“SHAZAM!”

The lightning bolt struck their armor, electricity coursing through their body and charging it with the light of Aten. Kara/Teth-Adam, felt a wave of energy granting their every cell more power than they had ever experienced, almost too much to bear.

The blessing of the gods filled them to the brim. Shu, Horus, Amun, Zehuti, Aten, and Mehen empowered their new form, turning the mighty but still mortal frame of a Kryptonian into a champion capable of facing even the strongest of unnatural creatures.

They were confused and angry; their minds still half asleep after so long locked inside the Amulet, betrayed by someone they trusted.

They were frustrated; watching the infernal flower spread through the streets, almost covering another block with its roots and vines.

They were disgusted, losing a fight against only two people, one of whom was only moderately skilled. They were better than that, much better.

They were anxious; struggling to separate their minds and afraid of what would happen if the device on their chest couldn’t drain the power of Aten away from their bodies once more.

Almost unconsciously, their hand reached towards the device, ready to rip it out of the armor / wanting to make sure it was still attached.

With all the safeguards, it would remain in place for a few minutes even if they tried.

For a second, Kara’s mind struggled with Teth-Adam’s, their wills clashing for control over their body. However, his soul was still weak from millennia of being locked away and, with Kara’s telepathic blocker helping separate their thoughts, he quickly fell back into his dreamless slumber.

Kara stumbled, the jarring feeling of being alone in her head once more causing a momentary imbalance. Taking a single step back, she regained control and stretched her new muscles.

Her armor had remained as intact as it had been before, only the symbol of a lightning bolt on its chest indicating the change, but her body had certainly transformed, reaching a peak of power she hadn’t even thought possible. But how?

Immediately, the Wisdom of Zehuti told her.

Aten was the Egyptian god powering her transformation, but despite the lightning, he wasn’t a god of thunder. No, Aten was an aspect of Ra, god of the Sun and, for a Kryptonian, that meant something.

Unfortunately, her transformation wasn’t permanent, like Billy, she’d revert to her normal body when the transformation was over but, until then…

Squeezing a fist, she felt the power contained there, she also knew how to use it, how to fight and move without wasting her strength. Kara couldn’t help agreeing with Teth-Adam, his loss against her and Kori’s assault had been quite shameful.

Again, her powers gave her the explanation. Theo Adams was a complete novice, he had never trained in any martial arts and, deep down, he was a coward. The courage of Mehen was a misleading power, it gave the champion inexhaustible physical and psychological resilience, but didn’t actually make him any braver. What use was knowing the best moves when you were too timid to make them?

The most important part was that, unlike a moment ago, Teth-Adam’s soul had been utterly dormant, giving Theo less access to Teth’s skills and memories than she currently had.

“Forge?” Red Bee asked, causing her to look towards her companions.

Minion 3 had taken several steps back, his large rifle aimed straight at her chest, every muscle on his body tense and his finger on the trigger.

Detective Chimp and Red Bee were also tense, ready for a fight while attempting to protect Catwoman and a still unconscious Kite-Man, even The Shade seemed slightly tense for the first time, although he hadn’t stepped away from her.

Only Kori remained by her side, Sword of Beowulf still in her hand but turned towards the plant. Inside the armor, Kara smiled, drawing strength from her girlfriend’s trust.

Down on the streets, the spores continued to infect whatever stray animal had been in hiding. Her drones fired almost continuously as she split some of her focus to oversee their elimination… small blessings, at least insects didn’t seem to be susceptible to infection.

“Don’t worry, I’m still myself,” she said, then turned left as she sensed a new hero flying towards them from the south where the nearest Zeta-Tube was. “What happened to the five ritual points?”

“I may not know how to fully disrupt the ritual, especially without warning the caster,” Detective Chimp said, sitting down on the roof. “But I know enough to throw a spanner in the works.”

Kara immediately understood, both the Wisdom of Zehuti and the Power of Aten giving her some rudimentary knowledge of magic. The Detective had left the five ritual sites intact and, if properly activated, they would still feed power to the infernal portal.

But they had never received the order to activate, the Detective had damaged that part, and only that part, of the ritual before the attack happened. It could easily be fixed, as long as the caster knew what had gone wrong and could reforge the connection.

“How long will it take to restore the connection?”

“Probably another minute, less if someone is helping Circe, but she’ll need to concentrate.”

“More than enough. Martian Manhunter should be here soon. Fatale and I will deal with the flower’s source of power, keep it away from civilians until then.”

Before her borrowed empowerment, Kara would have said more, tried to micromanage things, but the new powers allowed her to know better. Her team was experienced, they didn’t need her to tell them what to do.

Kori gave her a nod and adjusted her grip, she was ready.

Kara exploded into motion, launching herself towards the main plant faster than she had ever moved while inside the planet’s atmosphere, her newfound control making sure she didn’t damage the world around her.

Falling through his own shadow, The Shade teleported to the north, his shadow turning into physical tendrils that attacked the growing flower, halting its advances by consuming the roots and vines.

Minion 3 immediately opened contact with the Martian, letting the hero contain things to the south while using Kara’s drones to hunt down any infected creature before they could break containment.

Catwoman, Kite-Man, and Detective Chimp retreated, using one of Kara’s platforms to teleport away to get treatment while Red Bee used her comms to hack into the police frequencies, informing them of the situation.

In front of her, the sky was covered in green, hundreds of vines growing from the main flower and attacking her at once.

Kara barely moved, letting them pass only a single millimeter from her body with an ease she hadn’t felt before.

