Starman, Nightwing and Sandman as well as related DC-created characters are owned and trademarks of DC comics. There are being used without permission for no profit.

Prologue:

Night falls mercilessly on Bludhaven. The darkness hides evil lurking in the shadows, and one man that looms in the rooftops waiting to bring down justice in this city without hope. On the street below, a young girl walks alone, with her heart in her hand. She had a fight with her boyfriend, and decided to walk the way home alone. Unfortunately, with her youthful sense of invincibility, she forgot what a bad idea it is to walk alone at night in the 'Haven. Two men step out of an alley and surround the young girl. The light of a lamppost reflects her beautiful qualities. She can't be more than 17 years old.

"Hey precious! What're you doin' in this neighborhood alone?" one man says with liquor in his breath

"I think she lookin' for some real men!"

"Please, I'm just walking home."

"Yeah, right. Only druggies and prostitutes walk alone at night in this neighborhood. Maybe you one o' them."

The two men smile evil grins and grab the girl. She screams, but in this neighborhood, nobody listens. They drag her to the alley, behind a dumpster. The girl tries to free herself, but the two men are too strong. Her soul screams: "Daddy, help!" and her eyes become watery.

Then, the shadows come alive, and a night creature jumps from the roof, and lands one of the assailants. Before the other figures out what's going on, the night man leaps from the floor, and kicks the man in his chest. The thug goes flying, landing hard against the dumpster. The other man on the floor takes out a gun, but the man in black sees him, and with a swooping kick disarms him. He grabs him by the collar, and grins at him menacingly.

"Oh man, pleaz, don't hurt me!"

With no mercy, he clocks the thug with a punch, and leaves him unconscious on the ground.

"Sir,..thank you." The girl says timidly.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"Megan."

"You shouldn't walk alone in these streets, Megan. It's too dangerous. I'll call the police and they can escort you to your house."

"Sir, who are you?" the girl asks. The man steps out into the light. He is dressed in black and blue, with a mask covering his eyes.

"I'm Nightwing." He says.

"Thank you Nightwing." She responds, smiling.

THREE MONTHS LATER:

OPAL CITY

"Are you sure about this?" Megan tells him.

"Of course. They say she is the greatest witch of our time. A bunch of our pals are going to be there."

"I don't know, Paul. I mean, all this black clothes and witchcraft stuff has been kinda cool for a while, but this is real stuff, not teenagers scaring each other."

"Come on, baby, don't you trust me?" Paul looks at her with his charming face lit by the moonlight.

"Of course I do. It's just that going away without telling my Dad where I was heading has me all stressed out."

"Well, if you told him where you were going and with who he would never let you go. You know how he is and how he hates me."

"He doesn't hate just you, Paul. He hates all boys." Megan smiles. "What the hell, let's check it out. You say Lydia, Mike and the gang are here already, right?"

"Yeah. Come on."

The couple steps out of the car. It is a beautiful night here in Turk County. The moon looks down on the plain with a watchful eye. They walk towards the old barn and are greeted by a couple of tall men.

"We've come for the gathering." Paul says.

"Go to the barn up ahead." The man says.

Inside the old barn, some of the scum of Opal City have gathered. Two dozen men stand in the dark room. They are all criminals, most of them with jail time in their bones. In front of them stands an old woman with white hair and arthritic hands. Her old, raspy female voice fills the air.

"So how many of you are in?"

"Are you joking? You want us to follow you? How old are you anyway? 120? Please, what are we going to be stealing, false teeth and hearing aids?"

The whole room explodes in laughter.

"I'm outta here, grandma." a big hairy man says.

"My name is the Prairie Witch, you scum. And you'll regret your words for all eternity. Now, why don't you humor an old lady and come here?"

The big guy just laughs, and walks toward the old lady in amusement. She touches his head and yanks out one hair. She turns around and sits on the floor for a few seconds chanting in a strange language. The whole crowd is teasing the big guy, making spooky noises and having fun with him. Then, the old woman raises one hand. The room suddenly becomes very bright. A huge candle is lit, but this is not a normal candle. This candle is human. The guy that was just talking is suddenly engulfed in fire. The guy runs and rolls on the floor, with writhing pain in his guttural scream. After a few seconds, the movement stops. A couple of men use an extinguisher to stop the flames, and leave the charred body still smoking on the barn floor. The rest of the thugs now stand in silence. And the old woman speaks again.

"Anybody else want to bail?"

