Wits and Magic

When the powerhouses and heavy hitters of League surrounded John, he quickly took a 360-degree spin on his heel as Magicman chanted, "Od ton evom od ton dnuora kool od ton kaeps."

Suddenly all of John's outer movement ceased, he found himself unable to shut his hanging jaw, even blink or move his eyes around, but thankfully he was still allowed to breathe.

'Think, John and think fast.' John thought and divided his mind in two and his thoughts accelerated to it's limit. The scene he just saw froze in time like some had hit the pause button on reality and John withdrew deeper in his mind, away from the rest of his body. He couldn't move with his body in reality, but here his mental image of himself could move freely without restriction.

A second him, like a duplicate of himself appeared in front of him and said, "You got yourself stuck in quite the situation, mate."

While in reality, John stood silently stood looking at the scene unfolding before him and no duplicate appeared in front of him, but in his mind he was moving, gesturing and conversing.

"Didn't think everyone will show up. With two or three Leaguers? Sure I can escape with three, maybe with four around, but everyone with here and I mean everyone. How?" John asked himself.

"Didn't think all of them would show up? That chances of that happening seemed to be of low probability," the other John said, "but it seems today is the day low probabilities. But that's what a gamble is all about. When a formidable enemy is on the verge of having a winning hand despite the low probability, how do you win?"

"I try to make it so I can extend the game's end further, I lose the battle to win the war," John answered. "So I don't really have a chance to escape, do I?"

"Not at this round, no, so what about the next round? How do we win that?" the other John said, then he tapped his thin and went into deep thinking. "Data. I need more data to judge that."

John nodded and divided his mind in three. Then another duplicate appeared this time in the centre and turned his head from one superhero to another. Starting with the simplest one, Green Arrow. The third John disappeared and reappeared in front of Green Arrow. He moved his eyes up and down, scanning every bit of him.

"Oliver Queen," the third John said deducing the superhero's identity. "His size, his stature, the blonde hair and the beard all match. Yeah, it's him."

"Dinah Laurel Lance, currently a full-time Superhero."

He looked at a shorter blonde-haired superhero named Black Canary next to him. She was standing close to him, their shoulders and hand in contact with each other, a sign of closeness and affection. Green Arrow shrugged, looking bored and Black Canary threw him a serious look for this, silently telling him to take this situation as seriously as her and all that was frozen in time for John to see.

"Expert combatant and possess sonic attacks," second John said. "A series of spells of noise cancellation and reversal would suffice to take her down if we were to engage in combat."

"Alright, they look close, don't know romantically or not," third John said studying their body language and facial expressions, "just close enough that they might as well be."

He swung his hand behind his back and pointed to Captain Marvel. "The uncanny similarity of looks between the host of the Living Lighting and Superman suggests that he is using a transformation spell to look like him. His behaviour suggests that he is a normal child or at least a man-child in his true form. Earlier research raises the possibility that he behaves like this for the sake of deception, but no, now upon close inspection of how clumsily he holds himself, I say the former hypothesis to be the truth."

It needed no discussion. Both Johns that if the child hypothesis wasn't correct, they didn't stand a chance against someone borrowing powers from six divine entities, at least not without a divine intervention of their own. So they moved on.

"Kryptonian," second John said. "Highly advanced alien race. Noted to be vulnerable to a substance known as kryptonite and even mystical forces. But this one has some peculiarities..."

Third John turned on his heel and looked at Superman. "Superman is likely the reporter Clark Kent. His whole secret identity depends on the psychological phenomenon known as perpetual segregation and identity integration. Takes one to start suspecting with determination to uncover the truth, but most don't so it is a rather effective way to handle your secret identity by hiding in plain sight. Judging by his fellow Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane's social media posts, and romantic status, he just came here after meeting her."

Second John pointed out, "How can you say that?"

"That fresh lipstick smudge on his neck," third John said pointing to a red smudge on Superman's neck which was almost covered by the neckline of his costume.

Next, his gaze shifted to the Cyborg Superhero Red Tornado. The robotic appearance, the glowing blue eyes, and a metallic body which was mostly red so as the name, with yellow and blue stripes along with a cape of the same colour.

