kled at the moon in the sky, and then turned his eyes at the last giant clown that was currently doing his best to run away.

“Where you going!? Don't you want to play!?” Saurian yelled, then chased after the giant clown.

Saurian chased after the giant clown through the distorted carnival version of Gotham. Every step he took in the warped reality he cast Disillusion and broke it down from the inside. Like a virus in a healthy body it crumbled and spread the infection. Cracks spread like roots, the roots crawled up walls of buildings, down the streets, and turned any carnival object or person into particles. The clowns no longer chased after Saurian. No, they went back to what they did before. They ran! Crriiiaaaaeeeekkkk! Like the sound of ice across a frozen lake a giant crack appeared in the sky. It was as if the Carnival was a snow glob and the glass container had developed a crack.

“NOOOOOOOOO! What are you doing to my city you fucking lizard!” Joker screamed, but the origin of his voice couldn't be pin pointed.

Saurian jumped and hit the giant clown straight in the lower back. They both hit the ground hard but Saurian quickly began to dig through the skin and flesh of the clown. It screamed in panic and attempted to do a barrel roll. But Saurian held on and only dug faster. The clown screamed, and screamed! It then bashed his own head into the ground repeatedly as if it wanted to die faster. After a few resounding cracks! The clown caved its own skull in. Saurian popped his head out of the original hole he hand made. He looked a little confused.

“Wow.... Personal best for terrifying an insane clown made from the twisted machinations of Joker!” Saurian said as he crawled up and out of the hole. Crriieeeaaaakkkkk! The crack in the sky continued to grow.

“Each clown big or small must act like an anchor. Of course the stronger the clown the more damage is done. Ah! That means I should just hunt them down! Time to hunt the clowns!” Saurian yelled out! He raised his hands into the air and laughed hysterically!

Saurian spent the next two hours systematically tracking, hunting, and killing any clown he came across. All the while he broke the warp as he went. Then he saw something he didn't consider, clowns with giant paint brushes, and water colors attempted to paint and fill in the cracks he had caused. The clowns were trying to paint, and remake the carnival.

Saurian had used Size Alteration, and Reduce on his armor. He found being a giant carnosaur in the city made it harder to hunt the clowns. So he was eight by sixteen feet again. But every step he took he continued to break the twisted reality apart. He felt like a multi dimensional hunter here to destroy the world. In a lot of ways he was! Despite how it was done, Joker had created a living city inside the dome. Saurian prowled through an alleyway as he watched the paint brush clown team try to repair the damaged cracks. Bang! A flash bang went off in front of him. His eyes quickly adjusted as he looked up and saw a Bat-Clown glide down from the roof above him. Saurian tilted his head, his yellow and green reptilian eyes peered out from the dark shroud around his head.

Bat-Clown stood at 5'7”, with auburn hair, blue eyes, her bat uniform had gone through a clown car wash and was a variety of colors. She held up hand and was about to shout, 'stop' before Saurian reached out and snagged her entire head. She let out muffled scream and attempted to break out of his hold. Saurian picked her up off the ground, he created an area of darkness and shadow with Phantasm. not all of his Domains had worked in the warped reality but the Illusion Domain seemed to be on crack! Batgirl continued to struggle, she jammed her clown-a-rang into his arm and didn't even leave a scratch.

“Hold on Batgirl I'll fix you.” Saurian said softly as he cast Disillusion on her. Almost as if an electrical current went through her whole body she twitched, struggled, and went into a seizure like stutter. Saurian cast a simple noise cancellation with his passive Illusion.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Batgirl screamed, but only Saurian heard her.

Batgirl's costume returned to the traditional black with gray. A combination of leather, kevlar, and hard plastic the uniform was form fitting and revealed her athletic figure. Her skin went from clown white to sickly pale, her eyes lost their focus and she fainted. Saurian pulled her glove off and put one of the rings on. It shinned brilliantly for several minutes before it's glow dimmed. He replaced her glove picked her up and carried her to a 'safe' location out of sight.

================================================================

“Hold him down! I have a ring!” Mera shouted.

