settling, watching the tiny canary settle into the outstretched paws that were each well larger than she was.
The tiger bucked his head back briefly at the black cat, before stretching his neck out and laying his nose at the tiny bird's side. She cooed, and fluffed as his warm breath settled on her. It was more than enough to make the hawk screech and squawk, being totally ignored by the very content bird.
"Don't ask me what's going on with those two, but do you think you can put them back?" Tempest was very bemused, and would rather like his friends--and their sometimes-ally--back into their own shapes.
"Hell yes, if only to find out that story!" Zatanna said returning to the effort of collecting and unlocking the mystery of the spell, letting its flow guide how she shaped the counter. The effort was intense as the original spell had been designed to grow exponentially with each affected victim. Slowly, words came to her and she let the energies turn back on themselves, muttering the spell. "Ot rouy nwo sevles, emoceb! Dnes kcab siht lleps dan tel ti tceffa on rehto!"
The magic exploded around them, and there was suddenly a three-part pile of nude, hard-muscled bodies laying on the floor, Troia and Flash standing near them. Roy swore in Dine as the sudden return of his full weight took the table out from under him, and Garth went underwater to hide his laughter at the sight.
"Eb detholc!" Zatanna added, while the magic was close at hand, but it was barely enough to summon pants to the men, and small robes around the women.
In the moment between transforming and being clothed, Dick noticed how protectively Slade had pulled Dinah in, to shield her. It made him wonder... and giving him a mystery was never the smartest thing.
Donna laughed softly, shaking out her hair, and stroked a hand over the material. "Mm... will this stick around, Zee? Nice fabric..." she was practically purring, and apparently completely unconcerned with her momentary nudity.
Roy choked off the stream of curses finally, getting back to his feet. "Damn that witch-boy... Sorry, guys."
"Guess he felt you kids got left out, Roy," Dinah said with a rueful shake of her head.
"Yes, Troia...it's real, so it will stay." Zatanna cocked her head at her old friend Dinah. "BC, how about you and I go for a walk while the kids sort themselves out?"
Dick bounded over, back turned towards Zatanna, and slapped Roy in the back of the head, "Y'oughtta be, what was the idea of landing on us when you'd already changed her?"
The redhead flushed, ducking his head. "The instincts won. You felt like part of the pack, for me to perch on... Don't ask me what Di was thinking, though..."
Troia grinned as Wally buzzed out to go find a costume. "Oh, thanks. I'm going to go actually get dressed. BC, do you think you could wear anything of mine? No... Rose might be a better bet, I can raid her closet..."
"I think I..." As Black Canary started to reply, Slade handed her his sweater, which would cover her to her thigh. "...just need a belt, apparently." She smiled at Slade shyly, amused he had taken it so well that they were so busted.
"...Okay, then," Donna nodded and vanished to go find the extra costume she kept around. "Hey, Handsome, want me to bring you a mask down?" she asked as she stuck her head back in the door.
"Yeah, Wonder-babe, I'd appreciate it," Nightwing threw over his shoulder, his face still turned to Roy--who looked ever so offended at the behavior of both of the women in his life.
Dinah walked away with Zatanna, both following Troia to acquire the belt that was needed, while Tempest finally emerged from his pool. "Suppose I should call the girls...Wilson, you rather Rose wait for you in town?"
"No... go ahead and let her come back," Slade said idly after a moment's thought, his eye having followed the Canary out of the room.
Dick shook his head, and once Zee was out of the room he let himself move, turning a series of twists and flips around the edge of Garth's pool. "Okay, no more adventures on four feet! Fun for a minute, but..."
"But you'd rather be in the air, or on your back?" Slade tossed at him, highly amused by his young ally.
"Hey! Could you stop .... AHHH!" Roy stalked out to go find clothing proper, and call about his gear at the JSA HQ.
"SLADE!" Dick yelled at him, actually flushing slightly--then nearly collapsed in laughter at Roy's stalking departure. "Think you annoyed him--and what's up with you and BC?" as he bounced back over, ill temper forgotten in the grip of his curiosity.
Slade did not shrug, did not shake off the relationship as he might have for a casual affair. "We've been seeing each other."
"Garth? When did we fall into a parallel reality?"
"I'm not sure, but can we get out again?"
"Knock it off." Slade's voice went a touch more serious. "It's Titan's business." He invoked the age old rule for the first time. "I'm sure she'll handle the witch."
The two young men turned and looked at him seriously, nodding once. "All right. We've got it," Dick nodded. "Yeah, she can handle Zee."
Tempest nodded. "I'll throw a bit in, if needed, since you have been an occasional help."
Slade shook his head then, smiling smugly. "Occasionally."
"Garth, call the girls while I go tell whoever's at the JSA's that we're fine now. Soon as Donna gets back with my mask, that is." He prowled around until Donna came back, then bounded upstairs.
Word Count: 6,351
co-writer:
merfillyRating: PG-13
Pairing: *snicker*
Characters: Titans ensemble
For
cero_ate's Cliche-a-thon. Cliche: #3, animal transformation
Continuity: Pre-Graduation Day
//oh. Shit. Klarion! Move, Harper!//
The damn (bum-bum-bum) witch-boy's profile wasn't exactly forgettable. Especially when he'd actually managed to miss his best-known stunt by some miracle--Roy damn well didn't want to be around for the encore performance!
