The Spirit Totem was one of the more powerful of the six and Sara knew it. The box that Ray designed to keep it safe had started speaking to Sara in her dreams the second it was on the ship. At first, the Captain thought nothing of it. But now, she couldn't ignore it. The Totem was physically calling out to her.
Shooting out of bed Sara threw on some gray sweatpants and a white long sleeve shirt before silently walking through the halls of the Waverider, knife in hand. Making her way to the bridge she entered Rip's old study where she had hidden all the Totems where her crew didn't know.
They decided that only she should know that way if any of them got captured they couldn't give out the information. If Sara got captured, well, she was a whole other story. She was trained to survive torture. Longer than most anyways.
She took the screws out of the vent and slid the metal box out that contained the Spirit Totem. As she touched the box though, all hell broke loose.
First it was the presence of Mallus in her head. Sara threw the box across the room and grabbed her head in pain as an excruciating pressure grew.
"You can't fight me forever, Sara. I am stronger than you and always will be as long as I live. Just give in to me and I assure you that you teams death will be swift and painless," his voice echoed in her head. Sara tried to focus on her breathing as she was on her knees clutching her head.
"No, I won't let that happen. I am stronger than you Mallus, get out of my damned head!" She screamed. The Captain didn't want to wake anyone up but if the loud crash of the box hadn't woken anyone earlier her hollering certainly did now. She was correct when she heard footsteps running down the hallways. The first one to reach her was Wally.
"Sara what's wrong?" He asked, looking around frantically for a threat.
"Wally you need to take me off-" she stopped to take in a deep, painful breath. "Off the ship. Somewhere no one will be around!" Mallus decided at that moment to release a high pitched scream in Sara's head, causing her to grunt in pain.
"Sara," Amaya was by her side now, along with a few others that the Captain couldn't see. "Hey what's wrong?"
"Tell them Sara. Tell them that you're about to lose control of me. Tell them. Tell them! Tell them! TELL THEM!" He screamed in her head. Blackness clouded the Captains vision as her knees gave out and two strong arms wrapped around her back, lifting her off the ground. Just as she lost conciousness she whispered one more word.
"Mallus..." Then all she saw was darkness.
When Sara woke she knew right away it wasn't on the Waverider. She was laying down on something soft as a small breeze kicked up dust that flew past her. Sitting up, she realized it wasn't dust, it was sand. Blue sand.
The Captain sprung to her feet when she heard a nearby twig on a small shrub snap.
"Hello?" She called out. Sara had felt like she'd been here before when Constantine first connected her to Mallus.
"Sara...finally you're here. I've been waiting for a long, long time for this. It's felt like an eternity since I possessed Nora Darhk but you will do even better until I find my true form on earth," his voice came from nowhere yet everywhere as Sara did circles.
"You won't take my mind over Mallus. Or me for that matter, I won't let you. And I certainly won't let you hurt my team," she stated confidently.
"Oh but you are right now, Sara. You being here you've already given your body and mind to me. Right now, though, you're team simply thinks you're asleep. But when your body wakes you'll have about...hmmm, maybe a day before I take over. There's nothing you can do to stop it!" Mallus started laughing as Sara's heart sunk at this news.
"Yea..." she said simply. The blonde sat and crossed her legs. "Where are we?" She asked him curiously.
"Well this dimension is called Cordonia by many travellers who died before they could spread it's name. Isn't it beautiful?" Sara looked around at the dreadful place.
"It has no color, the sky is a dark gray, the sand is always blowing in my face, it's cold. I think this place is awful but call it whatever you want because after I leave I'm never coming back."
"Oh but Ms.Lance, you're never leaving. Don't you get that? You are never leaving until you're dead, and then I will raise your spirit from the dead just so it can never be at peace. Starting now your life is a living hell, and I don't plan on letting you out!" He laughed once more.
"You can kill me, torture me, taunt me, but leave my team-" suddenly everything was spiralling into a circle and Sara was gone. She didn't desend into darkness like last time but instead woke up to light. "Alone..." she mumbled, completely out of it as she kept blinking several times to adjust to the brightness of the medbay.
"What's wrong with her?" Came a voice Sara had been growing accustomed to.
"We don't know yet, that's why we called you," Ray stated.
"Yea we were hoping you Time Pigs might have some information on what's happening," Micks gruff voice said.
"Hey, where are we?" Sara spoke up, all heads turning to her as Ava made her way to the blondes side.