Arthur held the Robin-Clown as he flailed and hailed to King Joker over and over again. Kid Flash had Robins legs and tried his best to hold on. Despite his incredible speed he wasn't super strong! Arthur grit his teeth as he had the opposite problem, he could easily snap Robin like a twig. If he held to loose Robin would wiggle free like he had done it before. The little shit was slippery. Then Robin started to scream and convulse, a silver and gold light came from his hand. One of Wraith's rings was on his hand.

“Holy fuck! I am happy he made more of those for all of us.” Arthur said as he set Robin down on the ground after he finished screaming.

“Totally! Now if only I could take one apart. I bet the micro chips inside bust be insanely small!” Wally West said. Arthur and Mera looked at one another.

“Right.... Kid have you seen Flash?” Arthur asked, they glossed over the fact that the ring was clearly magical but Flash and Kid still didn't seem to buy it.

“Ya...Like an hour ago though. He said he was going to run the breath of the city to see how big it was. We got separated when a giant ball of cotton candy tumbled down the road. Then...oh hay!” Wally ran off but only a few hundred feet. Then he returned once....then twice. With Green Arrow and Arsenal.

“You found Robin, find anyone else?” Oliver asked as he assessed the situation.

“No we haven't. Are any of you injured?” Mera asked. Arrow looked at Arsenal who hand several cuts in his leather armor.

“Only a few cuts, I'll be fine.” Roy said, Mera walked over and stood in front of him. Roy shrunk his neck in as the stunningly beautiful red head in a skin tight wet suit peered at him.

“I mean...if its not to much trouble....” Roy mumbled.... Arthur laughed at the one hundred and eighty degree turn.

Mera took a small water canteen from her hip belt and manipulated the water to clean, and heal the wounds. The water glowed blue and floated through the air under the astonished eyes of the group except Arthur who had seen it before. Wally smiled wide as he always found the hydrokinesis of Mera's 'Meta-Gene' ability fascinating. Soon after a few minutes Roy's wounds were cleaned and looked better but were not completely healed.

“We'll have to find Wraith for you to get a complete check up....Speaking of which have either of you?” Mera said to them.

“Not...really.....” Oliver said with an bemused expression.

“What do you mean?” Arthur asked....

The group went through the city as quietly as possible towards what could only be described as a huge battle scene. Oliver and Roy had thought Superman had been there until they saw clear signs of dinosaur foot prints, claw marks, and an impact crater cartoon animation style in the road. They also found a lot of distorted sections of the 'town'. The area's looked like they had been reverted back to what ever they were before.

“Well we know he is alive because of the 'pack bond' ability J'onn told us about. We just can't do the telepathy ability. Unfortunately there is just to much destruction for me to track him.” Oliver said as he gestured to the destroyed environment.

Crrrrrriiieeeeaaaaaaakkkkkk! A sizable crack grew up along the sky and rain from the outside fell into the Carnival city. The group heard Joker scream in panic. Then the crack got bigger and bigger. The group saw something that they had never seen before. All the clowns in the area started to head to north-east.

“Well! Looks like Wraith is having enough fun that even Joker is getting pissed.” Arthur said with a grin.

“How much do you want to bet the clowns are heading the opposite direction Wraith is?” Roy said.

“I would say the odds are good... Kid feel like a bit of recon? Not to far!” Oliver asked.

“Will do! Be back in a bit!” Wally shouted and took off to south-west.

===============================================================

Saurian....Was tired. He dragged his tail across the ground in exhaustion as he carried Batgirl up a wall. Thanks to Gravity Stride the wall was his ground. But they soon came to the top of the building he set her down and rested. He guessed that he had been in control for nearly twenty four hours. He needed to swap out with Lash. He took a deep breath and used Shape Shift.

Lash exhaled slowly, he adjusted his Warden/Daemonic armor with Reduce/Enlarge, recast his Wraith disguise. He activated Transformation and became a were-lizard hybrid. He was seven by fourteen feet, with only a small skull crest. He looked like a tiny version of Saurian...Ah! A Saurus Warrior, just with a few more human like features. He didn't hunch over when he stood up, and was a natural biped unless he used Adaptation to alter his form. His scales were a dark forest green, along with the tribal tattoos that existed no matter the form. Even Saurian had them.

“Ggggggggnnnnnn....” Batgirl groaned next to him.

