Attraction

They called it Oan Ice or Emerald Ice. An elemental magic. Ice with no melting point that had a density and level of cold with next to no known limit beyond one's mind. Like hardlight energy, it could take next to any form— but unlike hardlight energy, it didn't fade with the loss of his focus.

It was Lucien's very own. How he'd fix the world. How he'd find his freedom. He just needed to reach a place of proficiency. And what better way to reach that then fighting Batman, a Green Lantern and three adept magic users— two of which being demons. Literally.

They didn't fight on the rooftop of S.T.A.R Labs anymore. They now battled through the entirety of a Emerald Ice tower that continued to grow and develop as the battle waged onward.

To say they got a bit carried away was an understatement. But they followed Lucien's lead. And he was headed to the stars.

"You're getting it now Lucien. Fight to win. Defeat us." Bruce yelled as he leapt from wall to stony green wall above Lucien in a dark blur.

Lucien didn't have time to reply as a lantern hardlight reinforced dark blast from Raven came flying at him from across the room.

Lucien jumped forty feet into the air. Etrigan came bursting through a wall and spit a fireball. Lucien took flight, bringing in the shards of Emerald Ice to wear as armor. He flew through the heated blast and tackled the demon.

Usually, he'd follow through with the attack and end him. But he was learning a new way. He disconnected from the winged demon with a kick to his solar plexus. Immediately after he turned, knowing Arisia was coming because he saw her. Through the ice.

He delivered a punch, reinforced by an Emerald Ice gauntlet coursing with electrical fissures of willpower buildup.

His fist connected with her shield.

At the same time, the walls behind him of the castle shifted and rose, making an identical fist to his own to smash into Etrigans back.

In a blink, two were down.

"Impressive." Bruce perched at the top of the tower on a walkway like a gargoyle. He shifted as he fell. His muscles expanded. His skin took on a dark leathery appearance before being consumed by thin dark fur. His jaw extended and his eyes burned like two midnight suns. He hissed shadows that enveloped him completely into a spiraling missile of darkness.

Below, Raven worked her magic, speaking chilling demonic scripture fluently.

Portals blipped in and out of Bruce's path, causing him to dart around in all directions, defying directional physics and turning into a blurring ball of shadows.

Constantine tried to light a ciggarette for the fiftieth time only for Bruce to dash past him and douse the flame. "Bloody hell— Lambchop avenge my smokes, yea?"

Lucien hovered in the middle of his tower. Silently, he observed. He calculated. All while Bruce moved around him like a cyclone.

His mind rambled, "I'm new to this—"

Bruce dashed past, claws peeking out of his aura of shadows like an assassin with his blade.

Lucien dodged and continued his thought process, "I'm new. My body is only a few days old. I'm a newborn in a way. I'm only just beginning to understand my limits the same way you begin to learn what's physically possible for yourself as a child. I know what's possible. With my speed, strength and senses, I could catch Bruce."

Bruce came again.

Lucien moved.

"What is this a bloody game of tag? Are we in a school yard? Punch the bastard!" Constantine said with a trashed cigarette between his lips.

Lucien continued, "But he knows that. He fought me. Even though he wasn't completely in control, he remembers the fight. He's been watching me. He's a genius. A tactician. A war general. Bruce is one of the smartest men in this world. One thing I know about men like him is they make you think you're playing the game on your terms. Let you relax. It makes their opponent predictable. What would I do if I was as predictable as he thinks?"

Bruce came again, this time from above. He tore through his shadows with his arms wide and face snarling mad. He was open. Throat and midsection exposed. Bait.

"What would he want me to do? Take the bait." Lucien didn't move a muscle.

"I need to be more."

Lucien's aura bloomed like fire under the influence of gasoline.

In a forceful green pulse, he pushed Bruce back into the portal he came from.

His eyes flashed to Raven. They'd been fighting for the past hour and a half. More than enough time for him to get a feel for the dark syllables that spawned a portal.

It was coming.

He didn't have much time.

Lucien flexed his ringbearing fist, "The ice is mind. More importantly, it's not just ice."

He focused his willpower. He worked it like a muscle. Flexing and pushing and forcing. It felt like a set of nerves just outside his physical body standing at erect points— sharp and curled like hooks to pull and ensnare the idea he desired into realistic form.

The Emerald Ice tower glimmered and pulsed like a heart. In a flash it lost solid form and transformed into basic hardlight energy— now more than he'd ever held at one point.

He pulled the energy in— abandoning any attempt at a construct and simply pulling the ball tight.

Everyone inside was pulled into him as he inhaled.

Quick and deadly. Stunning.

They prepared for his fury.

They took his bait.

Bruce included as he went on the defensive with the loss of portal phasing assistance from Raven.

In that fraction of a second, he pushed all of the hardlight energy back out, turning it back into Emerald Ice— creating a arctic emerald gust of wind to flash freeze everyone in the air around him.

It all happened in less than ten seconds.

Lucien descended with his sparring partners held in cases of Emerald Ice. Once they hit the roof he unfroze everyone. They were as good as new since he willed the ice to not be cold.

"That was….. grand." Constantine said as he dusted off his trench coat.

"It had to be. That's not my MO." Lucien explained.

Bruce got up— assuming his human form in a fluid shift. For seemingly the first time ever, he looked sort of happy. "That's how you win."

Lucien nodded once, "I prefer killing. But every weapon has its uses."

"It does."

