CHAPTER ONE

      The first time Clara had met Bruce, she had accidentally smacked him in the face with her old, worn copy of Pride and Prejudice (she was secretly reading it in a biology class) and had almost broken his nose. He had laughed it off and then sat next to her, forming a friendship that would last for many many years, even after he had dropped out of Princeton and she had continued with her psychology course.

      Then that incident became a good representation of their friendship, even years later. She would constantly annoy him and he would laugh it off (as Bruce Wayne), but scold her as Batman. Because god knows Batman was not supposed to feel a single emotion. How annoying.

      Bruce would never admit it to her, but Clara knew that he considered her a true friend, just like Clark and Diana. (And maybe that was the unfortunate part).

      Clara shifted on her pillow, pulling the blankets to cover herself. She had long accepted the fact that she and Bruce Wayne would never happen; she was content with stifling this little attraction she felt towards him and being friends. Besides, the man himself wasn't one for relationships.

      Her phone suddenly buzzed and without even moving from her pillow, she picked it up. It was a text message from her sister. "What's Alice sending me now?"

      When she opened the message, she immediately burst into laughter. Because, of course, her little niece, who had turned seven only two months ago, had accidentally made her dad float in the air. Seeing as Aurelia was the daughter of two people with incredibly powerful magical bloodlines, Clara had definitely known incidents like this would happen. 

      The little one was the best.

      'Tell Vincent to enjoy himself'. With this message, Clara attached a couple of laughing face emojis. She loved teasing her brother-in-law. After all, it was her job to do so.

      Smiling, she kept the phone aside. She hadn't gone to patrol tonight, inexplicably tired due to the drug ring she'd helped bring down. Someone of them had really put in a struggle, but in the face of her magic, their guns were basically useless. But she was tired. Too tired actually.

      Sleep was a welcome entity. (even if she was sleeping at 6 pm)

      Clara closed her eyes, ready to fall into the arms of Morpheus. But her phone buzzed loudly, pulling her out of the haze she had almost entered. She groaned before she reached for her phone and picked up the call, not bothering to check the caller ID. "Hello?"

      "We need you at the Hall of Justice now," Bruce spoke gruffly. Suddenly surprised, Clara shot up straight, the blanket falling off her body.

      "What happened?" Clara questioned, running her free hand through her hair. Even though his tone was even, she could tell something had happened. And something bad at that. "What's going on?"

      "Just be there at the Hall of Justice. We might have a new emergency on our hand." With that, he hung up the call. Clara sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. So, sleep wasn't an entity she was going to meet tonight. She crossed her fingers, hoping the emergency wasn't something too bad.

      It was bad.

      It was really bad.

      The mood inside the League's meeting room was sombre as the members present all watched the video on the screen. It was brutal and unlike anything, Clara had ever seen. The woman was crashing into everything in her side, her car taking down all visible pedestrians. Later on in the video, the woman crashed into a pillar herself. But by then, the damage had been done. That woman had unknowingly become a murderer.

      Clark paused the video before he stepped forward. The usually optimistic hero had a solemn tone to his voice. "These crimes were committed by law-abiding citizens."

      "They all claim to have seen nightmare visions beforehand," Diana added.

      'Visions?' Clara thought, looking down at her intertwined hands. 'What kind of magic would be capable of such brutal things? Not even the ones I've seen can do this.'

      "Any clue what's causing it?" John Stewart asked. He was their newest recruit, a Green Lantern just like Hal Jordan, but a lot more disciplined than him.

      "No idea," Clark immediately replied.

      "Gahh," John let out a frustrated sigh. "The one week I fill in for Jordan and it couldn't be some hairy-ass monster?"

      "The same pattern is repeating around the world," Diana turned back to the massive screen, bringing up a map of the world, with bright red dots blinking. Clara, as well as the other members, leaned forward, intensely staring at the map. "So there could be an overriding factor. Perhaps a paranormal element."

      It definitely looked like something paranormal was happening. It wasn't hitting her mind, but Clara had definitely heard of something like this. Where...

      "Are you talking about magic?" Bruce clearly sounded sceptical. Even after years of knowing Clara, he still had a hard time believing in her abilities and in magic in general.

      "We've come up against magic before Batman," Diana turned around and met his eyes. "Cerce, Felix Faust.."

      "Even Shazam's powers are based in magic," Clark added, stepping a little forward. "Let's not forget Lumière is also a sorcerer. With as much as you've seen, can you rule it out?"

      "The criminally insane don't need magic as an excuse," Bruce stated, getting up from his chair.

      Ouch. Clara felt offended by his words. Magic was something she really had to make him believe in. Somehow; and, if that was possible.

      "I recommend spending more time on the streets, than flying over them." After finishing his statement, Bruce walked out of the conference room. The others stared at each other, although most of the members, including J'onn, Arthur and Barry, were all staring at Clara, potentially looking to see what she felt about this whole situation.

      "He's even friendlier than they say," John said sarcastically, watching Batman's retreating back.

      'Think, Clara, you've read something about this. But where have you read it? Remember! Try to remember!' Clara mentally told herself, leaning forward a little. All she had figured out about this was that this was some kind of dark magic. One that she had never seen performed, but it could only be the work of an extremely powerful magician.

      She got up from her chair and all the attention in the room was suddenly directed at her. Diana stared at her, analysing the expression on her face. "Lumière, you know something?"

      "All I know is that this is some really dark magic, which I've never seen around," Clara replied, meeting her gaze. "I need some time to figure this out."

      In a swooping manner, with her cape fluttering behind her, Clara also walked away from the room.

      "Do both of them do that?" John stared after her as well. To him, it looked like two sides of the same coin. One a complete sceptic and the other a true believer and a practitioner of magic. And yet, he could see they were somewhat the same.

      Barry shrugged. "You get used to it."

This is a short chapter to start off with, but I hoped you enjoyed reading this. This fic is insanely fun to write and I've already written most of the next chapter. Just need that burst of inspiration to post it. But I can promise you that it has a lot of Clara and Bruce interaction, especially at the beginning. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!