Lash cast Sooth, Nature's Supplement, Soul Heal, Curse Break, and Panacea on himself and Batgirl. He was a little surprised that Soul Heal activated but with the amount of experience prompts his soul resistance gave him it made sense. Color returned to the lower half of Batgirls pale face. Her breathing became slow and relaxed, she turned on her side and nestled closer to Lash subconsciously. Red and yellow lighting danced in front of him and Kid Flash appeared.

“Aha! You found Batgirl! Wait here I'll get the rest!” Wally disappeared before Lash could respond.

“Right....” Lash's human reptilian voice said softly.

His tail wrapped around Batgirl protectively. A bit of a curse and a blessing as his tail was warm, but the armor both from his gear and his natural hard scales did not make the best pillow for her. He still wrapped around her then one by one in a flash of lighting Wally West deposited everyone on the roof of the building. Lash raised a hand and cast the same set of spells on the group as he did on himself and Batgirl.

“So.... How is everyone liking the Carnival? Good time right?” Lash said softly, but this voice still sounded harsh on the ears.

“A lot better with these on!” Arthur sat down next to him, he gestured towards the ring. Lash then cast Immaculate on the whole group. After the green and blue energy bubbles cleaned everyone they all smiled in thanks.

“Do you think we can keep these?” Mera asked, Lash nodded his head yes. She smiled and sat down next to and leaned up against him so she could rest. A couple of the guys looked confused and looked at Arthur who didn't make any move as if it was normal.

“Nice to see you too, Mera.” Lash said, she let out a hmm noise and kept her eyes closed.

“So, where do you think the clowns are headed too?” Wally asked.

“To the Carnival...The actual Carnival. This whole town is a twisted form of Gotham. So that means in the east district is a twisted carnival. Full of fun houses, games, and prizes. We can assume that if we haven't found the rest of our team they are most likely there.” Lash said...

“You'd be right....Fuck my head is killing me.” Barbara said as she slowly sat up with the assistance of Lash. She leaned against his other shoulder just like Mera.

“Thanks for getting Robin. Batman should be at the Carnival. I saw Superman, Wonder Woman, and Shazam in cages. I don't remember seeing the rest of the group. But the cages were like prize pieces on a ticket collection wall.” Barbara said to them all.

“Batman isn't there we both went out on 'patrol' to apprehend the criminals in town. We got separated... Hello Wraith, long time.” Robin said as he came to.

The group continued to compare notes of what they had seen in the twisted Gotham. Lash was surprised to find out that he was the only one that had been killing the clowns. None of them had seen the clowns pop into in confetti or bleed rainbows when one died. They had seen them turn into common civilians. It wasn't until Lash caught a clown and cast Disillusion on it that they understood. Barbara said she had found several normal people in the carnival grounds. Mera and Lash believed those people had a natural resistance to the warp. Some people are different then others.

Lash used Fabrication, Alteration, and Renew to help restock and repair the group. Lash then realized that he was actually one of the heavy hitters in the group. When did that happen? They climbed down from the rooftop, he cast Disillusion on their temporary base and they moved towards the carnival which didn't take as long as it should have given that Lash kept shortening the distance with every step. The crack above them got larger and larger, even pieces of the 'glass' fell into the twisted city below. They eventually met up with J'onn, Me'ghan, John, and Bruce along the way.

“You look good, I actually saw you smile for a bit when you saw Batgirl, and Robin.” Lash said to Bruce. Bruce looked at him with his legendary mask of indifference.

“I was happy to see everyone was alright. A good time as any to smile.” Bruce replied in a cold tone.

“Yes indeed....” Lash replied with a smile of his own. Anyone who knew anything about the comics knew that Batman only ever gave small grins when something happened. A full open tooth smile? He must be under a spell, joker venom, something!

“So, are we just going to walk towards the carnival in the east district of this twisted city?” Me'ghan asked.

The whole group looked at her then looked back at the ruined and crumbling clown city they left behind. The twisted reality was crumbling now and no amount of paint from the clown construction crew would fix it. Roller coasters that spread from building to building had toppled and fallen over. Ferris wheels and crumbled to ash along with bouncy castles. The cracks in the warped reality continued to spread and even grew past the group. This was place was rotting from the inside now. The giant 'glass' bubble over head was broken in several places with the true Gotham sky out above. The rain continued to fall and it didn't appear to be letting up any time soon.