"Android," second John said. "Possesses wind manipulation and advanced AI. Vulnerable to electromagnetic interference."

"Recently been fight with a lighting user," third John and jabbed his finger back and forth, pointing at little scorch marks on Red Torando's body. "Will be needing repair as soon as possible."

He moved on to the others and slowly observed everyone and deduced something by gathering, comparing, and analysing all the information he had gathered before and what he gathered now.

"Captain Atom," third John observed the superhero in a seemingly skin-tight yet metallic suit which even gently covered each hair strand on his full head, only glowing eyes. "Can manipulate atomic energy through his connection to the quantum field. Suspected Weakness: Need to frequently repair his metal armour, if not his living energy will dissipate along with himself. Confirmed weakness: Energy absorption and armour damage."

He had already deduced that Captain Atom's real identity was of late Nathaniel Adam, but he did before coming to the US just using publicly available information.

Third John took a look at Captain Atom's side, there were bumps and straight lines like nerves spreading through towards his back.

Third John remarked, "Has absorbed too much energy recently, would also need to get that suit repaired soon."

Hawkman and Hawkwoman followed, both with wings and enhanced strength. "Thanagarians," second John concluded. "Ancient alien species with winged flight, reincarnation powers and advanced weaponry. Vulnerable to Nth metal negation."

Hawkman and Hawkwoman were harder. The Nth mental equipment they wore made an invisible barrier that didn't let signs of what were they doing before remain on them and they didn't seem to have any sort of dual identities, at least they didn't have it anymore. They also didn't have any particular pattern to their work and remained rather stoic.

"I'll just think of something and gamble on it." second John sighed and moved on.

"Green Lantern Corps," second John noted. "Power ring fueled by willpower. Vulnerable to fear-based attacks and energy depletion."

"I believe I already have enough on the lanterns," third John said.

Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, his identity was deduced the same way Captain Atom's was and along with the other lanterns. The fact that he was here indicated that one of John's hypotheses about them may actually be correct. It was based on the frequency of Green Lantern sighting on Earth, currently, it was known that there were three different Green Lanterns on Earth but only two were seen on the same day. So that meant only two of the three lanterns stayed on earth at the same time and only two of the three were Justice League members. They seemed to use a 2-2-3 rotations cycle according to John's current hypothesis, John Stewart was off earth on Monday and Tuesday, Hal Jordan on Wednesday and Thursday, then Guy Gardner for the rest of the week. Then they switch where Hal Jordan was off Earth for two days starting on Monday, Guy Gardner gets the next two days, then Hal Jordan gets the remaining three days of the week. Then they repeat the process by switching again.

"He will be switching tomorrow then."

The next was the green Martian superhero, Martian Manhunter, who had shown to be able to match other heavy hitters of his team but primarily relied on his psychic powers.

"I can take that," second John said. 'Resisting psychic attacks has never been a problem in a long time. '

Aquaman needed no deduction. Information about available about him in vast amounts both in both magical and non-magic circles, enough to make a full psychological profile of him.

"A bit risky, we'll need some luck with this factor," third John said and moved on.

Finally, he focused on Wonder Woman, the Amazonian warrior princess.

"Possess some amount of divinity, making her resistant to simple magic," second John said. "Superhuman strength, agility, and weaponry. Vulnerable to piercing weapons. Hard to deal with, but doable under the right circumstances."

Then lastly the third John moved on to Batman. This one was not easy, his cowl was designed like that could match his exposed mouth to quite a lot of phenotypes. His suit seemed designed to disguise the exact proportions of his height, limbs and even muscles seemed strangely swollen with pads inside the armouring. An overall, subtle but effective way of disgusting yourself.

There were also no signs on his equipment for much analysis, except the fact there should have been signs considering none of the equipment is indestructible. That meant Batman knew what signs an observant person would look for deduction and erased them. But like the rest, John was certain that he was associated with Gothan Billionaire Bruce Wayne.