"You're proficient in Lantern combat. I'm no Kilowog but he'd be satisfied with your performance. You have much to learn— but you've also learned much in this short session. Your world may yet have a chance at survival." Arisia explained. The construct of battle armor she wore was gone. Leaving her back in her pencil skirt and sleeveless white blazer. Her hair was slicked with sweat but still platinum blonde. Now that it stuck to her skin, he could see her elven ears even easier.

"Thanks. I'm sure the Guardians would have more to say."

"They always do." Arisia said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Some things are better left unsaid. Just like this battle was better left with none dead. Well fought, wolf-man. Your magic evolves and with it, our problems will solve." Etrigan said.

Constantine stuck his broken cigarette in Etrigan's ear, "Will you stop the rhyming? You've ruined rap forever for me already you dragonoid oaf!"

"You listen to rap?" Lucien asked.

"I do many things." Constantine winked.

"Remind me never to change you. I'd like to stay completely out of your mind." Lucien said.

"Oh come on, I'd make a great skinwalker."

"Oh I know." Lucien looked around.

As if on que, a flash of light burst from the building below and Lucien's fur stood on end.

Lucien and Arisia's rings flashed.

[Speedforce Energy signature recognized.]

"Gramps is back in the race, I presume?" Constantine asked.

"That's good." Lucien said before leading them all back inside S.T.A.R Labs.

He came down to the main floor where everyone surrounded Jay. He stood out of his wheelchair and looked about a decade younger. Blue lightning coursed through his veins.

"I'm not ready to take all the speed force energy I could from the vamps. But with this I should be more than enough." Jay said. "I've still got it."

"That's the spirit." Beast-boy said before jumping back as a stray lightning bolt burned the ground at his feet.

"Well, that's enough action for today. Who's hungry?" Constantine asked.

Before anyone could answer, he clapped his hands and then a table with a thanksgiving spread on it appeared between them.

"When in America…?" He shrugged.

"Considering we just talked about my native ancestry, this seems fucked." Lucien said.

"Oh don't be a puss. Sit down and eat, bigby." Constantine replied.

And just like that, they had new powers and full bellies.

Dinner was…. bizzare.

Lucien almost disassociated as he watched his childhood heroes talk and eat in real time.

But not everyone was present. Bruce wanted to brood alone. Tim Drake chose to watch the news and social media underbellies. Green-Arrow also kept to himself. Lagoon-boy tried to stay but he was drying out so he took a turkey into the showers alone.

That left Lucien to eat with Vixen, Dove, Hawk, Hawk-Girl, Raven, Bat-Girl, Red-Hood, Arsenal, Beast-Boy, Jay Gerrick, Etrigan, Constantine, Arisia, Terra and Signal.

When he got his fill— which was actually just his social limit for the day, he got up and left.

He could feel their eyes on him as he walked the halls of the labs to find a place that functioned as some sort of room.

At the back end of the building, he found a temperature intensity training room. Which was just a sauna and ice room split by a hallway.

He quickly shed his clothing and entered the sauna. It was white walled and lined by ambient lights that worked according to his heartbeat. Blue.

Essential oils in massive bowls bubbled, smelling of sweet flowers and minty evergreens. They blended with the air as they evaporated, cleansing his skin as his pores opened. It felt like his whole body was exhaling for the first time.

It was nice.

Then something moved.

He stood with his claws extended as something hit the floor at the entrance into the dark sauna full of flower oil pots and grooved seats.

His heartrate caused the lights to turn reddish purple.

Only it was no enemy. But he wasn't sure of the figures allegiance either.

"Raven."

"Lucien."

She dropped her cloak on the floor, wearing nothing underneath but a skintight length of black shape wear.

She approached, taking silent steps on powerful lithe legs. Her thighs were surprisingly supple and built. Not buff like Hawk, but more shapely and aggresive than Dove. A healthy— if only a bit suprising medium. It only made her thin waist seem even more so as the cutting lines in her abdominal muscles and naval region flexed through the fabric.

"We are equals." She said as she stopped in front of him, "Or at least I'd like for us to be."

"Uh-huh…."

In a flash of black light, she was naked again.

Her pale skin shimmered under the dark lighting. Sweat and evaporated oils rolled down her skin, collecting on her pink pierced nipples to drip off the dark jewels like the worlds most beautiful faucet.

"There was no other sauna— and I was frozen not to long ago. I hope you don't mind." Raven said.

"I don't. Sit down." Lucien replied.

Raven walked past him, holding his gaze before taking a seat— where he sat. She crossed her legs and placed her clawed hands over her knees.

She looked like a dark godess of fertility ready to bleed him dry. Like a vampire queen waiting to feed.

But she wanted more than one meal. She wanted to dine on many things. She wanted in. He knew it clear as day as her purple eyes scanned him over, reveling in the magic that nearly ignighted every follicle of hair on his arms and chest. It coursed through every string of sinewy muscle. It evolved him. It made him more.

How surprising that the girl who'd been a half demon all her life wanted more for herself and her supernatural biology.

"I don't want to sit down anymore." Raven said.

"Why did you the first time?" Lucien asked.

"Because you told me to." Raven replied.

A simple, but powerful answer. Showing she was understanding the dynamic with an alpha— more than even he did since he was surprised at the physical reaction her words evoked.

Partially, he transformed.

"Then get up."

Raven stood.

"Come."

She did.

They stood so close, he could smell the fire and brimstone on her skin. He wondered if she could smell the ice on his.

For the first time since the few fleeting moments, she looked alive.

"I want you."

Many meanings sat in her words.

"I know."