Didn't look like he had a choice, though, when the little brat was suddenly in front of him on a nightly patrol, a very wicked look on his face as his hands moved. Some language Roy couldn't understand poured from his lips, and no matter that he'd started moving within a heartbeat of that half-panicked realization he didn't get out of the bolt of mage-energy in time.
It slammed into his back through the armor, dropping him to the ground in screaming pain, and he heard the witch-boy's gloating voice. "Now... to see what this does to those others..."
The feet were moving away, not closer, which confused him as he doubled over in another spasm of agony, feeling things change under his skin... //God.. what's...//
It hurt, almost too much to think, and he heard himself scream, but the cry was too high, too wild... He felt himself getting lost in the pain, and simply prayed he had some chance of coming out of this.
...Several minutes later, a fallen costume moved in the side of the abandoned alleyway, smallish lump under the quiver struggling, noises from no human throat. Eventually, the lump freed itself, and a harsh cry filled the air.
*~*~*
Black Canary being worried was nothing new. She did, despite the minx-play and the blonde act, worry over all those she called family or friend. No one could trip it more quickly than Arsenal, her very own Boy-o. After all, they had been through hell together and then some. So, when he missed meeting her, she did not even think to put the brakes on her concerns, and went looking immediately. He did, after all, have a habit of getting in trouble up to his neck.
The Titans still had Lian, she discovered after a phone call, and while Rose was puzzled by why he hadn't at least called to let her know he was going to be in late, but they were fine. She knew his usual patrol route fairly well, and for at least the first half of it, yeah, people had seen him, he'd stopped by one of the dives to pick up some information, pretty usual... but the trail people could vouch for suddenly vanished between one of his usual haunts and the next.
She retraced her steps along the route, and kept her eyes peeled for any signs of a struggle...and had to swallow her heart as she found her Boy-o's costume cast to one side.
Every piece of his gear was still there, amazingly enough. Apparently even New York's thugs had been frightened of the strangeness of a full set of hero gear dropped in place. Bow, quiver, arrows, comms, phone... everything. She knelt down, inspecting it very carefully by sight first, then slowly lifting each piece to look for anything that might clue her in. She ruled out an anti-organic weapon immediately; Roy used real feathers for fletching and carried some true wooden arrows for luck. It was just...odd, and that had her nerves prickling, rather than sending her into a full blown panic.
As she lifted the armor's torso, something fell down against her thigh, something soft that brushed lightly over her before settling to the floor. Feathers. Two that seemed as though they might have come from the breast of a bird, and one long, deep reddish pinion.
She caught the pinion and tapped it idly against her chin, getting a thoughtful look on her face. The number of feathers indicated that a bird had struggled...molting out the looser feathers...inside the costume. The bird had to be one with a larger wingspan than usually seen in the city proper as well. She closed her eyes, sighing softly at the mystery, and carefully gathered up the costume, the weapons, and the feathers, heading for the JSA museum.
As she moved the costume, there was a high, whistling cry and a rush of wings, and a dark, black-and-red hawk lit hard on her shoulder, though the talons settled only onto the leather as it gripped and chirred at her. The wings would measure a good four feet if outstretched, and the bird stood almost two foot at the shoulder, leaving her eye-to-upper chest with it.
"Well...that answers that." She used his own feather to stroke along the plumage.
The bird chirred harshly, and the lethal beak moved through her hair in tiny, obviously bitterly unhappy movements.
"Boy-o, settle down...let me figure out who can help us." She started walking toward the JSA building anyway.
The bird made another noise, low and unhappy, and kept running its beak through her hair, shifting on her shoulder.
"For what it's worth, Boy-o...you are beautiful."
The sharp beak clacked next to her ear as he made a very irritable noise, almost the ratcheting cry of an alarm call, and carefully did not tighten its talons as the wings fluttered indignantly. She laughed softly at him, walking slow and easy, her gloved hand occasionally coming up to reassure him.
He re-settled on her shoulder as she petted him, pressing into the touch of her hand on his chest-feathers, starting to make a low noise of contentment instead of the harsher cries.
She finally got them to the JSA HQ, and inside, settling Roy against the claustrophobia. She remained in the large open atrium, and called out. "Dr. Fate in? If not, I need a bit of help here!"
The bird that was obviously her boyo fluttered despite her calming hand, eyes darting around them.
"Hellcat? Fate's not around right now, though we can get him back pret-- What the? Hellcat, when did you start imitating Midnite?"
Dinah made a moue at him. "Uncle Ted, I'm going to need Fate. Or some other friendly mage. Can you arrange that for me? I'm going to take him on up to the roof." She eased his gear off her other shoulder into a chair, wincing when the quiver refused to stay and clattered to the floor.
The hawk made a definably indignant noise and clacked his beak next to her ear again. /
"I'll go see about getting him back here, Hellcat..." Wildcat was no stranger to magic, and the combination of the bird and that costume was making him shake his head. "That boy of yours got into some more trouble, I see."
The hawk shrieked, mantling at Wildcat aggressively.
