The New Generation: Earth-53

Zoe took the card and looked it over for a minute, seeing all of the information and slowly pocketing it. As Renee suggested that they all meet up sometimes Zoe only smiled alongside her. "That sounds really nice, I'll make sure that we call you when we have some free time," she said before returning the wave as Renee left the hospital room.

Zoe just smiled after her before turning back to Rose. "You'll really like her I think," Zoe said as she rested a hand on the sheets that covered Rose. "She's genuine, and NOT a complete ass."

---

Neal nearly jumped from his seat the moment that time unfroze, seeing Zatanna disappear and suddenly reappear in the center of the room with the gentleman that had walked in just a minute or two ago. A few people had been cheering, believing it to be some kind of a trick. Neal was about to speak when Zatanna beat him to the punch. "Um.....Hi Stan," Neal said before looking to his mentor curiously.

Gone was the happy and carefree Zatanna. Instead she had quite a different look about her now. It was a look that Neal had only rarely seen on her. "What's wrong?" Neal asked when Zatanna said that they needed to talk.

"Nnngh..." Rose muttered, barely conscious now. Everything was still dark, her eyes were closed, but she could hear, just barely. Of course, it was all coming in rather fuzzy, but she could still understand. "Complete... ass...?" she mumbled. "Rrmmm... who... me?"

---

"What's wrong... oh, what's wrong? Well, let's see..." Zatanna said, taking in a deep breath. "I just found out that Mr. Stan here is a fellow magi like ourselves, only he went and got his magic through a bargain with Neron. Turns out, the favor he ran for Neron could prove to have catastrophic consequences if we don't put a stop to it as soon as possible." Pausing momentarily, she took in another deep breath and then stared intently at Neal.

"But first, I need to know something, Nicole. At any point in your life, did you ever meet an individual offering you some kind deal? For whatever reason, doesn't matter how small? Anything that stands out as odd? And did you accept the deal? Did you run an errand for him, or strike a bargain, or anything?" Of course, Neal would have no idea why she was asking him that.

Zoe nearly jumped as the voice seemed to come from nowhere. While she had spoken at Rose she hadn't actually imagined that she was gonna get a response from her. Once she calmed down though she smiled. "Rose! You're okay! And no I wasn't calling you an ass at all I swear," Zoe said as she tried to look in to Rose's eyes. "Can you hear me?"

---

Wow, that was a lot of information to get at once time. Zatanna had said it so quickly that Neal wasn't sure what the hell was going on. It was obvious that his mentor was clearly upset at something, and Neal had no idea how to respond to any of it. Who was Neron? Who was Stan really? So many questions, and he couldn't even get any of them out before Zatanna posed her own.

"Someone making a deal?" Neal questioned as he thought back as hard as he could. He remembered making little nothing agreements, but nothing that would constitute this much fear from Zatanna. "There's nothing strange that I can think of or recall," Neal admitted as he looked at Zatanna. "Z....what's really going on here?"

Course Stan saw it instantly. Zatanna was trying to make her question comforting, but with what Stan knew it was obvious. "Zatanna, is this the reason you were so worried when you heard where my power comes from?" Stan asked.

"Rmmph..." Rose muttered, taking in a deep breath of air. She paused a moment, just trying to wake up, until she could finally get to a point where she could open her eyes again. "I can... hear you. What's... what's going on? Where are... did those people... they make it out?" She was clearly quite a bit out of it still, partially because of the injuries and partially because of the drugs the hospital had her on for the pain.

---

Zatanna bowed her head, uttering out a deep sigh. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or more worried now. If Neal hadn't accidentally made a deal with Neron for his power, then in what other way could he and Neron be connected? Why did Neal source his magic from that demon lord? What was going on here? "Neron, since you don't know, is a lord of hell. A devil, basically. I would say demon, but those are a dime a dozen. He's in a class all his own, shared by only a few others. He's..."

She was going to say 'where you get your magic from', but she stopped herself. She didn't know why or what it even meant, so why reveal something so potentially troublesome to him right now? No, best to keep it a secret, for now. "Just, we have to find the people Neron contacted, those in service to him, and we have to stop them. I think I can track them."

"Yes of course they made it out silly, don't worry about them. Tell me how YOU feel," Zoe insisted as she took Rose's hands in her own and tried to make Rose focus her vision on her and nothing else. Of course Zoe had no idea if everyone in the building got out or not, but she wasn't going to let Rose worry about that right now. They had done everything they could, they couldn't be held responsible if anyone else was caught inside.

