LOOTING DC #31. Black Dragon
"A Black Dragon?!" Kid Flash panicked at Artemis' words, whipping his head around. "Where? I didn't see one!"
"Did you?" he asked, turning to his teammates, genuinely wondering if he'd somehow missed something big, black, flapping giant wings and spitting fire.
"No, mate," Constantine replied casually. "Easy there, will ya?"
"Black Dragon's not a literal dragon," he added, half-musing. "Well… not all the time. Depends on the cult."
Zatanna stepped in, her tone shifting to something more formal - almost reverent.
"In ancient Homo Magi doctrine, the Black Dragon is believed to be one of the oldest immortal entities in existence - and the father of all Homo Magi. Revered for shaping early human evolution, it's credited with creating a pit that could bring the dead back to life."
She paused.
"The pit that would one day be known as the Lazarus Pit."
She turned her gaze to Lian.
"The same pit that forged her."
"So Ra's al Ghul is behind all this?" Jake pitched what felt like the obvious conclusion.
Damian spat, a bitter laugh escaping his lips.
"You must be naive if you think that old geezer is the Black Dragon."
"You're right," Jake replied calmly, musing aloud. "Him being the father of magic doesn't add up."
"The Demon's Head may fit the description," Constantine said, "but he merely found the Lazarus Pit."
He took a breath.
"Only one with the natural ability to overcome death could create it."
Zatanna nodded. "The Black Dragon is said to have survived countless brutal deaths - executed by a god - for three hundred consecutive days. It withstood, for the sake of humanity."
"Even when reduced to dust," she continued, "it came back. Again and again."
"During that time, the Dragon began to question death itself. It became obsessed. Inspired by the god's power, it asked for a thousand years - to prove humanity's potential."
"The god agreed. Curious. Maybe even entertained."
She breathed.
"And in those thousand years, the Black Dragon gave us magic. It created the Lazarus Pit. It studied, experimented, tore open the world to answer one question:"
"If life is energy… why should death end it?"
Jake stiffened.
Zatanna pressed on.
"It created a formula - chaos fused with resurrection. A vial of pure defiance. The Lazarus Concentrate."
"But the vial could only be used during the night of the Crimson Moon. An arcane event that happens once every century."
"And when the time came… the god returned. It wasn't pleased. Humanity had barely progressed in their eyes. The god only saw ambition."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Chaos followed. The world burned. The Concentrate vanished in the clash. Some say it was destroyed. Others say it was stolen."
A pause.
"All that remained of the Lazarus Concentrate were fragments - scraps of millennium-old knowledge, absorbed into society as teachings of the Black Dragon."
"The Way of the Black Dragon…" Artemis murmured.
The technique she'd come across could interrupt the flow of energy - even permanently sever it at advanced stages. Similar to how death interrupts life. And now, she was starting to understand: it was just a fragment of something much older. Much bigger.
"Only three years ago," Zatanna continued, "the Lazarus Concentrate resurfaced - during the night of the Crimson Moon."
Her voice tightened.
"But it had changed. Altered… so that only a descendant of the Demon's Head could harmonize the chaos energy inside."
Several eyes turned toward Damian.
"When his ideal approach failed," Constantine cut in, "that bloody bastard started experimenting on the unborn - despite knowing the instability it would cause."
Eyes fell on Lian.
"The chaos energy inside her is constantly clashing with the proto-immortal properties of the Lazarus Concentrate," Constantine said. "It's why the world decays around her. Why no energy - magic, tech, life itself - can survive near her for long."
He paused, glancing at the glowing glyphs etched into the stone around them.
"And the longer she exists like this... The harder it is to escape the inevitable."
"Even the runes and wards easing her are..."
Something flickered at the edge of his vision.
He looked up.
All around them, the glyphs were dimming - fracturing, fading, dying. The ground beneath their feet trembled, fine cracks webbing outward like splintering glass.
"Looks like we've finally run out of time," Constantine said, far too casually for the dread hanging in the room.
"You can still help her!" Artemis snapped, stepping in front of the cradle. Her arms spread wide, shielding Lian as the infant began to cry - louder now, wailing with something beyond fear.
