She Makes One Little Mistake

"Right," Zatanna said. Lois Lane could see that the sorceress was agitated. Suddenly being the equivalent of nine months pregnant would do that to you. The reporter rubbed her own bump, surprised that she didn't feel any real pain or discomfort...it was pregnancy without the stretch marks, the nausea, the swollen ankles...and a part of her wondered if this wasn't almost a blessing.

The pregnant sorceress held out both hands, as if grasping the squat, bulbous-bellied idol from afar.

".stnemtnahcne evomeR" The sorceress intoned, carefully enunciating each syllable.

For a moment, the gravid idol seemed limned in a green glow...and then the glow vanished, leaving only the bare stone. Zatanna allowed herself a little grin. Lois imagined that the magician lived for moments like this, when she could pit her wits and skill against some ancient magic, to prove that she was the best.

".rettahS" Zatanna's lips curled into a smirk as she said the word...and almost immediately upon uttering the final sound, the idol audibly cracked. Lois nearly jumped out of her skin at the volume as the cracks ripped across the stone form, and the leering stump of a head collapsed in on itself as each piece broke into smaller pieces with audible pops and cracks...so that in a dozen heartbeats, there was nothing left except a pile of thin grey shards.

The sorceress gave a toothy grin. She lowered her arms and turned her back on the remnants to face Lois Lane. That was her mistake.

"Right. Now, without any interference, I should be able to dispel these magical pregnancies and..."

Lois was the only one who could see the glowing green motes that rose from the ruins of the idol...swarming like tiny glowing gnats. She opened her mouth warn Zatanna as the green dots zoomed straight for Zatanna...