Justice League Dark Page #3

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Ritchie!

Get back, you bastards!

John, help Ritchie.

Take that! Boom!

No pulse.

We know! We know! Come on!

Why?

I see you have

a few tricks of your own, eh?

Not everything requires magic.

Make sure he sees that

right when he wakes up.

If he wakes.

We need to talk, you and I,

but if you try

and summon Etrigan,

I'll fill your lungs with bile

before the first verse is done.

Savvy?

The situation

was not how it seemed.

The apartment was like that when I arrived.

Richard as well.

Come on!

You were all over him.

I was attempting to help.

When you burst in, I knew

I'd get blamed, so I ran.

Do you believe him?

Jason's not the murdery type.

He's chock full of honor, loyalty,

and rubbish of that sort.

Then tell us why you were there.

Richard is known as a collector

of the arcane and supernatural.

I wanted to see if he had something that

could gain me access to this place.

Why would you

wanna break in here?

For this.

The single most powerful conduit of

evil in the history of the world.

He named it the dreamstone,

but it's really

the stuff of nightmares.

I was a young knight,

green as grass.

With visions of battle-won

glory dancing in my head.

Needless to say, these

were dispelled thoroughly.

He called himself destiny,

but Merlin told us he was a

man of science one time,

before he went insane.

Destiny forged the dreamstone

with black magic and his soul.

He used it to subject people to

their most terrifying nightmares

and then feed off their torment.

It was actually the demon

Etrigan who won the day.

To battle, Etrigan.

Should you succeed, I will

release you of your bond to me.

If freedom is what's up

for trade,

then destiny's

as good as slayed.

You haven't won, Merlin.

This isn't over.

I swear it.

Release me, Merlin,

from your care.

My duty's done.

'Tis only fair.

I'm afraid that's not

possible, friend demon.

I apologize to both you

and Jason blood,

but your future portends

a shared destiny.

Caught now,

imprisoned in the form of man,

I fix the demon, Etrigan.

It was also the beginning

of my eternal life sentence

with Etrigan.

I didn't think

you'd give it up willingly,

and though this piece is useless

without the other half,

it's far from powerless.

Safe enough where it is.

Displayed like a tourist

trinket in a Karachi bazaar?

Neat, isn't it?

The house keeps

my valuables out of phase,

so they don't go wondering off.

But, still, the timing of the stone's

appearance and its power indicates

that it's somehow involved

with these crimes.

Which is why it stays here,

where only I can get to it.

I think me, them, and everyone else who knows

you might want it to be somewhere else.

Your friend is awake.

Ritchie, who was it?

Who did this to you?

Faust.

Felix Faust. You sure?

Mmm-hmm.

There you are, you old bastard.

I give you wizard and a**hole

extraordinaire, Felix Faust.

Hell, I should have

put it together.

Conjuring a whirlwind

is just his style.

The league had

a run-in with Faust,

but his location

isn't in our database.

Yeah, well, wizards don't make a habit of

signing up for credit cards or social media.

His grandly named observatory

of the cosmos is hidden

from the likes of you

and superman, but not from me.

Felix Faust.

What's happening?

If this were a computer,

I'd say it's frozen.

Cheers.

Felix Faust would take precautions

against locator spells.

There's another way,

but it involves asking a favor of someone

that I don't have the best relationship with.

Someone else dislikes you?

Shocking.

Your friend slips

from the mortal plane.

John...

Keep him alive and safe.

Understand?

That is not my purpose.

I don't give a flying shag what

you think your bloody purpose is.

I order you to help him

any and every way you're able.

Let's go.

All right, I'll ask.

Why are we in the middle

of a godforsaken swamp?

It's a favorite hidey hole

of one Alec Holland,

whose corpse was taken to be the

most recent avatar of the green.

Bet you won't find that

on your bloody cell phone.

Our data's more factual.

Alec Holland was murdered by terrorists.

His body was never recovered.

End of story.

Not quite.

Go away!

Swamp thing!

I know you're seeing this. Get

out here, or the posies get it!

John Constantine.

You dare threaten the green.

Dude, your social skills

are horrendous.

Please, we aren't here to harm any

plants, but our need is urgent.

Don't let your feelings for John

stop you from doing what's right.

You have a garden.

Yes, I find it relaxing,

and I water it every week.

We need to find a man,

a wizard named Felix Faust.

A single human

among your teeming masses.

I only know John Constantine

because he enrages me.

Faust lives in an observatory

which is invisible.

It's a place where dark magic

would infect the earth below it.

I will take you there

so you are no longer here.

The place you seek is there.

That place is heavily warded.

Mmm.

I know we've had our differences,

but we could really use your help.

If we don't get a handle on this rotter,

he'll threaten all of humanity.

What of it?

You were once human,

just like me.

No longer.

Perhaps his actions

are a kind of justice,

for who destroys more of

the green than your kind?

And swamp thing

has left the building.

Guess we do it the hard way.

Or not. Gone, gone,

the form of man.

Arise the demon Etrigan!

What...

Who dares?

I, Etrigan,

bring down this house

and build a tomb

for Felix Faust!

As if I would stoop

to brawling with a demon.

Fight others

of your filthy kind.

From hell though we may be,

it does not make us family!

Do you like what I've done

with the place?

No woman can speak

in my sanctum sanctorum.

I conjured it just for you and,

of course, men everywhere.

As a fellow showman, this is

no way to treat your guests.

Now, settle down!

Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting

yourself. Stop hitting yourself.

Not everything can be solved

with your peashooter.

Just because you're dead doesn't

mean you're beyond my retribution.

Is that it?

Well, it's off to the old magicians home

for you, mate. Pudding night is Thursday.

Try that fireball once more, Constantine.

I'd love to see you cook your own goose.

Let me...

I take it back.

That thing is useful.

Zatanna, where are you, darling?

I know you can't speak,

but give me a wave.

You're the only one here

that's really a threat.

There you are.

This will sting a bit.

Stored magic? Really? It's the TV

dinner of spell casting, dear.

Here's what real magic

looks like.

Z!

Z, are you daft? Stop!

I will kill you, woman!

Z, don't!

Don't kill him. You can't.

Out of my way, John.

If no blood is spilled,

your soul is in the clear.

Get control, Z,

just like I taught you.

Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy.

Deep breaths.

Let it go, love.

Do you see why

I can't do what you do?

You lost control is all.

Happens to the best of us.

You've seen me in action, right?

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