For a few seconds, nobody moves.

"Good. Benny here will fill you in on what I need from you."

Benny walks towards Prairie Witch and whispers in her ear.

"Two more followers have just arrived."

"Good."

The old woman walks out of the room and heads for the barn door. She opens it and sees two teenagers waiting for her.

"Welcome, my children."

Paul and Megan stand wide-eyed.

"She looks like a witch from an old Hollywood movie" Megan thinks.

"Yes my dear, I do." Megan gasps at the realization that the old woman just read her thoughts. "I even have a broomstick that flies."

The old woman smiles with a wicked laughter.

"I am the Prairie Witch."

"We've come all the way from Bludhaven to see you and take part in the gathering." Paul says.

"Good. Now let me show you around so you can meet the other followers. Shall we?"

The old woman points and leads them deep into the dark barn.

--------------------

Charity the fortuneteller is scared. She is alone surrounded by darkness. Then she sees that the darkness is alive. And inside the darkness she sees them. Dozens of people scream inside the darkness. The dark is consuming them slowly, eating away their souls one shred at a time. Unable to help them, she watches their faces of agony. Then the screams become louder still, and they shout out to her:

"Help us! Help us! Help!"

And a hand reaches out from the darkness and touches hers; a girl's hand covered in thick, black shadow matter. But the darkness chokes them, and crushes the life out of them.

Charity wakes up sweating. Was it just a nightmare? Maybe, she thinks. But then she sees something on her hand. A black spot; a spot of thick, black shadow matter.

---------------------

Jack Knight is dreaming. In his dream, he is talking to his friend The Shade, the immortal who wields the power of the shadows. But The Shade's body starts to become blurry, until it starts to reshape itself into the body of an old woman. The woman is still holding The Shade's cane, but then the cane transforms into a broomstick. She sits on the stick and flies away. Jack reaches for his star rod, but his long staff transforms in his hand into his father's cosmic rod. Jack's clothes also change, until he is dressed with his father's original Starman costume: red and yellow with a star on his chest and a fin on his head. Starman activates his rod and goes after the woman, but she is nowhere to be found. But then, from out of nowhere she appears with a gun in her hand. A bang is heard, and Starman watches as the bullet travels toward him and hits him in the center of his chest.

Jack Knight wakes up and touches his chest. He sighs.

"Just a dream" he says to himself. "A weird dream"

----------------------

Richard Grayson dreams. He is dressed as Nightwing and is walking down a dark alley. Yellow neon lights flash on and off. He hears somebody running towards him. It's a girl, dressed all in black, and screaming at the top of her lungs:

"Help me, Nightwing! Please!"

The neon lights flash on and he can see her face. He remembers her; her name is Megan and he saved her from some thugs. He dashes out to help her, but then the neon lights go off, and Megan disappears with them. Nightwing is left standing alone in the alley. He hears footsteps behind him. Nightwing turns to see a young boy dressed in a red and yellow Robin costume. The boy speaks.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Grayson? Go and save her."

And with a flash of light, Jason Todd is gone too.

Dick Grayson wakes up. It is definitively not the first time that he dreams of Jason Todd, the Robin who came after him and was killed by the Joker. But the girl, Megan, she seemed so real to him. And she needed help.

-------------------------

The Prairie Witch hides waiting for the shadowy man to leave his house. A tall figure walks out of the building with a top hat and a cane in his hand. She knows this man well. He is The Shade. Like her, he was a villain back in the 19 40's, when Ted Knight still wore his red and yellow Starman costume. But unlike her, The Shade had supposedly abandoned his old ways and was now content to be a citizen of Opal City. When The Shade disappears from sight, the Prairie Witch signaled her men.

"I had amassed a small army of thugs in case a physical confrontation with The Shade was necessary. But what do you know? The Shade is leaving town for a few days. It's perfect. The fates must be smiling at me."

"What do we do now?" asked a muscular brute.

"Now we'll sneak into his apartment and steal what I need."

"What are we stealing?"

"Immortality" she responded calmly.

END OF PART ONE

----------------------------

Richard Grayson has a problem. He dreamt of a girl he had saved. The dream was so real that he had to investigate. He found out where the girl lived. He talked to her father, and discovered that the girl apparently ran away with her boyfriend a few days ago. The father had contacted the police, but in Bludhaven that did not mean much. As Nightwing, he investigated in the streets, but there was no sign of her. He decided it was time to ask for some help.