---

"Oh damn.....that sounds like really bad news," Neal uttered as he understood most of the weight of Zatanna's words. In their early training Zatanna had gone out of her way in order to explain to Neal the fact that a place like Hell even existed. It had taken him some time to learn, but Neal knew enough to know that this Neron guy had to be BAD news. "But I don't understand, why would you wanna know if I made a deal with anyone?" he asked curiously.

Before Zatanna could answer Stan quickly cut in. "Because Neron has recently made deals with several young magi, Zatanna hear just wanted to make sure that you there wasn't even a chance that you had been approached," Stan said as he held his smile.

"Oh...that makes sense," Neal said and dropped the subject. He was none the wiser as to what Zatanna was actually hiding from him. He turned to his mentor. "So what's the first step now?"

"I'm... head feels... fuzzy," Rose mumbled taking in a deep breath of air. Everything was still sort of spinning, but at least she didn't feel like she was about to throw up anymore. She then paused a moment, just trying to gain her bearings, and slowly moving her eyes around the room. "We in... hospital? Remember... collapsing... and then..." And then nothing. Last thing she remembered, she collapsed in the middle of a burning building. "How'd we... get here?"

---

"The first step is that we find who received those candles and figure out what Neron wanted with them," Zatanna said. "And either hope they haven't used the candles yet, or that we can stop them if they have. So much for dinner... in any case, I hope you got your big girl panties on, because this could get real messy." She paused, slowly glancing at Stan. "You're coming, too, by the way. Your mess." A few backward words later, and they vanished into thin air.

"Yeah I bet it does, considering how hard you probably got hit and the drugs that you're on," Zoe commented as she slowly placed a hand on the side of Rose's face and gave it a gentle rub. She had no idea if that would help or not, but she didn't wanna just sit there and do nothing now that Rose was awake. "Officer Montoya found you outside of the building," Zoe said in explanation. "She found you on the ground before transferring you to a hospital. She was here a few minutes ago, you barely missed her."

---

Stan opened his mouth as if to offer up objection to being brought along. However, after carefully considering the look on Zatanna's face he decided not to fight against it. He gave a single nod before he, Zatanna, and Neal all seemed to vanish in to thin air.

A moment later they would appear in a rather well forested area, just outside of a city. Neal was the first to say anything. "Okay, if we're really going to fight people that are so powerful can we at least change me to normal? I don't really wanna test my fighting style like this," Neal muttered as he looked down at the dress that he was still wearing.

"Where are we anyway?" Stan asked as he walked over to the edge of the trees to look out at the nearby city. There was a riven in between two building heavy area, and there had to be at least six or more bridges to help people across.

"This is Portland," Neal said as he moved over next to Stan and took the view in. He had a smile on his face. "Wow I never thought that I'd see this place again," he said before turning back to Zatanna and giving a small smile. "I was born here."

"Montoya...?" Rose uttered, blinking several times as Zoe's hand came to her face. Well how about that? She couldn't even remember making it out of the building before collapsing, but maybe she had made it to the fire escape after all. And then Officer Montoya of all people had found her... "I... like her. Not so bad..." She could still barely form complete sentences, but hopefully she was getting her point across well enough.

---

"I'll give you some work clothes, Zatanna said, snapping her fingers and giving Neal a traditional stage uniform. "But I'm not going to reveal your identity to Neron and his followers if I don't have to. There's no telling what is going to happen here, and if something goes wrong then it's not just us that could be in danger, but your family, too. Unless they don't know who you are."

Taking a deep breath, she looked around the area carefully. She'd never been here before, yet something felt strangely familiar about it. Of course, when Neal revealed an interesting piece of information, she couldn't help but utter a frustrated sigh and groan. "Where you were born?" Why wasn't she surprised. She didn't know what exactly it meant, but if one of Neron's minions was located where Neal had been born, it couldn't be a coincidence... or at least, it would be one of the biggest coincidences ever, if it was.

"Okay, let's follow the signal to the candle. You all should be able to feel it," she explained.

"Yeah she's pretty cool," Zoe said simply. She was trying to keep her sentences short since it seemed like Rose was still partially recovering. A long sentence wouldn't do anything but confuse the hell out of her right? At least that was how Zoe saw it. "She has some things for you to do once you recover, but you don't need to worry about that until you are your good old self again," Zoe reassured her girlfriend as she leaned forward and gave a single kiss to Rose's lips.

