Dabbler came to slowly, with the half-smashed, half-sick feeling of having been on one hell of a bender. The explosion seemed to have affected her vision, leaving her unable to perceive color. She raised her head with a groan to look around. Bodies were scattered right and left. There was a vast black area where the mana collector had overloaded. And the trees all looked ... bigger.
Nearby, another woman groaned -- D.J. "What happened?" she asked painfully.
Dabbler opened her mouth to reply and then shut it again. On one level, it was obvious what had happened. On another, she had no idea. Continuing to scan the area, she saw the shriveled husks that had been Green Arrow and Arsenal, the charred shafts still projecting obscenely from their behinds. They looked more like mummies than living beings, yet, amazingly, were still breathing.
Everyone else seemed ... healthy. Really healthy. The women, including herself and D.J., all had bigger breasts and more buxom forms. The men were really packing.
And those like Robin were both more buxom and really packing.
Gradually, Dabbler located each of her companions. Each, that is, but Mort. The little Morpher was nowhere to be found.
Others were stirring now, including Robin and Wonder Woman, who looked inclined to continue their argument. "I told you no good could come of this," the Amazing Amazon complained, awkwardly attempting to stand beneath the unaccustomed weight of her now gargantuan mammaries.
"Who says?" asked JigSaw, grinning unabashedly at her enhanced attributes.
"Zip it, Super," Robin snapped at Diana. "We did what we had to. I only wish we'd been able to do it in time to save my fallen comrades. But not even mana can resurrect the dead."
Dabbler and D.J. exchanged glances, each aware that mana could actually do just that, in the hands of a fully empowered Author who knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, no Author present matched that description.
Diana was just warming up. "But to stoop to the level of--"
"I said zip it! Your buddies aren't dead, though I bet they wish they were. Credit us with a little decency. We've got no problems with a clean kill, but whatever you care to believe there are levels to which we won't stoop. Which is a helluva lot more than you can say for your supposed friends!"
Diana looked away. It was hard to deny that what her fellows had suffered bore a powerful odor of poetic justice.
Robin folded her arms across her overly-ample chest. "All we did was liberate what they stole from us, so I don't want to hear any complaints. You've benefited as much as any of us -- as have your traveling companions, and even the trees. Not much anyone can do to control a collector overload."
"Robin," said Sindy suddenly. "Where's Mort?"
The outlaw sighed, not without sympathy. "He was at the epicenter, Sindy," she said. "In saving the rest of us, he took the brunt of the explosion. The sudden release of mana must have torn him apart."
"Oh no! Oh nooo!"
Or not, corrected a voice that was not a voice.
It came from above. Everyone looked up.
A pulsing ball of energy floated serenely over the spot where the mana collector had gone blooey.
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Sat Jun 26 00:16:26 2004
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