The image in Dick's laptop was that of a beautiful young woman with long, brunette hair and a smile that was engraved in his heart.

"A dream? Oracle says, with a little amusement. "Richard, I think you spent too many nights in the batcave."

"I'm not kidding, Barbara. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Okay. I'll look into it. What is the girl's name?"

"Megan Brooks"

"And what do you know so far?"

"Well, I've talked to the father, the neighbors, other kids from school, people on the street, and so far, nada. All I've found out is that Megan and her friends were into some new-age witchcraft deal."

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently they all dressed in black, and they did some rituals and spells, if you believe in such a thing."

"A witch, huh? All right, Dick, let's see what we come up with. In the meantime, be careful you don't turn into a frog or something."

"Hilarious, Miss Gordon."

"How you've been, otherwise?"

"Good, and you?"

"Busy."

"Everybody needs information, huh?"

"Yeah. I'll call you back when I find something."

"Thanks, Babs."

"Don't mention it, Dick."

----------------------------

Charity walks into the room where a man dressed in white sits on a chair. His hair is snow white, and his eyes are as dark as night.

"My lord." The King of Stories looks up and stars shine in his eyes.

"I seem to recall you.your name is Charity. You are one of the seers."

"Yes, my lord. I met you.err; I met Morpheus when I was young. He told me about my gift. He opened my true eyes for me."

"And what do you need of me, Charity?"

"I am hoping that I can receive your counsel once more."

"Go on."

"I had a dream, one of the most vivid ones I recall, where people were being consumed by darkness, and voices were calling me to help them. I was hoping you could tell me what it meant."

"And am I then to interpret your dreams for you? That is what you do, not me."

"I apologize, my lord, but this dream transported a remnant with me back to the waking world. A piece of black matter."

"Ah. That is something unusual, is it not? Very well, I will help you. There is a very old spell, the spell of the sleeping, which has the effect of trapping the victim inside the outskirts of the Dreaming. These sleepers can become themselves a small link between the Dreaming and the waking world."

"So somebody has performed this spell, and the victims are trying to breach through and get some help."

"So it seems."

"But who are they, and how do I help them?"

"My dear child, now I am to solve your problems for you? I see no reason to interfere in this matter anymore."

"But Lord, judging by my dream, their lives could be in danger."

"I am sorry, but I cannot bring myself to interfere in everything. There are rules that dictate in which matters I may act. But I will tell you this: look for whoever performed the spells and you are bound to find the sleepers."

"Thank you, my Lord. You are most kind." And Charity walks out of the room. She knows now what to do. She knows that the best way to find a mage or a witch is to ask the Witch Queen herself: the One who is Three.

------------------------

Richard Grayson thinks:

I look at the pictures for the tenth time. I rearrange everything in my head again and again. There's no clues. The girl has not been seen in five days. I have talked to dozens of people. And there are no clues. I wonder if it's me. Batman would probably have found her by now. Don't give up now. I've got to have faith in myself, or all is lost.

I hear the familiar sound of the laptop. When I answer, a familiar face greets me.

"So, any new clues, Dick?"

"No, Babs. Have you found anything?"

"Well, it turns out that the girl is not the only teenager that has disappeared recently. Looking at police files, I found at least one hundred cases of teenagers that ran away from their home in the last few days. And the interesting thing is that all of them share a common quality; they all dabbled in magic and the occult."

"Really? Can all those cases be related, then?"

"It would appear so. I also found the website of one of the disappeared teenagers, and in it he mentions some sort of gathering, and encourages other people with his same interests to meet them in Opal City."

"Opal City? That's Starman's town, right?"

"Yes. It's not a strong lead, but."

".It's the only lead we have. I agree. You're great, Babs, I love you."

I mean that when I say it, and I hope she knows that. "Well, I think I'm going to take a short trip."

-----------------------

Charity opens the door of her store and two women walk in. The first is Hope O'Dare. Hope is an Opal City cop, part of the O'Dare clan. She and her four brothers are cops, just like their father was, and his father before him. The second one is Faith O'Dare. She is married to the oldest O'Dare, Clarence. Both have no idea why they are here. Charity called them and asked them to be here tonight. Something very important, she had said.

"Ladies, come in."

"What is this about, Charity?" asks Hope.

"It's about saving lives."

"I don't understand." Says Faith

"Tell me ladies: have any of you done any spells before?"

