"Leaves turn yellow."
"The sky is gray-blue."
"I take a walk on a winter's day."
"If I stayed in Los Angeles, I would dream of California."
California Dreamin' by The Mamas & the Papas played on the car radio as Adrian drove down the road, winter sun low in the sky. A strange peace followed him — even though the world seemed off.
Cars were parked neatly on both sides of the road. After Brainwave's psychic takeover, most drivers had dimly guided their vehicles to the roadside, preventing collisions. With no traffic ahead, Adrian could drive straight to his destination without slowing.
Meanwhile, in Metropolis, the show went on — or so it seemed.
At the Grand Theater, Zatanna Zatara performed before a packed crowd. Dressed in a classic magician's outfit — top hat, tails, and confident smile — she waved her wand over an empty hat. A lively rabbit hopped out, earning applause. Then, with a flourish, she flipped the hat and sent ribbons descending like colorful confetti.
The audience cheered wildly, captivated by the spectacle. Though many saw her as a stage magician, Zatanna's magic was no illusion — she could manipulate reality with spoken incantations, often delivered backward as part of her spellcasting heritage from her father John Zatara
She bowed in thanks just as the applause derailed into eerie silence. In mere seconds, the audience stopped cheering and froze mid-gesture, their faces vacant and eyes blank.
Children next to their parents twisted uneasily, tugging at their motionless parents' sleeves, confused by their bizarre stares. Zatanna swallowed hard, reaching for a flying pigeon inside her hat for the next trick. But when she pulled it out, its eyes and mouth were bleeding and it was dead in her hand.
Her heart sank as silence pressed in around her.
The adults, once joyful, now sat motionless like wooden mannequins, eyes hollow and lifeless.
Zatanna's breath caught. This was wrong. Something invisible pulsed through the theater, a force that burrowed into minds. She had faced many dangers in her mystical career, but this felt different — like reality itself was being manipulated.
She approached an audience member and silently uttered a backward incantation, channeling magic through her wand to probe the man's consciousness. Immediately, dark, slimy tendrils erupted from inside his head like living shadows. Zatanna recoiled as the mass writhed out, and in one horrifying instant, the man's skull burst under its force and his body was crushed beneath the monster it summoned.
"This was not part of the act!" Zatanna gasped, drawing her wand defensively as magic crackled at its tip.
She recalled her father's warning about the danger of magic — that without discipline and full focus, even powerful spells could unleash terror
With a shout, she unleashed a beam of mystical energy from her wand, severing one writhing tentacle. But another struck her arm, knocking the wand aside and sending her stumbling.
Suddenly, a shimmering longsword slashed through the creature's grasp, cutting loose another relentless tentacle.
Wonder Woman appeared on stage, shield raised, sword gleaming, and with precision she cut back the mass of wriggling limbs, pushing the creature into retreat.
"Zatanna Zatara?" Wonder Woman asked sternly as she repelled another flailing appendage.
"I am," Zatanna panted, brushing off debris.
"This was your magic show?" Wonder Woman asked with a raised eyebrow, voice tinged with disbelief before shifting to a reprimand. "That trick nearly killed everyone here."
Zatanna's eyes narrowed, shaken but resolute: "Magic can be unpredictable. I didn't expect this — that probing spell revealed something dark in their minds."
At that second, Supergirl arrived to assist, her Heat Vision cutting through remaining tentacles with controlled precision — the beams slicing through reach like a hot blade through silk.
Then Green Lantern appeared overhead, his power ring forming a glowing green sphere that encapsulated the writhing creature and lifted it upward at high speed.
Boom! The creature, encased in the glowing form, burst through the theater ceiling and exploded against the night sky in a thunderous roar.
Descending with a proud flourish, Green Lantern declared: "So in the end, it was Green Lantern who solved the problem."
Zatanna, still catching her breath, stared in astonishment at the heroes gathered around her.
"Who are you?" she asked, wide-eyed.
"Friends you haven't met yet," Wonder Woman replied with a wry tone.
Wonder Woman gestured toward the still unconscious audience.
"You nearly killed this crowd with that backwards spell," she said pointedly.
"This was unexpected," Zatanna replied, a mix of shock and contemplation in her voice. "I used backward casting to probe the entity's mind, and it … rebounded. That backlash created something tied to what I glimpsed in its consciousness. Magic — it's dangerous."
Her eyes drifted to a collapsed spectator in the front row, tragic in his silent end.
Then Wonder Woman asked, her voice low: "Do you know Clark Kent?"
Zatanna blinked, pausing before her lips formed a quiet response.