“Yes, the carnival will be Jokers place of power. I wouldn't be surprised if my ability to tear apart of the city didn't work in there. Then we'll hav....Gaaaaaaeehhh!” Lash said before he was sent flying backwards by a pink, purple, and red blur.

Two clown hawks flew down from the sky, a valiant clown in Amazon gear brought her sword down to attack Green Lantern. A blue and pink polka dot flash ran into the crowd and used his speed punches to brutalize everyone. While Superman used his brawler skills to beat Lash into the ground. Unlike the Grand Arena in Themyscira where Superman held back, this time he did not. Lash's entire skull caved in! His spell/skill Lingering activated! He should have died!

Lash whipped around and slashed out with his claws across Superman's neck! Blood gushed out for a brief moment. The clown of steel stepped back in shock as he held his hands up to his neck. The wound slowly closed up but it took a few seconds. Long enough for Lash to reach into his storage space and pull out a single ingot of pure green kryptonite. It had been twenty four hours since the last time. When Lash hadn't seen the big boy scout flying around the city he assumed the worse and made a single ingot. The 99.9% pure green kryptonite actually melted Superman's skin. Wow! Lash was so surprised he dropped the ingot on the ground rushed over and shoved one of the resist reality warping rings on to Clark. Then shoved the ingot back into his storage space.

Lash collapsed on the ground next to Clark, he wasn't sure why he wasn't reeling in pain. He then cast Nature's Kiss on himself and felt his bones snap back into place and reconnect. He let out a scream as he held his head and rolled around on the ground. Now he was in pain! The sounds of battle continued to rage on around him. He screamed and rolled around on the ground as his bones continued to reconnect.

“Wraith!? Oh god! Wraith fuck your face! I. What...I?” Oliver called to him as he was normally so cool in a crisis couldn't understand how Wraith who had his face caved in and was still alive.

Lash reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a few more rings and forced them into Oliver's hands. He screamed at him to get them to the others and went back to convulsing on the ground. Lash received dozens of prompts about different skills that gained experience from the short battle between him and Clark. On top of the incredible pain of his skull being remade. Then he blacked out....

Lash felt the sooth sensation of a hand on his scaled face. Even in unconscious his Transformation held. He let out a soft groan, reached up and touched his face. It had mended and popped back into alignment while he was blacked out. The one that had stroked his face squeezed his hand. He opened his eyes and saw Diana's face above him. His head was on her lap which couldn't have been comfortable for her. But she still smiled down at him.

“Hello brother...” She said softly.

“Hello sister... Did we win?” Lash asked her.

“The battle was won but the war rages on. We didn't want to leave with out you.” Diana replied.

“Is everyone alive?” Lash asked in return as he tried to sit up. Diana reached out and helped him up.

“Alive yes, but injured. We hoped you could help with that?” Diana replied and showed him the scene.

The rest of the League was present, and severely injured. Except for Zatanna, and Nyx who were still missing, both were spell casters. That had to mean something, Lash assumed so since the giant crack in the sky was slowly being rebuilt. Shit. He a had a feeling they were being used as batteries. Diana looked at the same crack he did and turned to him. They shared a brief message with their eyes, she assumed the same as him. Lash chuckled lightly at her.

“What?” Diana asked a little smile on her face.

“I understood a woman eye communication. Lizzy would be so proud of me!” Lash said to her. Diana gave him a brilliant smile and laughed as well.

“We'll have to tell her when we leave.” Diana said and brought him back to the present.

Lash cast Nature's Kiss on the whole group, along with Sooth, Nature's Supplement, Restoration, Curse Break, Regrowth, Soul Heal, Immaculate, and Panacea. Then used Fabrication, Renew, and Alteration to re equip the whole team. Lash was a walking supply depot. Everyone looked mostly recovered, cleaned, and supplied.

“What did you all do when I wasn't here?” Lash asked, honestly curious about the answer.

“This is the longest operation we've ever been in. Also this is our first united League mission. So what we did was finish it before it got bad. Then we would go home and heal on our own time. Question though, can make any more like these rings to do any of what you just did?” John the Green Lantern said.