-----------------------

Jack Knight thinks:

Weird. Ever since I've decided to play the Starman gig everything's been just plain weird. I have this crazy dream a few nights ago. I casually tell Dad about it over the phone and he says it reminds him of an old foe. He thinks maybe is a warning and she is going to try and kill him or me. We decide I should head over to his house just in case. So here we go again. I guess superheroes don't get much of a life. I ask who this villain is. He says she is called the Prairie Witch. He tells me about her, and in summary it's a crazy old witch in a broom. Reminds me of a landlady I had. Except she didn't fly. And she didn't carry a gun. Well, actually she did.

I fly down to my Dad's house with my cosmic rod. The telescope hatch is closed, so I land by the front door. I knock, but there's no answer. Dad's probably in his study reading his astronomy books for the millionth time. So I try the door. It's not locked. I open it and step in. The house is dark, and I start getting a bad feeling. I clutch my star rod firmly, and look around. Then I see them.

"Don't try anything or your father dies."

An old woman is pointing a gun at my father's head.

"The Prairie Witch, I presume."

"Good boy. I know what you're thinking, Starman. She's an old woman, probably with slow reflexes. Maybe I can blast the gun away before she gets a shot. Well, with old age comes wisdom, they say. So I did not come here alone."

I look around and see six guys with guns, all pointed at me. And I think, sometimes being a superhero sucks.

---------------------

"Dad, are you all right?" asks Jack Knight.

"Yes, son. I'm fine." Says Ted Knight. Ted wonders if he is still quick enough to grab the Witch's gun. Before, when he was Starman, he would probably do it. But Ted Knight is not a young man anymore. And he's not going to put his son's life in danger, anyway.

"This I did not plan. To have the two Starman together, the old one and the new one; father and son. I could not have planned it better."

"What is this about, Prairie Witch?" asks Starman.

"I just came by to visit your father, sort of. After so many years, and all we've been through, I almost feel fond of the old man. Almost. I really just wanted to show him what I was about to do, and how helpless he was to stop it. Call it a need to gloat. It's been the Achilles' heel of more than one super villain. And then after that, I was going to kill him"

"Prairie Witch, why don't you let my Dad go and take me instead?"

"And where am I going to take you to? Dancing? I have old scores to settle, boy."

"Prairie Witch, there's no need to do this. Why don't we just talk about this before somebody gets hurt?"

"Ted Knight, so now you fight with words instead of with your rod? You two are hardly in a position to bargain with me. In fact, I think I'm just going to kill you both right now."

Suddenly, a shiny black object flies out of nowhere and the Prairie Witch's gun goes flying through the air. Jack Knight seizes the opportunity immediately, kicks the goon standing beside him, and zaps the gun away from another. Meanwhile, Ted Knight concentrates all his strength into an elbow blow to the Witch's stomach. The other men grasp their guns and start shooting. Ted and Jack Knight duck for cover behind some furniture. Then, Nightwing crashes in through a window and rolls on the floor. Defying the bullets, Nightwing jumps with elegant and deadly grace. He lands a kick on one thug's face. One down. The escrima sticks come out, and a loud thud follows. Two down. A chop to the throat, punches are thrown, and a figure dressed in black and blue goes around the room like a storm, taking out thugs left and right. Nightwing pauses and smiles; for a millisecond. He still needs to catch the woman with the gun. Jack Knight looks at Nightwing with bewilderment.

"And you are.Nightwing."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry, I'm still trying to get all the names right. I'm kind of new to the club, if you know what I mean."

"No, I don't. We don't have time, Starman, the woman with the gun has disappeared."

Nightwing and Starman run outside, but there is no sign of the Prairie Witch.

"I guess she flew away in her broomstick."

"Ha. Funny."

"No, I'm serious. That old bag is the Prairie Witch, and she really does fly in a broomstick."

"A witch?" Nightwing thinks in his head.

"Err.excuse me for asking, Nightwing, but just what brought you here to Dad's house tonight?"

"Oh, I'm working on a case of a missing girl, and I think she might be in Opal City. But suddenly I want to hear all about this Prairie Witch."

--------------------

Charity, Faith and Hope sit in a circle. A bowl filled with red liquid sits in the middle of the circle. And Charity summons an entity older than gods.

"Come, our three graces. Your daughters summon you tonight to come to us."

Then three faces appear in the air above the circle; the Hecateae.

"WE HAVE COME, WHAT DO YOU SEEK OF US?"