---

"Well appreciate that," Neal said as he looked down at his work clothes. He still wasn't a huge fan of being a woman, but at least he wasn't going to be fighting in a dress anymore. Neal felt a sick bump forming in his stomach though. The more that Zatanna spoke of this Neron the more worried she made Neal. Zatanna could do things that were impossible, and yet even she seemed afraid of this guy. What was Neron going to do exactly?

"Yeah I can feel that definitely," Stan remarked as Zatanna explained that they were going to follow the magic to the candle. "It's fairly close by too," he added as he began to walk towards the signal.

As they walked forward Neal walked right next to Zatanna. After a minute of not saying anything he looked up at her. "You know Neron. Do you only know his name or have you actually encountered his work before? I mean....this couldn't be some sort of trap for you right?"

"Things to... do," Rose said, taking in a deep breath. "I'll... do it all. For sure." She coughed a few times, a sharp pain suddenly flaring through her lungs. A grimace came to her face, but it quickly vanished as Zoe's lips came to her own. She kissed back the best she could, but it was pretty sloppy considering her condition. Still, it was the thought that counted, right? "You... sweet," she breathed out, smiling lightly and closing her arms. "Stay... with me tonight?"

---

As they continued on towards the beacon of the candle they were tracking, Zatanna breathed out a very long breath and bowed her head. "Well, I personally only know of Neron and the things he's capable of. But my father..." She suddenly went quiet, as an uncharacteristic look of sadness came over her face. "Well, let's just say that my father new him. It's... a long story. I wouldn't think this could be a trap for me, though, so no worries there. Whatever Neron is planning, it's something else entirely."

"Of course I'll stay with you tonight. You might say that couldn't keep me away," Zoe said with a small chuckle to herself. Rose wouldn't really realize why it was funny in her drugged state, but Zoe could still find the humor in it. "I'll be here the entire time Rose, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask it."

---

"Oh, I see," Neal said and immediately decided to not ask any more questions. On one of his first days showing up the only advice he had been given about Zatanna was to not ask about her family. So far Neal had made sure to do exactly that, and so far he had succeeded. Zatanna had treated Neal well, and he wasn't going to hurt her after everything she had done for him.

"We're getting close," Stan said as he was focusing to try to see where exactly the source of the magic was coming from. He parted a bush and stopped curiously. "Well this isn't what I expected," he muttered before motioning for Neal and Zatanna to join him. When they got to his position they would see that they were on top of a hill. Down beneath them was a parking lot, and upon further investigation it would show that this was a parking lot for the Portland Zoo. The lot was empty save for one car.

"What a strange place to be," Neal remarked more to himself than anyone else.

"Mmm..." Rose muttered, closing her eyes again. She was starting to feel rather sleepy all of a sudden. Maybe it was the drugs or maybe it was just the fact that they'd had a long night and she was hurt. Or maybe all of the above. Either way, she felt herself drifting off again. Tightening her grip around Zoe's hand, she managed to utter out, "Just... lie with me... tha' s'all." A few moments later, she was off in dream land.

---

"Hmm..." Zatanna aid quietly, eyeing the parking lot down below. She scanned the area carefully before taking a couple steps forward, her gaze locked on the car. The pull of the candle felt strongest near the lone car. "Odd indeed... but this is where the candle is, somewhere... we just have to find it. Be cautious, we don't know what's waiting for us down there. Just... be prepared for anything."

Zoe felt the increased strength in Rose's grip as her eyes began to drift off. A small smile formed on Zoe's lips as she heard the simple request. "You big softie," Zoe said under her breath as she leaned her head down next to where Rose's head was. "You just rest well, I'll watch over you," Zoe said as she continued to keep her head next to Rose even after the girl had drifted off to sleep. Zoe would watch over Rose all night if she had to.

---

"Always good advice," Neal said with a small laugh as he was trying to bring back a bit of light to the way that everyone was talking. It was pretty obvious that no one was biting though, this was probably not the time to be making jokes. Neron must be someone of tremendous power. Neal had never seen Zatanna look this concerned, not even when she had been kicked off the Justice League.

