Breath

The Man:

Trying to push my swords further down, I look at Black Mask as he laughs. Without even breaking a sweat, Black Mask pulls back one of his hands before shooting it forward. Screaming as he hits me, I skid against the dirt, barely catching myself.

"So I'm guessing you're this 'man in the sunglasses' that got Superman all shaken up," Black Mask says, slowly approaching me. As he approaches me, Black Mask starts to unbutton his suit. "You don't seem like a big deal to me."

Stopping only a few feet from me, Black Mask pulls down his suit top and vest. He takes off his shirt and reveals to me giant muscles with dark red lines covering all of them. The horrible smell is more than enough to confirm my suspicions.

"Dark magic," I say, twirling my swords. I twirl them in the air for a few seconds before stabbing them into the ground. Leaving my swords standing on the ground, I bring up my fists.

"You know," Black Mask says, also raising his fists. "There's a bounty on your head. 50 billion dollars for any information leading to your capture. I wonder how much more I can get if I bring you directly to Superman."

Slamming his fist into the palm of his hand, Black Mask unleashes an invisible shockwave that pushes me back.

"Don't start counting those bills yet," I say.

Black Mask laughs as he runs to me. Pulling back his fist, Black Mask throws it forward. However, I duck underneath the straight punch. Now standing behind Black Mask, I throw repeated blows against his waist. Despite all the repeated blows, Black Mask lets out a small, quiet cry. A cry so quiet that even Kara can't hear it.

Turning around while swinging his arm, Black Mask hits and sends me flying through the air. Screaming as I hit the ground, I hold my chest while pushing myself up.

Shaking my head, I hear laughing and look up.

"Easy money," Black Mask says, cracking his knuckles as he approaches me.

John Constantine:

"Ahh," I scream, holding my waist. "Bloody hell!"

Quickly pulling back my hand, I see blood flowing out of a cut. Biting my lip, I look back up and see Klarion smiling as he holds out his hand.

Pushing myself up, I raise my hands and prepare a spell. Already, my hands start glowing bright yellow.

"Agicst o'--" I chant before someone else hits me from behind. Screaming again as I fall onto the ground, I fight through the burning sensation and turn around. There, standing in front of me are Mordru and Morgan, both burning with dark magical energy. Mordru and Morgan put their hands together and combine their next attack. The dark magical beams combing together shoot toward me. Pushing myself up as fast as I can, I swing and wave my hands, summoning a barrier to block the beam. However, the shield doesn't even last a full second.

The combined beam shoots right through my barrier and hits me. It burns and knocks me into the air. Bouncing up and down while stinking like burnt bacon, I painfully push myself up before holding my arm.

Barely sitting up now, I look at Klarion, Mordru, and Morgan all approaching me. The three of them holding out their hands, preparing for another magical beam, I sigh and show them my middle finger.

"Final words are mine," I say with a smile.

Zatanna:

Raven crushing me, my arms squeezing against my chest, I instead wiggle my fingers. Using my magic, I summon a deck of cards to appear in my fingers. Bending the cards, I shoot them out, hitting and destroying the shadow.

The shadow dispensing and fading away, I fall to the ground. Moaning as I push myself up, I look up in time to see a large shadow form in front of me. Raven slowly rises up from the shadow. Once out, she then shoots out her hands.

"Damn," I think, "The Lords of Order gave Raven more power than I thought. She's going to be tough to take down. But I can't stop! I can't!"

Flicking my hands, I summon my magical wand and top hat. Waving my wand around my top hat, I swing my wand out, and out comes a bright-yellow blast. The blast shoots through the air and toward Raven. It hits Raven dead-on, but it doesn't even faze Raven.

She's smiling as my blast turns into dust.

"Is that all you got," Raven says, shadows shooting out from her hands. Stepping back, watching as the shadows grow over me, already darkening the city, I prepare for the worst.

"Take a deep breath," a voice tells me.

"What the hell," I say, looking around. "Who was that?"

"Don't swear," the voice says. "And it's me. The man in the sunglasses."

"You! But how?"

"Pleasure to finally meet you, Zatanna. Now, take a deep breath, and breathe. Calm your mind, and let the magic flow through you."