Faith and Hope sit in silence, too scared to say anything, and without understanding what is going on. Charity, on the other hand, talks with great confidence.

"We have called on you, three ladies, to seek answers. Somebody has put the sleeping spell on several people, and we suspect that they are planning something awful. We fear that the victims of this spell may be killed."

"AND WHY SHOULD WE DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?"

"We only want to ask for our three answers. The rules dictate that you give them to us."

"VERY WELL, DAUGHTERS. THREE QUESTIONS AND THREE ANSWERS."

"Maiden, somebody has trapped people with a sleep spell. Who has done this?"

"THE WITCH FROM THE PRAIRIE IS IN OPAL AND HOLDS FOUR AND ONE HUNDRED LADS AND MAIDENS IN THAT SPELL."

"Mother, why has she done this?"

"SHE SEEKS THE POWERS OF THE SHADOWS, AND NEEDS THEM TO OPEN THE PORTAL TO THE SHADOWLANDS."

"Crone, when does she plan to open this portal?"

"THE CEREMONIES HAVE ALREADY BEGUN, CHILD, AND ON THE WITCHING HOUR TONIGHT THEY WILL BE CONSUMMATED."

"But how can we stop her?"

"THREE QUESTIONS, THREE ANSWERS, CHILD. NOW WE BID YOU FAREWELL."

And in a swirl of clouds, the faces are gone.

"I'm afraid to ask who were they." Says Faith." And what was she talking about power of the shadows?"

"Wait a minute!" Hope says. "The Shade has the power of the shadows! She must be trying to get the same powers that The Shade has!"

"The power to summon shadow creatures. Immortality. We've got to stop her." Charity exclaims.

"I'll call Starman and my brothers and let them know what is going on."

"Good. Then I have an idea. If we can release those people from the sleep curse, maybe we can stop her from opening that portal. Maybe. We've got to hurry. It's only three hours to midnight, the witching hour."

END OF PART TWO

-------------------------

In Ted Knight's house, scumbags tied up with ropes and extension cords littered the floor. Nightwing and Ted Knight were interrogating a prisoner outside while Jack Knight attended to a sudden call from Charity, the fortuneteller.

"What is the Prairie Witch planning? Where are the kids?" Nightwing demanded answers from the bound man in the precarious position. He was hanging upside down from the top of the telescope tower. Only the chilly night air was between him and the ground ten stories below.

"Please, man, don't let me go! I'll tell you! The crazy bitch is planning to do some weird curse to.arghh.Nooo!"

The man suddenly screamed in agony. Nightwing pulled him up but falls on his back when he sees that the man's tongue is on fire!

Ted Knight gasped "What in the universe.?!"

"Wait, let me help you!" Nightwing tried to hold the man, but he was running and screaming like a madman, with smoke coming out of his mouth. Without seeing where he was going, the man slips, falls over the railing, and meets the ground below in a loud thud. Still shaken, Nightwing looked down to see the black-red pool forming around the man's head.

"My god.his tongue.I tried to help him."

"I know. I don't think we should interrogate any of the other men. There are strange forces at work here."

"Who is this Prairie Witch, Ted?"

"I don't know much about her. All I know is that this time, it's all different. In the old days, she had a clear crime pattern. She committed a lot of robberies, and killed a lot of people in the process. But there have been no robberies or murders. I fear that she is up to something, and it has me very worried."

Just then, Jack Knight appeared.

"I just talked with Charity and she knows what the Prairie Witch is planning. She is doing a ritual tonight that will give her all the powers that The Shade has! And the missing teenagers are somehow a part of this ritual."

"You've got to stop her!" Ted Knight said.

"But where is she?"

"There are at least a hundred teens missing. Wherever she is, it would have to be big, and isolated so no one would disturb her." Nightwing said.

"Turk County! During one of our encounters, she was hiding inside a barn in Turk County! That would be a perfect spot!"

"That has to be it! Pop, can you tell us how to get there?"

-----------------------

Turk County. A place of stories and ghosts. And tonight, a place of witchcraft. Starman and Nightwing use the trees and the night to hide from sight. Up ahead they see a barn, and a couple of men standing outside the doors with big, mean guns.

"Ok. What do we do?" asks Starman

"We've got to get closer and see what we're up against. But first, I'll take care of those two. You wait for my signal."

Nightwing disappears into the dark. A few minutes later, there is a sound of rustling leaves. The two armed men look at each other.

"What was that?"

"Probably just some animal. Go check it out."