The petite blonde glared at Ted, having to take a step back under the force of Roy moving that way. "UNCLE TED!" She got both hands up to him, and headed for the stairs carefully, as she heard others moving in.
Her uncle shrugged, having called it like he saw it, and watched as Dinah made her escape with the hawk, explaining only that they needed to talk to Dr. Fate about the screaming bird with their Canary.
*~*~*~
When Fate finally emerged onto that rooftop, there was no immediate sight of Dinah Lance, but the big hawk mantled savagely over a small, delicate bird of another variety. A canary, by the coloring...
"I fear I may have been a bit tardy in coming," he said softly, kneeling on one knee, and removing his helmet to look more closely at them. The little bird cheeped at him, in what sounded vaguely like annoyance.
The hawk's beak clacked protectively again as the basically-stranger got entirely too close to them.
The tinier bird cheeped stringently and beat her wings, pecking at the hawk fiercely.
The hawk made a jump sideways, ducking his head under a wing once he was out of pecking distance, and twisted its head back out from under its wing to chirr... apologetically? at the man in armor.
"I see she is still just as bossy," Hector Hall said with a smile. He ignored the cheep his way and sat cross legged, trying to determine the nature of the spell without touching them.
The hawk bobbed its head in a quick nod, due to that the canary was still looking indignantly towards the cross-legged stranger. The magic swirling around both of them now, searching for another target, was full of the resonance of Witch World, to one that so well knew how to read the currents.
"Klarion, again, it seems," Fate said with resignation. "What shall we do?"
The hawk skree-ed angrily at the name, then bobbed his head repeatedly. At the last question, the broad wings arched up and in in a very blatant shrug.
The smaller bird let out a very long stream of cheeps and twits that sounded profeane even to Dr. Fate.
"I will have to do some investigation," he told the pair of birds.
The hawk nodded once, dipping its beak to preen at the canary's wings, trying to settle her. The tinier bird cooed up at the hawk, settling under him while Fate sank back into meditation.
Said meditation was rudely interrupted by the Flash suddenly appearing on the rooftop. "Fate, we need you, Grundy's at it again!" He stopped a moment to stare, "If you can leave them, I mean... Junior, you do get yourself into messes..."
The canary squawked indignantly, but nestled into her larger companion.
"They should be fine." Fate settled his helmet back on and followed Jay.
The hawk cupped a wing around her protectively, apparently settling.... but when Fate finally returned, several hours later, the pair were nowhere to be found.
"This is not good." He had failed to put his 'mark' on them, and now finding them would be interesting.
***
Hunger had been the first thing to drive the hawk from his perch on the roof, and it had taken some flying to find prey he wanted. Rat might be fine for a true hawk, but city rat? No, thank you... squirrel, though... The most-human parts of his mind were commenting about eating raw food--he just reminded them it wasn't the first time. Having the fluttering tiny form of his Dinah there was distracting, hawk-instincts ruthlessly held down by what of his will he could bring to bear. //My Dinah. NOT food.//
Meal taken to a tree to finish, and it felt strange to grip bark like that, he let himself listen to the hawk's instincts, and flew. The call of his hunting-pack was too strong to resist.
The canary kept up by cheeping indignantly or plaintively at him, making him circle back numerous times, until he just caught her smaller form in his talons, carrying her like prey, but carefully. Moving was much simpler, after that, and the shape of a familiar building loomed across the too much! water.
***
Nightwing wasn't really that worried, it was hardly the first time Roy had disappeared for a night or two, but generally he did call to let Lian know. He was walking the outer rim of the Tower grounds when a high, whistling cry caught his attention--just before several pounds of feathers moving at high speeds slammed into his shoulder and latched on. For a minute he thought Changeling had had a run in with a dye bath, but what Gar was doing out here... Then the natural coloring caught his attention and made him study the bird perched out on his shoulder.
"Who the heck do you belong to, and why're you here?" he felt a little dumb talking to the bird, but Harris' hawks didn't belong in this part of the world, even if they were easy to train and social...
The hawk shrieked at him, mantling, and he swore to god the bird shook its head.
"Ow, OW, stop screaming, sorry... Donna!"
Argent and Jesse had charge of the kids for the day, they were out in the city proper at some cultural thing she wanted them to see--he had a sudden feeling that that was a good thing as a tiny yellow bird //a canary?// started fluttering around the hawk, making very, very unhappy noises at it.
"Little thing, you're not two mouthfuls to this guy," he said worriedly--and the hawk cried out again and bit his ear.
The canary fluttered up into Dick's face, cheeping indignantly before pushing onto his crowded shoulder, between the hawk's legs, clinging to the shirt fiercely.
Donna came at a run, wondering at the tone of voice, and saw the very odd couple of birds using her best friend to roost. "What in Hera's name?"
"I'm really, really not sure, Donna... The hawk landed on me, then the canary followed... Hawk... Canary... ROY?"
The hawk bobbed its head, making a happy, content almost-purring noise as it shifted to run its beak through Dick's hair,
The canary gave a happy cheep, before turning her attention to preening herself.
Donna looked dumbfounded for one long moment, then shook her head. "Which one ticked off what mage?" She paused a long moment. "Circe's fond of animal transformations...but it doesn't feel like her."