"I'm sorry, kid," Constantine said quietly. "We've done all we can. But this…" He trailed off.
"What…" Roy stepped forward, voice taut and breaking. "...What are you going to do to her?"
Superman moved between them before the air could ignite.
"Making the hard choice," Constantine muttered, brushing Artemis aside - not cruelly, but with grim purpose.
The room shifted. No one moved. Even the League hesitated. Roy struggled against Superman's grip. Wonder Woman stepped forward, her composure cracking.
"Wait… there has to be another way," she pleaded. Her voice trembled. Even the indestructible had limits.
Jake caught Artemis before she fell. He didn't speak. Didn't move. Didn't even raise a hand to stop Constantine.
Lian's cries split the air - wild, aching. But Jake heard more than sound.
Through Raven's empathetic tether, he felt it: not panic, not fear-
Intention.
She was showing him the path.
He just had to choose it.
Jake took a sharp inhale, then exhaled - slow, centered. His mind aligned like a lock snapping into place. The countdown had begun.
This would be harder than anything he'd done before.
He scanned the room, marking every piece in play:
The League.
The Justice League Dark.
The Team
Artemis.
Damian.
Lian.
The Golden Perfect.
He quieted his mind. The Web of Life pulsed in confirmation.
There was only one right move left.
Golden glyphs stirred in the air - Constantine's spell taking form, pentagonal layers of brown and gold orbiting like a verdict.
Jake couldn't allow it.
"Like I said…" he spoke - calm, deliberate, final.
"She's tired of being ignored."
And then-
The bass dropped into his spine.
He moved.
Web-strike. He shot a line and pulled himself straight toward Constantine at breakneck speed.
His first kick collided with a mystic barrier - sparking on contact.
"Called that," Constantine muttered, cigarette falling from his mouth.
"Was counting on it," Jake replied mid-spin, twisting into a heel kick.
Lian screamed.
Crimson energy burst from her, rippling through the chamber. The ground split. Glyphs cracked. Everyone was thrown.
Those adept - Zatanna, Superman, Wonder Woman, Tornado - endured. The others were tossed like dolls.
Constantine soared backward from the kick, half-wondering if he'd just been launched into oblivion. Only his protective charms kept him conscious.
Jake was still in motion.
He grabbed Artemis mid-air and launched another web - seemingly random - at one of the collapsing cracks.
He yanked hard.
Kryptonite dust scattered into the air - fragments from Roy's earlier sabotage.
Superman faltered mid-flight and dropped hard, coughing, eyes dimming. Red Tornado surged forward, but was too late.
Wonder Woman dashed to retrieve her Lasso - still wrapped around Damian.
Jake couldn't let her.
If only he could shoot webs from his feet.
Not possible yet.
He twisted mid-air with impossible agility, launching a web from one arm and yanking Damian toward himself.
Wonder Woman swung her blade - trying to sever the web.
Too slow.
Jake timed it perfectly, redirecting the tension so the blade clashed with the Lasso instead - knocking it loose. Damian flew upward in the chaos, stunned.
Jake yanked the Lasso before Wonder Woman could recover.
"You have to stop him before-" she started, but the Team was frozen.
Too conflicted to make a certain move.
Too late.
Jake's last obstacle: Zatanna.
"You don't understand," she said, voice cracking. "She'll take the world with her-"
"I'm most disappointed in you," Jake interrupted, dropping beside the cradle.
Lian glowed, screaming now with divine pressure.
Jake ensured Artemis, Damian, and the Lasso were all linked - threads wrapping them in golden light.
Then he reached out -
-and touched Lian.
Zatanna began the reversal spell - but it was too late.
Golden light exploded.
It surged through Jake, into the threads, then into the Web.
And they were gone.
Jake. Artemis. Damian. Lian. The Lasso.
And one more.
Roy.
The one Jake hadn't predicted would have made contact with Lian.
The shaking subsided - but Oolong Island had taken it's toll. The chamber collapsed inward.
The rest would have to evacuate. Fast.
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