“Yes.... Takes time to...Oh I am so fucking stupid!” Lash belittled himself. Everyone looked at him in surprise. Then understood...Lash took out Orichalcum items he had made for the League. He had completely forgotten about them!

Everyone got a similar item to what Diana had gotten on Themyscira. A few specifics for specific people. J'onn, and Me'ghan got a fire and heat resistance by 20%, along with a physiology adaptation. Oliver, Roy, Barbara, Richard, and Bruce got a Cat's Grace spell on the item. Clark got a Daylight enchantment on his. All the pieces were either rings, bracelets, or necklaces. Since Lash had done it in front of Diana he had assumed the 50/50 romance option would go down...It did not! 60/40 romance being the former. Diana liked that he had made items for everyone.

“So..... This can not only bring us back from the brink of death? But can restore life to some one else as long as their bodies are intact and its with in twenty minutes?” Barry asked as he looked at his lighting ring that had a Compression Transformation on it. It could fit his suit in it just like his normal ring.

“Yes, with a six month recharge rate. I am sorry everyone. I had wanted to give them all to you one by one. Or at some sort of meet and greet. It was...Important to me. So I just forgot about it! Like I said. I am fucking stupid!” Lash shoulders drooped. The sight of a reptilian Wraith creature drooping his shoulders was comical.

“Wraith....These are worth a fortune! I understand why you wanted to make it a special occasion. At least you remembered before we went into the carnival” Mera said delighted as the necklace she had was a combination of Atlantis and Xebel family crests combined. A wedding present!

“When you say a fortune...Like how much are we talking about here?” Wally asked, he also had a lighting ring on.

“That ring alone could be the entire STAR labs in Central City, Starling City, and Gotham. Just that ring.” Bruce said in a clear voice. He had slipped his necklace on under his uniform. After his confirmation everyone looked at theirs.

“Are you sure we should have these on?” Me'ghan said nervously...Though she made no move to take her necklace off.

“Despite their extreme value, yes please wear them! But try to not loose them. They were hard to make...” Lash said....He felt kinda bad cause he could actually make better ones now with a combination of Nth meta. That could come later!

“Wraith....I” Clark had kept quiet the whole time. He when Lash had given him the house of El necklace.

“Its ok boy scout. I'm not dead! So how about we call it even since I gave your future wife jewelry as well.” Lash replied with a laugh.

“Wait! Does her necklace..” Clark was about to ask before Lash burst into laughter and shook his head.

“No...No. I like your girl. But I don't think she gets in that much....hmmmm. Maybe I should make her one.” Lash stopped to think, as Clark laughed at the thought of Lois getting in trouble.

“Alright! I hate to say it but we are still missing two people. If everyone is recovered lets move.” Bruce said. Everyone agreed and started to move towards the Carnival.

The League moved towards the Carnival with all due haste after they had recovered, received late gifts, and smoothed out a bit of tension. Just as it was located in real Gotham the Carnival was in the same place. A towering green hedge that traveled all the way to the sky blocked all sight or fly overs. They had to go through the front gate which had a ticket booth. A clown operated the booth and smiled wide as the group walked up. Lash walked up and tried to use Disillusion on it. A massive crack appeared but the booth didn't disappear.

“Great....” Lash growled at the clown.

“Hello! Hello! Welcome to Joker's Carnival! You.... You Mr. Wraith have been a very naughty criminal in our kings land. You are not allowed to enter!” The clown said with a laugh. Sure enough a barrier prevented Lash from going in. While the rest stepped through with out issue.

“Go! Find our people and end this. I'll keep looking for a way in.” Lash handed a few newly created rings to several people in case they all got separated again. One by one they entered after they said good bye to Lash.

“So.... Joker? Where did you get your powers from?” Lash asked the ticket counter clown. The clown looked at him for a bit before his smile wilted and he stared daggers at Lash.

“I thought she was as crazy as me when I first saw her. But no... She changed from a little girl to a full grown woman! Had fangs, and drank blood! Surprise! Surprise! Vampires are real! Who had thought! Not me! I thought the craziest thing in the world was a man in a Bat costume!” The clown in the ticket counter said. His overall appearance didn't change but his voice did. Puppeteer spell.