"I have no idea. Roy, what did you do?" The hawk made an annoyed sound, ducked its head to nudge the canary out from between his talons, then flung himself at Donna to cling to her shoulder instead, tail and wings flicking. Part of him knew he shouldn't be bouncing between them like this, but they were his pack, his kin...
Dick stroked the canary's wing-feathers carefully. "Um... hi Dinah. Man, O is going to pitch a fit and--" he lost his balance, dropping to a knee to hiss in pain, arm coming up against his chest hard. "Nnn..."
"Dick?!" Donna rushed over, not commenting as Dinah flicked into her hair, at the loss of her steady perch. She knelt by Dick, trying to comfort him.
The hawk made nearly panicked high noises, fluttering back over to Dick's shoulder in worry, despite the way the body moved under his talons.
"H... hurts, Donna..." he fell further into himself, pain ripping though him, looking up at her from agonized eyes before jet-black fur ran up his spine, his face twisting, reshaping, his entire body reshaping, shimmering though magic into the form of a long, sleek black panther.
The hawk had moved as the magic surged, wings beating to keep him hovering over Dick's body...
"Hera have mercy," Donna said, reaching out to stroke the sleek cat to soothe her friend. Dinah cheeped in worry and lifted from Donna's hair, hovering nearby.
The cat rubbed into the touch, purring deep and harsh at the feel of Donna's petting, aware enough to know that it might not be smart to keep touching, but... it felt good...
Dinah gave a long low cheep of warning, just as Donna felt a twitching in her muscles. "Oh...the more of us affected..." She barely got it out, before the transformation pains became crippling, taking her ability to speak away.
The hawk flung its head back and skreed as loudly as he could. Maybe he could keep anyone else from touching them, but they needed someone to pay attention.
Within seconds, Wally was there...and had laid hands on all four of them, trying to figure out why there were wild creatures consorting cross species on Tower grounds. As he was touching the deer standing on the remnants of Donna's costume, he doubled over in pain.
It was barely another moment before there was a tall bird standing there between them looking horribly confused, long neck stretched up and out, twisting his head around. The hawk made a whining noise and pecked the emu-that-was-Wally on the top of the head, hard.
The canary cheeped sadly, perching prettily on the graceful deer's shoulders, barely gripping with her tiny claws. The five animals looked around and then the hawk gave a worried squawk, heading inside. At the squawk Dinah shook herself into flight and followed just as worried by her cheeps.
The cat was barely a step behind them, bounding along in low, running strides... and it wasn't many more moments before the emu and the deer were right behind them.
They followed Roy through the tower to his own room, where he seemed very relieved to find Lian's going-out jacket gone. The field trip with Argent had slipped his mind until that point.
Down in the pool, Tempest's eyes suddenly shot open as the feel of a powerful magic suddenly raced through the Tower. He closed his eyes, focusing, trying to feel it out... and shuddered. //Oh, my... Oh. I am not getting out of my pool.// He surfaced and reached out for his communicator, paging Argent.
"Argent here."
"Argent, Tempest. Stay off the grounds. We've got something very strange going on. Don't bring the kids back. I'll let you know when things go back to normal. You might have to book a hotel, depending on how long it takes to do something about the problem. ...and keep your eyes open for that witch-boy, just in case."
"The one that kid team and the League and the JSA had trouble with?" Argent asked, filing away instructions.
"Yes, him. ...Klarion."
"Okay Tempest. I'll keep Cerdian and Lian and Rose with me."
"Thank you, Argent. Tempest out." He swam backwards, kicking his feet idly as he considered who to call next. He didn't have the kind of power it would take to break the spell upstairs, with the JSA gone dealing with Grundy Dr. Fate was unavailable... Zatanna, perhaps?
Upstairs, the hawk skreed in alarm as the big cat suddenly leapt at his tailfeathers. The canary immediately flew at the cat, pecking at his head and cheeping furiously. The emu made one bleating honk and went to hide his head, while the deer shook her graceful head. The cat swatted carefully at her, not willing to risk the wrath of a set of talons and beak like Roy's, mrowling.
As the animals batted at each other, and wound up in a full out chase through the Tower, a single entry point alarm flashed once, and was silenced, unseen by human eyes, as an old acquaintance came to see how his daughter was doing.
The Tower seemed almost deserted for a moment, but then his ears caught the scream of a hawk over the eerie cry of a panther, and strangely high, fluting chirping.
//Not Gar... and he was on the West Coast last I checked.// He moved steathily to where he could observe things.
It wasn't long before the watcher got a eyeful of five creatures bolting through the Tower. An entirely-too-reddish emu skidded past first, quickly followed by a lanky, graceful doe, a black panther right beside her, pair of birds flying overhead, large desert hawk and a small bright canary.
The small bright canary actually looped...and came right to him, fluttering in his space but not touching him as she cheeped and cheeped at him.
His head tilted to the side, an impo--implausible--thought flicking through his mind. "Sister?"
The cheeping turned to pleased singing for him at that.
"How do you get yourself into these--" the rest of his words cut off as the black cat came racing back up the stairs, mrowling loudly and springing at him before it twisted in midair, landing hard just in front of him as if it had thought better of the jump, ears pricking up along with the whiskers in obvious kitty confusion.