One of the two guys walks into the trees with his gun in hand. A soft thud is heard a few seconds later.

"Tony?" Before the second guy can do anything, a batrang hits him in the head, and he's out cold.

"I guess that's the signal." Thinks Starman as he sees the guy fall to the floor like a dead tree.

-------------------------

Inside the old barn, the Prairie Witch gets ready for the final ritual. A tall man walks toward her.

"Everything's ready."

"You've done good, Benny."

"I still don't understand what the hell we are doing now."

"Now is when it gets interesting."

In one of the corners of the barn, one hundred and four teenagers lie on the floor and sleep a deep sleep.

"All this time I have been stealing some of the life energy of these kids while they delve in the sleep curse. Tonight, I'll steal all their life energy by killing them one by one. Then, with one hundred and four souls in my possession, I will use the books we stole from The Shade's house to perform the final ritual that created him. A portal to the shadowland will open, and the shadows will come through. And I, the Prairie Witch, will control them, and they will serve me for all eternity. I'll be immortal and nobody will be able to stop me."

"This all seems like mumbo jumbo to me, Prairie Witch, but I'll do what you say as long as you keep paying me."

"I'll pay you all right. More money that you can possibly imagine. Now, it's time to start."

With an old dusty book in hand, the Prairie Witch looks up to the sky, and starts reading in an obscure language. The air inside the barn starts to come alive with clouds and lightning that fill the inside space. The Prairie Witch gang members step back in amazement, while the clouds start congealing together, into a dark circle.

"Mind if we come in?" The armed men turn around, and the barn door blows up in a bright explosion. Starman and Nightwing step into the barn, cosmic rays and gloved punches going everywhere.

"No! Stop them! I need to finish the ritual for the shadow power to be mine!" The Prairie Witch shouts.

Bullets start flying, and mass confusion sets in. Starman shoots with his cosmic rod, and blasts off their guns. Nightwing jumps from handhold to foothold, bounces off walls, bullets passing inches from him, and he smiles while he punches, kicks and hits the Witch's men.

"Starman, stop the Witch and I'll finish up with these clowns!"

"You got it, Batboy!"

"Please don't call me that."

"Err.sorry, just joking."

Starman flies to where the Prairie Witch stands.

"Give it up, witch."

"I've got a surprise for you, Starman. While you were busy fighting my men, I opened up the portal. See for yourself."

From inside the dark circle in the air, a black claw starts to come out towards Starman. Jack quickly shoots at it with his rod, but it doesn't stop. In a second, it has Starman trapped in a giant death grip.

"Surprise!"

Starman struggles and gasps for air. "Man, looks like Nightwing got the easy part!"

Meanwhile, more thugs keep coming out of the woodwork, guns in hand and eager to kill

"More bad guys? There's too many of them! I need to do something fast or we're history! Looks like Starman has the easy part." Thinks Nightwing

"You fools! You thought you could stop me? Think again!" The Prairie Witch laughs.

"I..can't.breathe!" Starman thinks, desperately trying to free himself from the black claw.

Then, suddenly, one of the sleeping kids wakes up. And then another. And another. The Prairie Witch watches in horror as one by one, the teenagers start to open their eyes.

"No! They cant' wake up now! If they wake up now, the temporary portal will close and the shadows will not be able to come through!"

The grip on Starman starts to soften, and he takes down a long, deep breath of air.

"Charity must have done it! They're starting to wake up!" he thinks.

"No, I will not be beaten when I'm so close.Benny, boys, kill all the teenagers! I'll try to finish the ritual now and maybe the shadows will come through!"

Most of the kids are awake now, with no clue of what is going on.

Nightwing yells at them while kicking a thug in the groin. "Get out of here now! They're trying to kill you!"

Just then, three redheaded cops burst into the barn. It's the O'Dares: Clarence, Matt and Mason.

"Reinforcements have just arrived, Nightwing!" Clarence O'Dare says, while Mason and Matt start shooting and disarming thugs with great skill.

By now Starman has been able to free himself from the shadow wraith.

"I have to send this shadow back to where it came from! Hey, my rod harnesses energy from the starts, maybe my light beam can weaken the shadow matter and send it back through the portal!"

Starman fires his rod at the shadow creature, and it begins to wither down and retreat back to the portal

"It's working! Nightwing, the shadow is retreating!"

"We've got them on the run too!" Nightwing responds. Most of the thugs are now down on the ground or surrendering.