It was a few minutes later that they had gotten near the car. Stan was the first one to get near it. "The candle isn't in here, neither is the guy who is holding on to it," the young magi said as he looked towards Zatanna. He had a very worried look on his face. "The magic feels stronger than when I delivered it to him.......he might have already lit it."

About a week later, Rose was sitting in the middle of a classroom, of all things. Granted, it wasn't a school classroom or anything like that, no. Rather, it was a driver's ed classroom. She'd never been surrounded by as many kids her own age as she was right now, and to be honest, it felt a little weird, but she forced herself to sit through it and pay attention. After all, she had promised Renee that she would get her license legitimately. Of course, she had to get her regular license first and then go for her motorcycle license... it would be a long process, but at least she wouldn't be taken down to the station after getting pulled over with no license again.

Tapping her pencil calmly against her desk, she watched as Daria, the woman teaching the class, continued to explain the No Zones of a tractor trailer. Up next was supposed to be the video... the one with the really awful jingle. 'Stay out of the no zones' or something like that. Just bite the bullet, Rose, just bite the bullet...

When class was finally over, Rose breathed out a long sigh and stood up from her seat. She didn't leave yet, though, instead waiting for all the other kids to leave. When they were gone, Daria looked up at her quizzically.

"Need something?" she asked.

"Uh... yeah, kind of," Rose replied, shifting her weight nervously. "Uh, I'm... Rose? I don't know if Renee told you about me, but..."

"Oh!" Daria exclaimed, a look of understanding coming to her face. "You're Rose. Yes, Renee did tell me about you, said you're a good kid."

Rose shifted again, a little embarrassed. "Well... I mean I don't know about that... but I want to, uh, to thank you... for letting me in your class and, well, yeah..."

Daria merely smiled. "Please, it's no trouble at all. She did mention the... unique circumstances of your meeting. Sounds like you could use a license."

"Heh, yeah... I guess so."

"Hey, what are you doing later tonight?" Daria asked, as she packed up her things. "Do you want come out with Renee and I? You and your girlfriend, I mean. Zoe, was that her name?"

Rose nodded. "Uh, yeah. Zoe. Where, uh... did you want to go?"

"I have a restaurant down in the Burnley District," Daria explained. "It's called the Xenon. Come by after closing and I'll cook us all up a nice dinner. If you like, I mean."

Rose smiled a little, scratching the back of her head. "Yeah... yeah that would be nice."

---

"Not here? But that's not possible..." Zatanna muttered, looking at the car. "This is where my tracking spell brought us. This is where the candle has to be. She took a deep breath and slowly moved forward, grabbing the car door handle. "Be ready for anything... here goes nothing." Swallowing back a lump in her throat, she very carefully pulled the handle and then threw the door open, ready for anything they might find.

Just as Rose was finishing talking with Daria, another figure moved in to the classroom. It would take only a single glance for the face and short black of hair of Zoe to come in to view. She was typing up rapidly on her phone, clearly intent on making sure that whatever text she sent was completely accurate. It wasn't long before she looked up and gave a small smile. "Sorry, important message," she said before putting the phone away.

"So, how did our first day of classes go?" Zoe asked teasingly. She was proud that Rose actually came, but she was also smart enough to know that Rose hated this kind of an environment.

---

The moment that the car door was open, Zatanna would feel a powerful magic energy smash right in to her gut before knocking her back. Neal tried to move over to aid her but soon enough he was sent flying back as well. As they landed the area grew dark, almost to the point where everything was pitch black. Despite the darkness both of them saw Stan landing right between them, blood seeping from his nose.

"Neron sends his regards," a dark voice uttered as a man in a black cloak appeared in the car and slowly stepped out of it. In his hand was a single burning candle with a black flame. "I am Wraith, and you shall not rob me of my power," the man said in a very dark and ominous voice. The moment that his sentence ended he slowly faded away.

"He's using illusion magic!" Stan shouted out as he pushed himself back up to his feet.

"Oh, uh, speak of the Devil," Rose said, as Zoe walked into the classroom. Walking over to Zoe, she took the girl's hand and stood close to her, then looked back at Daria. "This is Zoe. Zoe, this is Daria. She wants us to stop by her restaurant later for dinner with her and Renee. We're not doing anything else, right?" She was pretty sure they were free, as far as she knew, and she really did want to get to know Renee and Daria mroe. They seemed like really nice people... and in her life, she hadn't known a whole lot of really nice people, especially recently.