Right behind the cat came the very large hawk, who evidently was second-guessing an urge to attack him, aided by the fact the canary had turned and begun scolding with cheeps and flapping wings.
"Did the entire Tower fall into Wonderland, my little bird?" he asked in a low soft voice under the noise of the mantling hawk, the mrowling cat, and the clicking of the deer's hooves. The little bird in question turned and gave a long, mournful cheep back at him.
The cat meowed, rearing up on hind-feet and balancing carefully to meow at him again.
"Grayson...Harper...That must be Donna, one of Artemis' sacred deer. And the emu hiding from us must be West." Slade was quite bemused. "Where are the girls? And Garth?"
The cat dropped back down to hind paws and tossed his head in the direction of the city, then dipped head to look at the floor. The deer, on the other hand, simply nodded. The hawk? The hawk was apparently having a furious conversation with the tiny canary.
The canary finally gave one belligerent cheep and landed on the floor, not touching Slade, but as close to his feet as she could get. The deer, the cat, and even the emu peeking into the hallway were left with the firm conviction Dinah had just defied Roy on getting away from the man.
Slade just gave a very sly smirk, and crouched down, carefully not touching her. "Little Bird, did you speak to your uncles already?"
She gave a fluttering cheep of assent ruffling her feathers up before giving a mournful one to that as well.
"No help... or not right now." He shook his head.
The cat meowed unhappily, prowling close, making circles around Slade and the bird, trying not to touch, but fairly obviously wanting to get close. The hawk made frustrated noises and circled to settle on the deer's back, mantling in irritation.
The tiny bird eyed the cat with clear indication she was not happy at him for being so close. Slade watched, before sighing. "Both of you need to calm down. Let me go talk to Garth and see if he has suggestions."
The cat gave him the most offendedly innocent look he could possibly manage, fairly obviously saying He was fine, he just didn't like the news.
The bird was unrepentant, flying just ahead of Slade as the mercenary moved down to the pool area, panther prowling at his heels. "Tempest...I mean no harm," he called ahead of himself. "I'd like to hear your thoughts on the menagerie."
"Wilson," Tempest growled softly, not exactly best pleased to see the man. "First thought? Don't let them touch you. I'm trying to get in contact with Zatanna, but no luck so far... And the JSA got called out just before they showed up."
"That explains Canary's answers to me." Slade's words got a solid cheep of assent. "No one on my side I'd trust near you kids right now."
"No one on your side I'd let you bring near them," Tempest agreed. "The gals took the kids into the city, I commed Argent to tell her to keep them out there. I thought about Blood, but..."
"He is good friends with the Bat and would have an interest. Do please warn me first...I'd rather not run afoul of a demon."
"I'd prefer to try Zatanna again," Tempest muttered, eyes dark. "Or wait for Fate to get back."
The panther meowed softly and spun in a quick game of chase-the-tail, burning off energy.
The canary fluttered up to perch in the rafters, very tired and feeling the fact it was not the right time for her bird self to be awake at long last. Slade glanced up at the perching bird, and shook his head. "You seem like you've got decent control while awake, sister, but I don't think Tempest would appreciate you falling into his pool and I'm not fishing you out of the drink again. Come down."
The phrasing got a very angry round of cheeping his direction as she protested soundly all the way down to him.
//I can just guess what she's calling me...// "Those insults again, little bird? Here." He shook his head slightly and pulled the outer sweater off over his head, arranging it on a nearby table. She cheeped gratefully and settled in its warmth to nest and sleep.
Tempest watched that byplay with baffled eyes, shaking his head slightly. He tried the comm again, watching the cat circle and prowl around the edges of his pool with a glare.
"Hello?" came a baffled female voice.
"Zatanna? It's Tempest."
"Hi...this is a surprise."
"It's also business. We've got a magical... mishap... in the Tower, and could really use someone's help to reverse it..."
Zatanna paused a long moment. "You have Fate right there..."
"They're dealing with Grundy. Again."
She sighed. "Be there in a bit."
"Thank you, Zatanna." He glanced up at Slade, laying back in the water. "She's on her way."
The cat meowed at that, perking up, and bounded over to Slade again, staying close but not touching him.
"Yes, Grayson. Soon, things should be normal for all of you." He looked at Tempest. "I feel I should stay, in case this was a prelude to an attack."
Tempest nodded once. "Wouldn't mind the help, if someone does come."
The hawk finally flew down to check on everything, and made some very unhappy noises at the sight of the canary so contentedly curled up in the shirt that reeked of his scent. He settled onto the table next to her, wings spread protectively.
She opened one eye, cheeping softly, inviting him to join her so she could feel truly safe, and he dipped his head and preened her, moving closer, standing on the sweater despite who it smelled like.
She cooed peacefully, closing her eyes again and nestling down to rest. The cat padded over and reared up, placing his paws on the table to nuzzle at the hawk, who leaned into it.
A few moments later, the deer and emu came close, with the emu laying its neck over the deer's withers. The hawk tucked his head under a wing after a bit, wanting to get some sleep of his own, and the cat dropped and stretched lithely, sniffing at the deer, then growled softly and took off again, bounding up the steps out of the pool room more easily than he might have been expected to.