It wasn’t just that she was faster, or that she could follow the vine movements better. No, it was sheer, imbued experience. Teth-Adam’s years of battle and skill leaking in via the use of his powers despite his soul still slumbering.

At her shoulder, her mounted gun opened fire, releasing projectiles glowing with the magic of Atun, attacks powerful enough to destroy several vines.

Even the flower’s infernal magic adaptation couldn’t make it completely immune to the divine power she now wielded, but it would adapt, probably increasing its regeneration.

She had to deal with the source, fast.

Breaking through the wave of vines, Kara stopped above the plant and sent an order to the spare teleportation platform on her moon base before lifting an arm above her head. Almost on instinct, she yelled. “Shazam!”

The lightning bolt descended with the force of an air-dropped bomb, wider than she was tall, it came slightly from behind, aimed at her closed fist.

Right before it hit, Kara lowered her arm, letting the bolt pass her by to strike at the flower, consuming the entire top of the plant as well as most of the attacking vines, turning them into charcoal. A shower of ashes falling to the ground.

Green smoke rose from the stump that used to be the flower. Unfortunately, the main trunk was already too big and too resistant to suffer more than cosmetic damage, starting to regenerate as soon as the attack was finished, the charred husk cracking audibly as new green stalks started to grow upwards from the remains.

Just below her, Kori took the opening to fly at the hospital ruins, her body turning into a whirlwind of slashes as she cut her way through the remaining vines and straight toward the Joker’s location.

Kara knew they didn’t have time to waste but, Rao, couldn’t she wait a second? Seeing her girlfriend charge at a team of dangerous villains left her incredibly anxious.

The teleportation platform finally arrived at her side, two square metal blocks sitting atop it —one of the few devices complicated enough she couldn’t just replicate with her nanomachines onsite.

Without losing even a second, Kara threw the boxes to either side of the plant’s trunk with a wave of her hand and dropped, wanting to catch up with Kori before she reached the Clown and his cohort.

She flew between the regenerating stump, moving straight towards where her new magic senses told her the infernal portal was. Behind her, a field of energy sprouted between her two devices, enveloping the larger part of the stump and halting its regeneration.

Kara’s dimensional locks worked by separating the part of the world they enveloped from the rest of the dimension, keeping it in place and blocking anything outside from affecting the location. The field also served to block the infernal magic feeding the plant… and the signal Joker was using to control it.

A pity she didn’t have enough spares to envelop the entire plant, but this should delay the flower’s spread.

Another blast of power from her shoulder gun allowed Kara to fly through one of the upper roots, reaching the space directly under the hospital.

The underground parking lot wasn’t completely destroyed, but the plant had grown between the concrete and gravel, turning it into a dark maze of half-destroyed building materials and roots.

Ahead of her, she saw the flicker of green flames coming from a section that had collapsed into the second garage, hundreds of thinner roots greedily absorbing the flames and pulsating with magic.

The edges of the collapsed area exploded outwards, asphalt flying everywhere as Kori came flying back out, the Sword of Beowulf missing from her hand.

Protected by the armor, she broke through several thinner roots before her back bounced against a larger one and she started to fall again.

Kara felt the familiar rage, —how dare they!— her vision gained a slightly red tint, but it was a cold, calculating thing, the Courage of Mehen granting her the resilience to maintain her self-control.

Instead, Kara just growled, her helmet blazing with barely contained energy as she flashed to her girlfriend’s side and caught her descent, putting an arm around her waist to support her until she regained control of her flight.

“Telepath,” Kori gasped, taking a second to adjust her feelings.

“Are you alright?”

“It was challenging… To use my powers…Too much pain to feel contrariwise,” Kori managed to say while trying to steady herself. Then her voice gained strength and Kara could almost see the smile under her helmet. “The enchantress has been delayed.”

Kara squeezed her waist, making sure she could float on her own before finally focusing on her enemies.

The villains were standing around the infernal portal on the floor, almost ten meters wide, its edges were covered in green flames while several thinner roots grew inwards, pulsating with unholy power. A green mist floated all over the entire underground floor, giving it an eerie look while starting to leak upwards.

The Joker looked nothing like she remembered from the show. Smaller than she expected, he had disheveled shoulder-length green hair, black eyeliner giving him a sinister look and the characteristic red mouth only served to highlight badly healed scars of a Glasgow smile.

His hands moved through the air as if playing the piano, delicate electronics covering his black leather gloves and controlling the movements of the plant above them.

To his left, Circe floated back. Running a hand through her form-fitting green dress, she frowned at one of her damaged sleeves before noticing the large cut on her cheek, blood starting to leak down her face, making her eyes glow with anger.

In front of her, Major Force gathered himself. Using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth, he pushed against the floor and got back to his feet before spitting a piece of asphalt back to the ground, a smile on his face. As tall as her cousin and capable of matching him in strength, the man was a mountain of muscle, body covered in a gleaming metallic shell, his head and chest painted red while the rest was yellow.

By his side, Red Volcano pulled the Sword of Beowulf off his chest, the artifact rejecting his touch and falling to the ground shortly after. The android followed the same designs as his siblings only bulkier, red lines running through his robotic body, his head surrounded by a halo of heat that distorted the air.

Finally, towering behind the Joker, arms crossed in an unamused stance was a giant gorilla, body filled with the telltale signs of Blockbuster. For a second, Kara couldn’t place him, —DC had far too many intelligent apes— but then their eyes met and she saw the intelligence there. Gorilla Grodd.

Every single one of them was a heavy hitter. Villains powerful enough to threaten the Justice League with the right planning.

Rao, this was going to be hard...