Third John said, "And I am already familiar with Magicman or the Great Giovanni Zatara."

"He is going to be a pain, but at least he wouldn't try anything harsh with his ethical cape group around," Second John said. "Alright, we are done now with this image. You can relax now."

So John did and came back to his senses and brought the other two John along with him like hallucinations. He came back to the moment had left and time flowed normally as if he had hit resume right after hitting pause.

Batman threw a glare at Magicman.

"What?" Magicman asked in defiance and pointed at John who remained still like a statue. "He was going to do something."

Project Kr who stood just next to John glared at Magicman, like he was just on the verge of attacking him but Robin suddenly stepped in.

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa... calm down," he said, "this all just a misunderstanding."

He then carried Tim's unconscious body up and said, "He is a civilian and he will need some medical help."

Robin took a glance over his shoulder at Project Kr and sighed in relief to see his aggression halted.

Batman stepped forward while everyone else stared at Project Kr and said, "Captain Marvel, please make sure the civilian receives immediate medical care."

"Got it," Captain Marvel said and floated his way to Robin. He then carefully picked Tim up into his arm from that Robin's and flew away from the rest of the group towards the hospital.

Second John observed his mannerisms and said, "I'll raise the bet on my theory of the host of living lighting being a normal child."

Batman didn't watch Captain Marvel fly over and leave as he said to Robin, "Talk now."

John watching this divided his mind into four and another him appeared between Robin and Batman. This one came with a quite comfortable-looking chair and a cup of tea.

Robin swallowed hard before he started explaining, "Here is a brief report, It went like this..."

So Robin explained the events in brief detail as the rest of the league exchanged words in whispers, it got even a bit loud when it was revealed that Project Kr was Superman's clone, but Project Kr paid no attention to them and just stared at the baffled expression of the Superhero he was cloned from.

Fourth John quietly sipped on the cup of tea and observed all this before giving his evaluation of Robin. "His mind is burdened with conflict, he seeks freedom to find his own path of heroism, yet also seeks approval from a father figure who walks on a different one."

"So you didn't follow any protocol. You better expect a full report on your performance later," Batman said sternly.

Robin didn't say anything against it, but Kid Flash spoke up saying, "How should we suppose to know it's going to be that dangerous? Besides we saved a civilian that was trapped there."

"Actually, it all happened mostly due to serendipity. Really makes a case for fundamental attribution error," fourth John said, and then noted about Kid Flash. "This one has a penchant for heroism and linear thinking."

Batman shot him another one of his glares and Kid Flash stopped speaking. He looked around at his fellow League members and started issuing orders.

"Green Lantern secure the reported underground facility. Captain Atom, please inform the intelligence agencies about this incident. Magicman and Superman, escort the witness to the Hall of Justice. Rest will stay to assess the situation."

"I sense a strong presence of many telepathically attuned minds," Martian Manhunter remarked looking at the fallen building.

"Then we have a lot of ground to cover."

Fourth John finished his tea and said, "I think our work is done for now. What do say, detective?"

Third John didn't say anything and second John responded with, "I believe we have all the important factors."

With that all three imaginal Johns disappeared leaving the real John alone in that still state, but with one undivided mind. In the same frozen state, he was brought to the Hall of Justice, stripped him off his jacket which had his lighter, cigarette packet because it was deemed a magical item by the Magicman, and even his mundane black marker which he always kept on himself, his still recovering inner magic was unable to function due to being locked in Anti-Magic cuffs and then he was placed into the interrogation room. He was read his rights, which as magus deferred from that of a common citizen due to having a different governing body.

Surprisingly enough for the League, he didn't many any demands, offer to comply with their investigation and even asked for Batman to take his statement. Black Canary disagreed, she often was at odds with Batman with the subject being his harsh treatment of children, but after hours of trying to build a rapport with John in the friendliest way possible, she started to feel that she might have regretted that decision.

She sat across from John, at a large white table with a basket of French fries and a can of energy drink on it between them. John occasionally took a bite and sip from them as Back Canary frustratingly asked.

Black Canary sighed and steeled herself to try for what seemed like the hundredth time.