The deer gave chase, soon followed by the restless emu. Slade thought the pool room was likely a safe haven, and followed the three alert animals, not wishing anything to happen to any of them.
It soon became obvious just what the cat's problem was when a frustrated, rippling cry that sounded more than half like a woman screaming came from the general direction of the kitchen.
Slade could not help but let out a chuckle, as he went to tend to his favorite Titan...and to see if his friends needed food. He had to be careful to restrain the impulse to physically check the cat over when he got in there.
The cat looked up at him plaintively, rubbing at his nose with the back of one paw, tail lashing in frustration, low growl having replaced the wailing cry.
"Next time, ask for help." Slade did not even bat his eye at the almost-hypocrisy of his own words, not even when the emu and the deer glared at him.
The cat gave him a look of complete disdain, and turned his back in offended feline dignity.
"After all, you can't operate a can opener," Slade teased.
The cat turned and growled, batting at the fridge door again, insistently.
The mercenary started tending to the three animals with him, as both deer and emu looked intent on the fridge too. "Never thought I'd play zookeeper."
The big cat growled, lips curling back from the long fangs, but waited patiently until Slade put something in front of him to attack it, bolting the food ravenously.
The mercenary left the animals to eat, and went on the prowl, checking the security of the Tower. He was enjoying the chance to tease the kids, but he did have things he wished to do, not the least of which was to see how Rose was doing.
The cat was soon at his left side, prowling along, silent other than the contentedly rumbling purr.
"Still can't be still, Grayson?" Slade smiled down at the sleek cat. "Not too long, and you'll be airborne again."
That got a very pleased noise and a quick bounce, bringing him within a few inches of Slade's body before he yanked himself to a stop, growling.
The one eyed fighter nodded. "Very odd, to not touch you, or..." He shook his head, thinking of the tiny bird below. "Wish the witch would hurry up."
PURR. The cat very much agreed with that, obviously.
"The WITCH is here; the question is, why are you?!" Zatanna stood there in her stage costume, half ready with a spell on her tongue.
The cat snarled and shoved his way between Slade and Zatanna, bristling at her with teeth and claws bared protectively. The sound of fast hooves came from behind Slade at a dead run and the doe skidded between them, piece of her star-spangled costume clutched in her mouth.
Not to be outdone, the emu arrived with Dick's mask in his beak. Slade smirked at the other fishnetted beauty. "As the Titans are trying to tell you, they are the victims of a spell. I remained, having come to legitimately see my child, when I learned they were not very well defended. Tempest is below, in the pool, with the other two affected by this."
Zatanna looked miffed at his ready reply and the three animals defending him.
The cat purred softly and moved--and had to stop himself from rubbing his head against Slade's thigh as he turned to go below. He did rub up against Donna.
The doe looked imploringly at Zatanna from huge, liquid brown eyes, then turned to follow.
"I'm coming...Troia. I do not like the idea that he has access to you kids' home."
"Might as well get over that, witch. I've been a part of their lives for more years than you were in the League."
The emu dropped the mask to peck Slade in the back of the head at that.
"WEST!"
The little bit of contact, so close to three of them, and the transformation was almost instantaneous. Where the man had once stood, there was now a very large, white tiger standing on the remains of his clothing, growling at the emu.
"Well, that explains that," Zatanna said.
There was a loud, hard purr, and the black cat leapt at the white, rubbing up against his side affectionately.
The emu ducked its head and looked remorseful, then looked back at Zatanna, flapping the short wings.
The menagerie plus one continued down below, where the tiger's imperious roaring woke the nested birds. The tiny canary gave one startled cheep, shook her wings, and flew to the tiger, perching on his head, above the empty eye. Her chirps were soft and regretful, as she turned accusing looks Dick's way.
A defensive 'nrow!' and a quick, violent shake of the head denied any such responsibility, and he lifted a foot to point at the emu accusingly.
That got the emu soundly scolded from the perch on the tiger's head setting the hawk to making amused noises.
"Hi, Zatanna. Hope you don't mind if I don't join you out there... I always said the Tower was a zoo, but I didn't mean it like this... Fleetfeet, what'd you do?"
Zatanna looked at the powerful mage in the pool, and then at his transformed friends. "Your doing?" She knew he was still learning. "And Wal...Flash, took a bit of offense to what Slade said."
"Oh, no. From the camera I managed to see, Arsenal and Canary came in first, and contaminated the rest of them... I'm just glad the kids weren't here. No, not my magic... it feels like the Witch-world, to me."
"Not real good at identifying the magic yet," she muttered. "Mine...flows different." She closed her eyes, concentrating as she gathered the arcane energy already wreaking havoc around them. She then stopped and gawked at the little bird. "CANARY?!"
"Cheep." The tiny bird did, for a moment, look abashed, but Slade was lying down, inviting her to his paws, and she wanted to be there.
The black cat draped himself over the tiger's back, settling, watching the tiny canary settle into the outstretched paws that were each well larger than she was.
The tiger bucked his head back briefly at the black cat, before stretching his neck out and laying his nose at the tiny bird's side. She cooed, and fluffed as his warm breath settled on her. It was more than enough to make the hawk screech and squawk, being totally ignored by the very content bird.