"The shadows.they're going back.I've got to get out of here!" the Prairie Witch thinks. She slips out with her broom in hand. Nightwing spots her leaving.

"The witch, she's getting away!"

The whole room is now as bright as day because of the light from Starman's rod. All the shadow matter has retreated back through the portal.

"I see her!"

Then, in a bright flash, the portal is gone. And Starman sets out to capture the witch. When the Prairie Witch sees Starman coming, she gets on her broomstick and takes flight. However, Starman quickly fires an energy blast that breaks the stick in two, sending the witch crashing down on some hay. The witch starts to run towards the back door, but standing in front of it are two dozen angry teenage boys.

"Going somewhere.witch?"

"You lied to us! You were trying to kill us, crazy bitch!"

The Prairie Witch takes out her gun, but then a hand grabs her from behind and snatches the old revolver.

"It's over, Prairie Witch." Starman says

The Prairie Witch turns to face him, her face the epitome of defiance.

"You may think you've won, Starman, but I'm more powerful than you can possibly imagine. I will have my revenge. I will be back and I'll have your head in a platter."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before."

Meanwhile, the O'Dares are arresting people while Nightwing walks towards Jack and the Prairie Witch.

"Good job, Jack."

"Thanks, Nightwing. Likewise, man."

"Batman talked highly of you, and he was right."

"Really? I thought I just annoyed him. But then again, it's not like he shows much emotion, you know."

"Believe me, I know."

"Nightwing?" a female voice calls to him. Nightwing turns and sees the skinny young girl walking towards him.

"Megan? Are you all right?"

"Yes. I knew you would come. I.dreamt that you had come to rescue me.again."

"I'm glad you're okay. Your family has been worried sick."

"Oh, my poor Dad. I was so dumb. I should have listened to him. Instead, I just thought 'what does he know?' so I went on my own and managed to screw up royally."

Richard Grayson and Jack Knight nod.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. It happens to a lot of people."

---------------------------------

"So everything had a happy ending? Like a fairy tale?" The Shade says before taking another sip of his tea.

"Yeah. All the kids went back to their homes, the bad guys were all caught, and the Prairie Witch is in custody of the Opal City Police, for now at least." Jack answers.

"And you do not feel threatened by the Witch's remarks?"

"I dunno. I'm like, whatever. God knows I have enough going on in my life with this whole superhero gig. A little curse would probably not be that bad, I figure. Besides, it would not be the first time I've been cursed."

"Really? Did it happen in some other adventure?"

"Not exactly. I had a Cuban girlfriend once. We had a bad breakup. I'll let you figure out the rest."

"And your new friend, Nightwing?"

"He's back in Bludhaven. He's a cool guy. Great at what he does. He's somebody I would certainly like beside me in any battle. You know, we talked some after all the fighting and the craziness. We have very different pasts, but we're both trying to be our own man."

The two men sit on the sidewalk café tables enjoying the cool Opal breeze.

"How did the Prairie Witch learn about the ritual that made you?"

"Well, it turns out that she knew a fellow called Remy Deshard. He had met one other fellow with my same powers and told her about it. The Prairie Witch must have spent years trying to discover the magic needed to reproduce my origin. When she stole those books from me, she had all that she needed to perform that magic. Interestingly enough, this same Remy Deshard was the teacher of Yoruba, the oh so bad guy that we faced together recently."

"Huh. So I guess all mad magicians know each other. Maybe they are part of a magic club? I wonder if Sigfried and Roy are members too."

"A strange sense of humor you have, my young friend."

"Shade, could the Prairie Witch do it? Could she reproduce the spell that gave you your powers and claim them as her own?"

"Possibly."

"And what would have happened then?"

"Then, maybe your ending would have been somewhat less.happy."

-----------------------

Epilogue:

The Prairie Witch dreams. A tall, pale man stands before her in a white robe.

"You? What do you want?"

"You disrespect me, old witch. You trapped dreamers in a sleep spell to steal their energies. You searched for powers that you do not fully understand."

"And what of that? You are bound by rules, you can't do anything to me."

"You are mistaken. My actions are restricted, but I am the Lord of Dreams, after all, and I can give and take them as I please."

The Prairie Witch wakes up in her jail cell. Suddenly she feels very old, like all the years have come crashing down on her. Suddenly, all she longs for is sitting down in peace, watching the sun rise and fall every day like the previous one, watching and waiting for Death to come and claim her.

THE END