"Still on the Waverider. How do you feel?" Sara sat up with little help from Ava, everyone staring at her.
"I feel fine. I..." she trailed off. "I don't know how much time is left but Mallus just paid me a visit...he said I won't be in control of my mind and body soon, and he's right." No one knew what to say so Sara kept explaining. "Earlier I heard voices coming from the Death Totem so I went to see what it was. Turns out Mallus was connected somehow and I don't have much time. Maybe a day, tops." Ava shifted next to her uncomfortably.
"How do we stop Mallus? I mean, we've been fixing anachronisms endlessly so he can't be that close to breaking free, right?" Ray asked.
"Well actually when Sara was out I did some searching. Turns out that the Darhks just visited about 13 different places and times and changed history dramatically," Nate stated.
"Is that why he attacked me?" Sara asked. "Not physically but mentally. I know I can't keep him away for long, he's going to come back real soon."
"So back to how do we stop him, I mean everyone has a weakness," Wally stood up and was gone in a blur, reappearing with a bunch of books. "I got all the items I could on Mallus. It doesn't say much though, just a few random things like..." he trailed off as he whizzed through each book and page until he jumped in triumph. "Right here! It says that he is a cursed demon to another realm called-"
"Cordonia," Sara finished. "That's where I was when I was out. Very ugly place, by the way." Ava reached over and squeezed her hand.
"It also say here that he needs a physical body to roam the Earth, blah blah blah, he is scared of the six Totems which we already knew, blah blah blah, oh and right here it says-" he suddenly went quiet. "Wow, well that's just depressing. It also says that his only only goal in life is to cause misery and serve evil."
Suddenly whispers filled Sara's head with a familiar voice.
"Sara, let me out now and I promise you that I will kill your team quickly..." The Captain had to try with all her might this time to keep the pressure that was building in her head from taking over when she felt a warm liquid running from her nose.
"Sara are you ok? Your nose is bleeding," Ava jumped from the chair she was in to look for a tissue. Wally beat her to it and was back with one within a second.
"No I'm not ok. Mallus was in my head again just now, he's getting stronger...I don't know how long I can keep him out of my head. Every time he tries to take control an excruciating pressure grows in my head. I need to be locked up somewhere I can't break out, not even him."
"Well," Zari walked over to the Captain. "I might just know a place. It's actually in the year 2058 so we might need to time jump right now."
"No that's ok Zari, I know a place right at the Time Bureau that is capable to hold people with powers," Ava said. If the Agent was being honest with herself she really just wanted Sara to stay closer to her. The Director and Captain had been dating for 3 months now and neither had said the three special words yet but Ava knew she loved the Captain.
Sara was her lifeline. If she died or got hurt, which she had a few times since they started dating, then Ava wasn't sure what she'd do. Sara turned to the taller blonde.
"Is it strong enough to hold Mallus?"
"I'm not sure..." Ava stated honestly. "We don't know the extent of Mallus but I can tell you it's held a misplaced Amazonian, a few members of the League of Assassins, all of which whom killed themselves, and believe it or not, more than a few Dominators. I guess we'll find out soon about Mallus, but I have faith in you Sara," she reassured her girlfriend.
"Well I guess that's good enough. It's better than what I would've had," Zari stated lamely, throwing her hands in the air. "I guess it's not all bad that you and the Captain are dating I guess. Though you guys steal too many of my waffles! I went down there last night and they were gone."
Ray cleared his throat and slid off the counter he was sitting on to join the conversation.
"I suggest that since our Captain, and pilot may I remind you, is currently under the influence of Mallus, that I should fly us. All in favor, say aye." All eyes were on Ray but no one said a word. "Really? Why can't I drive?" He pouted.
"Well, Raymond, since I am a pilot I suggest I should pilot us to my base, the one I work at. All in favor say aye," Ava said. Everyone present said aye. The Agent turned to Ray. "Sorry, looks like the people on the ship have a brain and don't want to crash, so it looks like I'll be flying us this evening." Sara removed the tissue from her nose and it was covered in blood.
"Well team, the sooner we get to the Time Bureau the sooner Ava can lock me up and you guys can continue on mission," the Assassin stood up, wobbly on her feet a bit.
"Wait what do you mean, Captain?" Nate asked.
"While I'm dealing with Mallus, you guys need to continue without me and fix the anachronisms so Mallus grows weaker," Sara said, everyones mouth dropping open.