"Don't ask me what's going on with those two, but do you think you can put them back?" Tempest was very bemused, and would rather like his friends--and their sometimes-ally--back into their own shapes.
"Hell yes, if only to find out that story!" Zatanna said returning to the effort of collecting and unlocking the mystery of the spell, letting its flow guide how she shaped the counter. The effort was intense as the original spell had been designed to grow exponentially with each affected victim. Slowly, words came to her and she let the energies turn back on themselves, muttering the spell. "Ot rouy nwo sevles, emoceb! Dnes kcab siht lleps dan tel ti tceffa on rehto!"
The magic exploded around them, and there was suddenly a three-part pile of nude, hard-muscled bodies laying on the floor, Troia and Flash standing near them. Roy swore in Dine as the sudden return of his full weight took the table out from under him, and Garth went underwater to hide his laughter at the sight.
"Eb detholc!" Zatanna added, while the magic was close at hand, but it was barely enough to summon pants to the men, and small robes around the women.
In the moment between transforming and being clothed, Dick noticed how protectively Slade had pulled Dinah in, to shield her. It made him wonder... and giving him a mystery was never the smartest thing.
Donna laughed softly, shaking out her hair, and stroked a hand over the material. "Mm... will this stick around, Zee? Nice fabric..." she was practically purring, and apparently completely unconcerned with her momentary nudity.
Roy choked off the stream of curses finally, getting back to his feet. "Damn that witch-boy... Sorry, guys."
"Guess he felt you kids got left out, Roy," Dinah said with a rueful shake of her head.
"Yes, Troia...it's real, so it will stay." Zatanna cocked her head at her old friend Dinah. "BC, how about you and I go for a walk while the kids sort themselves out?"
Dick bounded over, back turned towards Zatanna, and slapped Roy in the back of the head, "Y'oughtta be, what was the idea of landing on us when you'd already changed her?"
The redhead flushed, ducking his head. "The instincts won. You felt like part of the pack, for me to perch on... Don't ask me what Di was thinking, though..."
Troia grinned as Wally buzzed out to go find a costume. "Oh, thanks. I'm going to go actually get dressed. BC, do you think you could wear anything of mine? No... Rose might be a better bet, I can raid her closet..."
"I think I..." As Black Canary started to reply, Slade handed her his sweater, which would cover her to her thigh. "...just need a belt, apparently." She smiled at Slade shyly, amused he had taken it so well that they were so busted.
"...Okay, then," Donna nodded and vanished to go find the extra costume she kept around. "Hey, Handsome, want me to bring you a mask down?" she asked as she stuck her head back in the door.
"Yeah, Wonder-babe, I'd appreciate it," Nightwing threw over his shoulder, his face still turned to Roy--who looked ever so offended at the behavior of both of the women in his life.
Dinah walked away with Zatanna, both following Troia to acquire the belt that was needed, while Tempest finally emerged from his pool. "Suppose I should call the girls...Wilson, you rather Rose wait for you in town?"
"No... go ahead and let her come back," Slade said idly after a moment's thought, his eye having followed the Canary out of the room.
Dick shook his head, and once Zee was out of the room he let himself move, turning a series of twists and flips around the edge of Garth's pool. "Okay, no more adventures on four feet! Fun for a minute, but..."
"But you'd rather be in the air, or on your back?" Slade tossed at him, highly amused by his young ally.
"Hey! Could you stop .... AHHH!" Roy stalked out to go find clothing proper, and call about his gear at the JSA HQ.
"SLADE!" Dick yelled at him, actually flushing slightly--then nearly collapsed in laughter at Roy's stalking departure. "Think you annoyed him--and what's up with you and BC?" as he bounced back over, ill temper forgotten in the grip of his curiosity.
Slade did not shrug, did not shake off the relationship as he might have for a casual affair. "We've been seeing each other."
"Garth? When did we fall into a parallel reality?"
"I'm not sure, but can we get out again?"
"Knock it off." Slade's voice went a touch more serious. "It's Titan's business." He invoked the age old rule for the first time. "I'm sure she'll handle the witch."
The two young men turned and looked at him seriously, nodding once. "All right. We've got it," Dick nodded. "Yeah, she can handle Zee."
Tempest nodded. "I'll throw a bit in, if needed, since you have been an occasional help."
Slade shook his head then, smiling smugly. "Occasionally."
"Garth, call the girls while I go tell whoever's at the JSA's that we're fine now. Soon as Donna gets back with my mask, that is." He prowled around until Donna came back, then bounded upstairs.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2007-04-14 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:58 am (UTC)And Slade knows how to play by the rules now and then.
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Date: 2007-04-14 12:59 am (UTC)It's a fun cliche to play with, it is.
And Klarion gets blamed for so much, nasty little creature that he is.
Slade knows when to make his kids keep their mouths shut, and how to do it.
Roy's the only one that'd be a problem, and Roy won't talk for Dinah's sake.
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Date: 2007-04-14 01:26 am (UTC)The hawk made a whining noise and pecked the emu-that-was-Wally on the top of the head, hard.
I adore that line and too many others to name.
Loves love loves this!