“Then she told me about you! About how she had planned it all! Brought the whole city to its knees only to kill you! I don't know what you did to that woman but damn! Her rage was intoxicating! She offered me a little stone idol of some god. Then BAM! I could twist reality and make it in my image! Magic powers! Combined with my stunning intellect! Can you imagine!” The clown laughed and laughed for nearly ten minutes.

“Ya....Your reality is as flimsy as a house of cards. Tell me, Joker. What's the Vampires name?” Lash said... The ticket clown stopped laughing and stared daggers at Lash again.

“She called herself, Valenthia of house Sex'Ilia.” The Joker puppet said.

“Thank you, Mr. Napier!” Lash said loudly at him. Foresight activated for a brief moment. The Joker puppet lost all emotion and his face went stone cold.

“What did you just call me?” A crack went straight up the puppets face as the Trickery Domain nearly tore the puppet apart.

“Jack Napier... Husband to Jeannie Napier. Father to Edward Napier.” Lash said as he tilted his head to the side. A sinister grin went up his reptilian face.

“Th...That isn't my name!....I....That isn't my name! Ho...The FUCK DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME!?” The puppet cracked in half in a flash of blinding purple light. The ticked booth fell to pieces with out the ticket clown in it.

“Got you!” Lash said as he raced through the gate into the carnival.

==============================================================

The carnival was oddly peaceful? Me'ghan had never been to an Earth carnival and had hoped to go to an actual one. Maybe one day with some earth friends. She stayed closed to her Uncle J'onn as she played with her golden necklace Wraith had given her. The carnival was filled to the brim with normal people! At a carnival! However all the people had huge joker grins on their faces and their skin slowly turned clown white. More then once Me'ghan had seen several people laugh themselves to death. These people were turning into zombies like the ones they had fought outside.

“Here Me'ghan try and throw the rings onto the bottles.” J'onn said to her.

“Do we get tickets if we win?” Me'ghan asked. J'onn nodded.

They needed tickets to rescue Zatanna and Nyx from the ticket prize wall. Superman had tried to break the barrier but couldn't. No one could snap the magical barrier, not even Shazam. If Wraith was able to get in then maybe they could. So they had to play the games to win their team back. They hadn't been going for long before an earthquake shook the whole carnival. All of the people fell to the ground, but the clowns all screamed in agony as many of them burst into purple light. The ground split apart! The energy barriers separating the ticket prize wall fell. Superman and Flash zipped over in a few seconds and pulled Zatanna and Nyx down.

“Uncle! What's going on!?” Me'ghan shouted then they saw Wraith on all fours sprint through the carnival towards Joker's castle.

===============================================================

Lash used Adaptation to alter himself so he could run faster on all fours. He sprinted through the gate into the carnival grounds. He ran past the guards, the clowns, and the spell bound civilians who all tried to reach out to stop him. Along the way he shattered and broke the illusion with every step he took. The whole carnival was falling apart and the energy barrier that stood before the gates to the Joker castle fell.

Lash jumped and threw himself through the giant wooden drawbridge with Gravity Stride to increase his overall weight. He shattered the bridge and went through the gate. He hit the ground and rolled to off set the weight. He ran through the castle as clowns in armor raced over with swords and spears. He raced through the castle as fast as possible, he knew where Jack was. He had caught his scent when he blew the ticket clown up. His claws dug into the ground to propel himself faster and faster up to the tallest portion of the castle. Not the throne room! Not the kings bedroom though he did pass those along the way. He slid to a stop at the massive door that stood in front of him. He stood up on his two feet. His bones and muscles tore and reset back to his default up right position. There in front of the door was a familiar all be it clown white face.

“Hello Doctor Quinzel...Been while.” Lash said.

Harleen Frances Quinzel, or Harley Quinn stood at 5'7” with rich blond hair, and blue eyes. She wore a skin tight harlequin red and black dress. The dress had a slit up her left leg to her hip, it was sleeveless, with a turtle neck collar, an diamond shape opening to reveal her cleavage. Dress looked amazing on her, but her tears streaked her mascara down her cheeks. -->>

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