As the man in the sunglasses says this, I feel different. Suddenly, I feel so energized. I feel more powerful than even before. It feels like something new is rushing through me, charging me up.

"Breathe," the man in the sunglasses repeats. "Breathe. Magic is like a breath of energy. Breathe in and out and turn the raging energy inside you calm."

I close my eyes and breathe. Despite the giant shadows shooting toward me, I slowly inhale and exhale. I breathe in and out as the man tells me.

Opening my eyes, I summon a magical trick box and enter it.

Raven:

My attack destroy the trick box Zatanna summon. The shadows tear the box to pieces, turning into nothing more than woodchips.

"Wait! Woodchips?"

I look again but all I see are woodchips. There is no blood.

"She's...gone! But where!"

Looking around, my head snapping left and right, I feel someone tapping my shoulder. Turning around, I see Zantanna standing right in front of me, and behind her is another black box with stars all over it.

"Ta-da," Zantanna says, tapping her top hat again. Another blast shoots out of it and hits me, knocking me back.

"What the hell," I shout. This magical blast is almost completely different from the previous one. The one before only tickled me, but this one. This one pushed me back.

Pulling myself up, I look at Zantanna and immediately, I sense something off about her.

"She too is getting extra power," I think, "But from where?"

Black Mask:

Screaming as I lunge forward, I try to punch The Man but he dodges underneath my lunge.

"What in the hell is he doing," I ask. For some reason, The Man isn't fighting me anymore. After pushing himself up, The Man reached into his jacket and pulled out a long black rag. He wrapped the rag around his eyes and blinded himself.

Now, all he is doing is holding out his hands while breathing in and out.

"What is this," I yell, walking up to him. "Some damn yoga thing!"

I throw more punches but The Man dodges all of them. I punch right, he jumps left. I throw a straight, he steps back. I pick up a boulder and throw it but The Man leans to the right, the boulder flying past him.

The Man finally doing something, walks toward me. I smile and walk to him. Waiting until he's less than a foot from me, I throw another swing. Thinking he's too close to dodge it, The Man's hand shoots out. It shoots out and The Man hits me in the ear.

I scream and pull back my hand. Screaming and covering my ears, I look back at The Man as he stands there.

"Don't swear," The Man says, shaking his head.

Shaking my head, I lower my hands and charge toward The Man. Jumping into the air, I pull back my fist and slam it down. The Man steps out of the way and I punch a hole in the ground instead.

Standing to my side now, The Man karate chops me on the side of the face. I scream again and stumble back. Covering my eyes now, I can barely see The Man as he walks toward me. Pulling back his hand, The Man throws it forward. I think he hits me somewhere on the shoulder. Whatever he did, I don't feel a thing.

Once I can see again, I smile.

"Is that it," I yell. "Ha! What was that?"

I walk toward The Man. I walk toward him while trying to raise my hands, but that's when I realize it.

"Wh--What the--What did you do!"

For some reason, I can't raise my left arm. I can't feel my left arm! No matter what I do, my left arm stays dead.

"I stuck a nerve bundle," The Man answers. "You won't feel a thing, but that left arm of yours will be immovable for the next few hours.

"Next...few...hours," I repeat. I look down at my left arm and try to move it again. "Come on! Come on! Move!"

Grinding my teeth, I forget about my dead arm and look at The Man. I charge toward him again and attack him with everything I have. Punching with my right arm and kicking with my legs, I still can't hit The Man. One-by-one, limp by limp, The Man hit and paralyzed them. Before I realize it, I fall onto the ground with one stiff left leg.

"Ahh," I cry. Split falling out from my mouth, I try to get up but can't move. "How! How! I did everything! The ritual was supposed to make me invincible!"

"The ritual grants you super strength, increased speed, enchanted reflexes, and control over the dead," The Man says, standing over me. "It does not grant immunity against certain pressure points."

Taking off the rag, The Man looks away. He then places his hand on my shoulder. I immediately feel sleepy. I try to keep my eyes open, but they grow heavier with each second.

"Nnooo," I say before everything turns black.