---

Well, that's not good. That's pretty much what went through Zatanna's mind, as she went flying backwards, as though hit in the gut by a freight train. When he landed, she uttered a deep groan and slowly started to get back to her feet. "Well shit," she muttered, eyeing the candle in the man's hands. "Should have guessed we'd be too late." When he suddenly disappeared, Zatanna took in a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. Illusion magic, that could be troublesome.

"Laever flesruoy!" she exclaimed. She wasn't going to let this bastard hide from them.

Zoe's hands laced with Rose's instantly and she gained a larger smile. "Daria, nice to meet you. Renee told me about you, it's great to finally put a face to the name though," she admitted as she reached forward to shake the woman's hand. When the question was aimed at her she thought about it for a moment. "No I don't think so. Edwards's going to be busy all night anyway, so I'm sure that meeting at a restaurant for some food is no trouble," she said as she looked right at Rose.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard anyone say what time we were supposed to meet?"

---

Zatanna's magic was still powerful, even with this man having a candle Zatanna's magic was able to make him appear. He narrowed his eyes as Stan and Neal turned their attention to Wraith and began to cast various spells in his direction. The man began to move about quickly, dodging or deflecting every spell as well as he could.

In the midst of this fight, a voice would enter in to Zatanna's mind. "You can not save him you know," a low and familiar voice seemed to speak. It came from nowhere and yet seemed to speak to her very soul. "You were unable to save your father, and now you will be unable to save your student."

"Any time after closing," Daria said, giving Zoe an affirmative nod. "Say, around ten thirty or so?"

"We'll be there, promise," Rose said, spreading a smile across her face. There weren't a lot of things these days that made her smile, Zoe being one of the few, but she was genuinely happy right now."

As the women said their goodbyes and Rose walked with Zoe out of the driver's school, Rose breathed out a long sigh and scratched the back of her neck. "This whole driver's ed thing kind of sucks, I'll be honest... but at least Daria's nice."

---

"Ezylarap Htairw!" Zatanna shouted, intending to end this conflict as quickly and efficiently as possible. A mere moment after she cast the spell, however, that voice echoed inside her head. That deep, ominous, and painfully familiar voice. "You're not... you can't be... get out of my head, demon!"

"Well I can't say that I'm surprised that you don't like it," Zoe commented as they continued to walk out of the school. After all, Zoe wasn't even used to normal classes, she had been home schooled by her mother. "The important part is that you're learning so that a cop that isn't as nice as the last one doesn't arrest you for nearly going twice the speed limit," Zoe said as she shot a teasing elbow in to Rose's side.

---

Wraith was frozen in his tracks, the spell holding him down. He growled under his breath as it felt like weight was coming down on him from all sides. He was not to be defeated so easily though! While Zatanna was distracted with the voice in her head he tried to focus his magic on her, trying to cast a spell that would make Zatanna feel like several blades pierces her right leg.

Please Zatanna, you know who you're up against. You can't help him, not when I'm your enemy. He is as doomed as your father is. He will be mine before long. You can't even get a grip on your own life. You WILL fail him.

"It wasn't twice the speed limit... maybe fifty percent over," Rose muttered, giving Zoe a playful look.

Later that night, Rose and Zoe were sitting around a table in the middle of the Xenon after hours. The place was completely empty, save for the two couples siting at the table: Rose and Zoe, as well as Renee and Daria. A meal of exquisite chicken parmigiana had been prepared, and it was quite honestly one of the best things that Rose had ever tasted.

"So we're chasing after this guy in some old abandoned apartment building," Renee explained, in the middle of telling them all a story about her work, "And I'm about three floors ahead of Bullock, because let's face it, the guy couldn't win a marathon against a slug. So he tells me to go on without him, and i catch up to the perp, subdue the guy and cuf him, standard stuff. Then in hobbles Bullock, wheezing like he just ran a mile, practically trips his way into the apartment. The perp starts to plead with us before taking him away, 'just let me finish my cannoli, please! Guy's gotta have his last meal, ya know? So we see the cannoli on the counter, just sitting there, hasn't even been touched. Guy must have left it out before he went to rob that liquor store or something. So Bullock limps over to the counter, grabs the cannoli, and stuffs the whole thing in his mouth, eats it one bite. Doesn't even wait to swallow the damn thing before he says, 'there, you finished it', and then dragging the perp back to the squad car."