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Date: 2007-04-14 01:44 am (UTC)Slade came into the mix because, well, the OTPoW is strong with us.
Fleetfeet was dumb, of course Roy jabbed him in the head.
Glad you adored, we certainly had fun. Thankyou thankyou thankyou!
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Date: 2007-04-14 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 02:53 am (UTC)Um, why is Wally an emu? The other ones all make enough sense but...not seeing the speedster = emu. o_0
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Date: 2007-04-14 02:56 am (UTC)And I would love love love to see a Slade who doesn't think he needs to rival Luthor or Darkseid in arrogant evilness.
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Date: 2007-04-14 03:23 am (UTC)*laugh* Like Filly said. Fast land animal, insanely strong legs, kind of oblivious. We thought it fit Wally. What would you have gone for, cheetah? Wally's not predatory enough, imo.
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Date: 2007-04-14 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 07:45 am (UTC)did find a problem, though:
"Garth? When did we fall into a parallel reality?"
"'I'm not sure, but can we get out again?"
"Garth? When did we fall into a parallel reality?"
"'I'm not sure, but can we get out again?"
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Date: 2007-04-14 05:31 pm (UTC)And thanks for catching the double!
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Date: 2007-04-15 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-15 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-15 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 09:45 am (UTC)I just absolutely adore your Dick in this, every second of him. He's happy, sane, loving, affectionate. hehehe, seeing him fight his natural nature to touch and be touched was hilarious. I laughed out loud the second Slade got turned into a tiger and Dick immediately went to him. Zatanna must be so insanely confused right now, especially when Dick drapped himself over Slade by the pool.
The crack from Slade about Dick liking to be on his back was gold!
Your Canary is absolutely wonderful. I can see this poor little bird fluttering around and cheeping at anyone and everyone who offended her, and her interactions with Slade are priceless. I feel so badly for Roy for being in bird form when he learned that things were more than friends between she and Slade. Roy did make a perfect hawk though, and the way he argued with Di was just fun.
Wonderful fic all around. I love the variety of animals you used, and the pure crack that flowed forth from every word of this fic. *wishes that Klarion would turn the Titans into animals more often*
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Date: 2007-04-14 05:41 pm (UTC)Well, he hasn't lost Donna and everything in Bludhaven hasn't gone to hell yet, so we get the one that isn't such a pain in the ass. And yeah, watching him go 'no, can't touch, no can't touch!' was a blast.
Slade was not a happy man at that peck. In Wally's defense, he thought it would take longer.
And yeah, once Slade was turned and 'safe', no reason for Dick not to pounce at him.
Yes, Zee was one confused little magelet.
Slade was being... Very himself.
Dinah is a sweetheart of a creature, yes. She wasn't impressed with being so tiny!, or with being unable to land on Slade. Roy... poor guy. Very much poor guy. And of course he made a perfect hawk, it's his totem/spirit guide/protective spirit.
And he and Di were hilarious.
*Grins, amused* It was fun trying to figure out what everyone would be. Roy was a duh, (one of the few things I thank Devin Greyson for), Dinah... well, there's really no other option, is there? Donna was obvious once we started thinking about myths, Dick's a pretty kitty, Wally had to be something that runs, has stamina, and can be utterly oblivious. Therefore, emu.
And well, Slade couldn't be anything but a big damn predator, and tigers are one of the few male big cats that hunt as actively as the females.
And yes, yes it was pure crack.
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Date: 2007-04-15 03:27 am (UTC)And Slade with Dick was great fun.
Thanks on Dinah.
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Date: 2007-04-14 10:27 am (UTC)*laughs*
The banter and closeness between all of them is just so *them* and adding slade to the mix made it sweeter.
I loved that Line.
*goes to read again*
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Date: 2007-04-14 05:42 pm (UTC)*grin* They were a good team, then. At least most of the time.
Slade had been enjoying getting to snark at them without having them throwing comebacks at him, but he just couldn't resist that one.
*Grins* YAY!
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Date: 2007-04-15 03:28 am (UTC)So glad you liked it!
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Date: 2007-04-14 10:33 am (UTC)WALLY AS AN EMU!
*collapses in giggles* Whooo.....
Thanks, I needed that.
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Date: 2007-04-14 05:43 pm (UTC)And Wally as an emu was a damn riot. Couldn't be cheetah, no stamina, he muttered when we thought ostrich, and didn't want to be a gazelle for some reason. So I got miffed and made him an emu.
You're very welcome. Glad you enjoyed the giggle.
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Date: 2007-04-15 03:32 am (UTC)It popped for me, and I was very happy for it.
Glad you enjoyed.
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Date: 2007-04-15 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-15 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-15 05:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-16 04:54 am (UTC)And yes, Slade does make an excellent tiger.
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Date: 2007-04-16 04:43 am (UTC)Just fun! And how Slade SHOULD be, dammit!
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Date: 2007-04-16 04:56 am (UTC)And found the entire situation too funny--until West pecked him.
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Date: 2007-04-16 05:50 am (UTC)So glad it came off well. Was a riot to write.
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Date: 2007-04-16 04:43 pm (UTC)This was so funny and wonderful to wake up to! =)
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Date: 2007-04-16 09:07 pm (UTC)