She asked, "So, how did you become a magus?"

John looked at her for a few moments without showing any hint of emotions other than boredom.

Then he said nonchalantly, "Many of the tests I had to go through included running long miles without any rest, you know... similar to the Flash but without any powers of my own. It is just extremely difficult to even talk about it just because of the horrid memories. Putting it all into perspective there were certain days where I wasn't allowed to drink-"

He took a sip of the energy drink.

"-wasn't allowed to eat."

He took a bite from the fries.

"- and now I am a black belt in Walmart. I am really proud of myself for that."

John answered without answering, deflecting the question and adding more fire to Black Canary's urge of slapping him across his face.

Then John asked a question of his own for seemingly the hundredth time. "Can you get Batman to do all this now? This is getting a bit frustrating."

For once Black Canary agreed, she brought out her League designated phone and there was a message from Batman which read: I will be out of reach for a while.

Black Canary turned to John and sighed, "Well, unlucky for us Batman is out of reach so you make do with me."

John gave a plain emotionless expression which didn't give away anything and a silence crept in. That silence was coming and going with Black Canary's questions and John's non-answers. It wouldn't leave until Black Canary's question but strangely this time it was John who broke the silence.

John said, "Nietzsche said that 'Time is a flat circle'."

Black Canary eyed him and asked, "What was that?"

John took the last sip of energy drink and replied, "You earlier asked what magic means as an art, the heart of the answer to that question lies in that quote. I expected Giovanni to tell his teammates something more comprehensible about magic, but it seems he is as stuck up as ever."

Black Canary was taken aback by this. This was the first thing she heard John say that wasn't a deflection.

"Elaborate on that," she said trying again to properly communicate.

And John strangely responded with a more comprehensive answer. "To understand what magic is, you need to understand the nature of the multiverse we inhabit. You know the multiverse is real right?"

John didn't wait for her response and continued.

"There is a hypothesis that our external physical reality is a mathematical structure. That is, the physical universe is not merely described by mathematics, but is mathematics - specifically, a mathematical structure. Mathematical existence equals physical existence, and all structures that exist mathematically exist physically as well. Observers, including humans, are self-aware substructures. In any mathematical structure complex enough to contain such substructures, they will subjectively perceive themselves as existing in a physically 'real' world. Unfortunately, our perception is bounded by our dimensionality. So does something exist beyond our dimensionality?"

John picked up the can of energy and placed it between his palms.

"It's like this... humans normally perceive time linearly - forward. But outside of spatial and temporal dimensionality, not even beyond dimensionality - even from a higher dimensional perspective, time wouldn't exist, and from that vantage could we attain it-"

He proceeded to press the empty can between his palm with some effort and flattened it.

"We see that our space-time would look flattened. Like a single sculpture, like matter in a superposition of every space it ever occupied, our sentience cycling throughout our lives like carts on a track. See, everything outside dimensionality - That's eternity. Eternity looking down on us, now to us, to use this is a sphere-"

He held the flattened piece of metal he made of the can.

"- To them, it is a flat circle."

He placed the flat metal down and looked at Black Canary.

"Now, there is something that interacts with the world and that something is more flexible. A variable whose value one could change consciously or subconsciously thus changing the structure. This variable is our soul which takes its root from the God realm which is beyond all possible dimensionality and that's the basics of how magic works. By changing the mathematical structures and shifting emanations of ideas."

Black Canary took a moment to process as John chuckled, "Now, that's just the barebon-"

*Cough*

His next line was interrupted by a sudden cough, followed by another and then another. John with a pain-filled expression suddenly fell into a coughing fit, each cough harder than the last and then he started coughing blood onto the table.

"John!"

Black Canary's face turned pale with terror and John looked up at her with great effort. She got up from her seat and quickly moved to check on him.

"Call Robin and Kid Flash...* Cough* they know... they saw it," He croaked before he collapsed on the table.

*Cough*

Black helped up sit upright and said, "Just keep breathing."

Black Canary nodded and quickly pulled out her communication device and sent a message: 'Kid Flash and Robin to the interrogating room 3. Code 404!'