Rose snorted out a small laugh, taking another bite of her food. "He sounds real special."

---

"I remember why you tried to take my soul when I was a kid, you know," Zatanna said, snapping back at the demon's voice. "You were afraid of me, afraid of my power. Because I can stop you. And I will, if you so much as touch a single hair on that boy's- ahhhh!" her words suddenly cut off with a scream as her right leg went limp with pain, forcing her to collapse to the ground. "Htairw llaf suoicsnocnu!"

Zoe just laughed along the right moments as Renee went on with her story. Just hearing more and more about her partner caused her to see the humor in it. No wonder so many people had such a bad impression on policemen, but hey at least they stopped the guy right? That was the important part of it all.

Zoe just caught up with her breathing before taking a long drink of the Shirley Temple that was sitting in front of her. It was her favorite drink to order whenever she went out to eat with friends after all. "So how does this guy even still have a job? Sounds like you're the one that's doing all the work."

---

At the time yes, but your power isn't the only one that's grown stronger. I will have what is mine Zatanna, not you, the Justice League, or ANYONE shall stop me.

Wraith was pushing himself up to make a counter attack, but the effect of the spell was too strong and caused him to fall to the ground instantly. He was out, just as Zatanna had asked for with her spell.

Neal and Stan were breathing heavily, having tried to fend off a lot of the spells that Wraith cast at them. While Stan had held his own pretty well Neal had struggled mightily against it. He had never encountered such strong illusions before, they felt so real. Neal looked over and saw the candle that was still clutched in Wraith's hand. It was still burning.

"Great work Zatanna," Neal said as he looked over to his master. "Are you alright though? It sounded like you were yelling at someone, but Wraith wasn't even talking to you."

"Nah, he's a good cop," Renee said, with a flippant wave of the hand. "He just doesn't do so good when it comes to chasing down a perp. That's what I'm for."

"Two time high school state champ in track," Daria boasted, putting her hand on Renee's shoulder and grinning.

Renee blushed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Well I don't like to brag, but... yeah, I am."

---

Zatanna didn't hear anyone else. She was focused entirely on the voice in her head. Where the hell was it even coming from? Was Neron here? Was he on their plane? Did he comehow have a way to communicate across dimensions?

"What the hell do you mean, 'what's yours'?" she growled. "What do you want with him?!"

"I'mpressive," Zoe admitted as she gave a small clap of her hands; as if it showed she was being honest with her statement. "To be honest I was never really much of a track runner, though I can hold my own if needed," she remarked before leaning back in her seat. "Now you give me anything that fires a bullet and I can guarantee that I could impress you with it."

---

My power comes at a cost Zatanna, surely you know of this by now. Nothing is given for free. There is a cost for everything, even if he doesn't realize it yet. He will pay me the debt that is owed, and what once was his shall than be mine.

"Oh, is that so?" Renee asked, folding her arms and leaning back in her seat. One of her eyebrows lifted very curiously at Zoe. "You get a lot of firearms practice, do you?"

"Uh... her dad takes her to the range a lot," Rose assured, clearing her throat. "She's quite the shot."

Renee grew slightly intrigued, tapping her fingers against her arm. "Interesting... care to put that to the test?"

---

"Comes at a cost?" Zatanna said, squinting her eyes shut and clawing her fingers against her forehead. "He didn't ask for it! You can't take anything from him when he didn't agree to it, that's not how a deal works! And that's what you do, you make deals. You don't just give things to people without them asking for it, those are the rules!"

"Yeah, my dad wanted me to perform in contests eventually. He said that I had a lot of natural talent," Zoe said with a smile. It was true though, when it started Floyd had just wanted Zoe to have fun with it, it was only when she got older that Deadshot had moved on to teach her how to kill and become one of the best shots that he had ever seen. It was a step by step thing.

Zoe gained a small smile as Renee seemed to be issuing some form of a challenge. Now this was going to get interesting. "You're on, name your little test," Zoe said with a large smile as she leaned a little closer to Renee.

---

Oh Zatanna, how greatly you've amused me as you have gotten older. Believe me, all of this will make sense to you in time. I just suggest that you get away from him, because by the time that I am done with him....he won't be your student anymore,

After that, Neron did not respond to anything Zatanna said.

"Zatanna!" Neal shouted as he was trying to get his teacher's attention. "Who the hell are you talking to!? You look like a crazy person!"