Then she sent the message to the AI in the medical care area of the base. Kid Flash and Robin reached the room within two minutes and their face turned pale. John was upright in his seat, his eyes rolled up with his blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"What happened?" Kid Flash was the first to ask they entered the room.

"I don't know, but he called for you both," Black Canary said then went back to tending to John. "Just keep breathing."

Kid Flash and Robin entered the room. They looked at John with troubled concern as Robin asked, "Alright... what do you need?"

"My jacket..." John squeaked. "It's in my jacket."

His head turned towards Kid Flash with pleading eyes, and he reached out his hand toward him. "My jacket..."

Kid Flash nodded. "Got it! It should be in the storage."

Kid Flash turned on his heel and bolted leaving the interrogation room and bolted in a blur.

"Wait! You need my ID card to access it." Black Canary shouted out to Kid Flash but he was gone.

She looked back at John, then Robin and said, "Take him to the infirmary. I'll get whatever is in the jacket."

Robin nodded and Black Canary ran out of the room towards the same direction as Kid Flash.

Robin looked back at John and approached him with a gesture of concern. "Alright, just keep breathing."

He strode forward as he noticed John was about to fall to the side and caught him just in time.

"Got you," Robin said as grabbed hold of John, then not a moment later John's hand reached his neck and pinched a nerve on his neck.

"Sleep," John whispered, Robin's body lost all strength and collapsed forward as John quickly switched places between him and Robin, laying the sidekick's unconscious body on the chair and he stood up. All the signs of previous agony were gone from his face except the blood drooling down his chin.

John clicked his fingers and the Anti-Magic cuffs on his wrist shattered and fell to pieces. He then proceeded to wipe out the blood on his mouth with the back of his hand. The trick was simple truly, the cuffs worked by sending mana in a frequency that disrupted one's own magical frequency, but one who is sensitive and skilled in manipulating mana could change one's frequency to the same thing to counter the cuff's effects.

He then conjured a small imaginary door in front of him, reached his arms out into it and casually pulled out his jacket. It wasn't something John could do with any object but only the ones he had marked.

He proceeded to step behind Robin and straightened him upright with his hands. Then brought his face closer to Robin's ear and whispered, "You are in a deep state of relaxation. You now need to go deeper, deeper and deeper until you find yourself floating weightlessly. When you come back, you find yourself unable to move your neck, torso and lower body, only your arms, but will have a mission to fulfil. You just need to obey Batman's orders for that. You understand. You will wake up in 3-2-1."

John then pressed a spot below the base of the back of Robin's neck and jolted him awake. Robin gasped but found himself unable to move anything but his arms.

"Robin, listen to me, Robin," John said in perfect imitation of Batman's voice, "The Hall of Justice is under attack, we need to place it under complete lockdown now."

Robin felt a bit dazed, as if he was dreaming, but his hands moved subconsciously and activated the device on his wrist. A holographic screen emitted from the device on his wrist, Robin worked on it with his other hand with practised precision. For a few moments, the map of the entire Hall of Justice with labelled points appeared on the screen and that was enough for John to memorise it. Then it was covered in bright red letters which read: SYSTEM LOCKDOWN.

There was a loud thud outside the door, John looked outside the door to see a metal wall had slid and blocked the way into the passage Black Canary and Kid Flash had run to.

John's mind when went to one of the labels he saw on the map earlier; Z- Teleportation portal.

"Robin," he said, "activate the teleportation portal. We need to evacuate some civilians. Can you set a particular location, Robin?"

Robin muttered, "Yes.."

John brought his face closer to Robin's ear and whispered, "Set location to..."

Robin's fingers moved swiftly as he set the location and John slipped his jacket on.

Then he stepped back and gave one final command in his Batman voice. "Magicman is here as a backup. Quick, disengage any Anti-Magic security."

In a few moments, it read in bright red letters on the screen: Anti-Magic Disengaged.

John grinned and conjured an imaginary open door behind him on the floor and fell back on it. As he did so he said to himself in his own voice, "Game on."