New Orleans. July 27. 21:57 CDT.
An old man, dressed in a fine suit and a cane walked down the streets of New Orleans, with the music of the city playing in the background. He stopped at a shop with the words, Madam Xanadu, on the window, the words divided by a large eye. Pulling out a pocket watch he flicked it open to look at the picture of a beautiful young woman contained in the lid. Flipping the lid shit he strode purposefully into the shop. The inside of the shop was small. There was a table with two chair by the window and a small bookshelf underneath the window. On a stand off to one side sat a skull with a candle burning on top of it, sending melted wax dripping down it. A woman strode out of a doorway that had strings of beads hanging from the frame in place of a doorway. She had a dark complexion, and was dressed in old fashioned clothes. The sleeves of her outfit were bright red, the upper part of her blouse was black with the lover half being dark red. Her collar had a white frill going from one side of her chest, wrapping around the back of her neck and connecting on the other side. She wore a necklace with a single gold symbol hanging from the simple black choker. She also had three blue gems on her forehead, one over the space directly between her eyes, then the others off to each side. On top of that she had a large gold hoop earring hanging from each ear.
"Bonsoir, Monsieur." she said as she walked out. "How can Madam Xanadu be of service. Ah," she said as she got closer. "There is someone with whom you wish to speak. Your wife, mais no?"
The old man tightened his grip on the watch. "Yes. My Inza." he told her.
"Tan Madam will make contact, if fate be kind." she said sitting down in one of the chairs at the small circular table.
The old man sighed. "But he so rarely is." None the less, he sat down in the other chair. Madame Xanadu cleared her throat, holding out a hand. "Oh, yes of course." the man said. Reaching inside his coat pocket he pulled out a roll of bills and handed them to the woman.
She slipped the roll between her cleavage and closed her eyes. Suddenly the crystal ball that sat on the center of the table began to glow, the lamp hanging from the ceiling began to sway and the table itself lifted off the floor and began to shake. Madame Xanadu's hair began swirling in an unseen wind. The candle's around the room flickered out. Then she began speaking in a shaky whispery voice. "Oh, my darling. How I missed you." She continued speaking, but opened her eyes, which were now glowing white. "I'm so lonely here. And cold."
Suddenly the old man burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! That's the best you could do?" he asked. The glow faded, and the table dropped back onto the floor.
"Imbecile!" Madame Xanadu snapped. "You have broken the spell! Your wife is forever lost!"
The old man laughed. "That was supposed to be my wife? Heh. Heck, my little Spitfire would have kicked my can for throwing away good money on you."
"No refunds for non believers!" Madame Xanadu snapped standing up from the table.
"I think we both know you're the non believer Madame." the man replied without raising his voice. "A wind machine?" he said gesturing behind the curtains near the ceiling. "Tire jacks under the table." he continued pulling up the floor length tablecloth to show the machinery underneath. "A shame too. You have the perfect aura for the work. And nothing would have pleased me more than to be reunited with my bride." he said pulling out the pocket watch again to look at the picture inside.
There was the sound of footsteps, then a gloved hand landed on the man's shoulder before he was pulled out of his chair by a man dressed in a white button up shirt and black pants and gloves. "You will be with her soon enough." he said in heavily accented english. He smiled menacingly at the old man before they vanished in a flash of blue light. Madame Xanadu gasped and fled into the back room, so there was no one to see the old man's abandoned cane glow gold and float into the air before disappearing in a flash.
Mount Justice. August 19. 19:39 EDT.
Inside Mount Justice Kaldur and a shirtless Superboy approached each other slowly in the sparring ring. Outside the ring, Wally stood off to one side munching on a burrito, white M'gann and Artemis stood watching the fight. Rorek was of to another side glowing white as he sat in a lotus position in mid air and meditated.
"Initiate-Combat training." the cave's synthesized voice announced. "Three. Two. One." Aqualad charged when the countdown ended. Superboy rushed to meet him. Aqualad ducked under Superboy's puch and retaliated with two of his own that Superboy blocked with his forearms, followed by a roundhouse kick that the clone leaned back to avoid. Superboy lashed out again as soon as Kaldur's feet hit the floor, but the atlantean flipped backwards to avoid it.
"Kaldur's, ah, nice. Don't you think." Artemis said to M'gann. "Handsome. Commanding." she said gesturing at the fight. "You should totally ask him out." she said folding her arms and looking at the martian girl. Artemis was wearing a white top jeans, and a jacket. M'gann was wearing her favorite style of clothes, except in blue instead of red.
"He's like a big brother to me." M'gann protested. "But you know who would make the cutest couple?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "You and Wally." she said looking over at where the he was still eating his latest snack. "You're so full of passion," she said gesturing at Artemis "And he's so full of…uh" she said gesturing at the speedster as he took another giant bit out of the burrito.
"It?" Artemis supplied with a grin. They both laughed at that.
As the girls were talking Kaldur and Superboy charged forward and started grappling. It came to an abrupt end when Superboy hooked a foot behind Kaldur's leg and threw him. "Fail-Aqualad" the cave's voice announced.
"Black Canary taught me that." Superboy said wiping his hands looking proud.
"Well what about," Artemis was about to say when a hatch in the ceiling right above the ring opened up and Red Tornado lowered himself down on a tornado as Superboy helped Kaldur to his feet.
"Do you have a mission for us?" Wally asked zooming up.
The robot paused and turned to look at him. "Mission assignments are the Batmans responsibility." he answered in his usual monotone.
"Yeah, well the Batman's with the Robin doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham. Wally said jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, as the rest of the team, minus Rorek stood behind him. "But you're headed somewhere right?" he asked pointing at the crimson robot. "Hot date? Or a mission?" he asked with a horrible fake accent.
"If we can be of help…" Kaldur said, holding out a hand.
Red Tornado turned and activated the holoscreens. "This is Kent Nelson." he said pulling up a picture of the old man that had been in New Orleans. Several smaller screens, displaying various information about the man were around the edges of the man's picture. "A friend. He is one hundred and six years old."
"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety." Wally whispered to Artemis.
"And he has been missing for twenty three day." Red Tornado continued. "Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society. The precursor to your mentors Justice League."
"As the latest Doctor Fate." Rorek said, opening his eyes. As if to enhance the impact of their leaders words, the picture of the old man changed to a man dressed in a blue full body skinsuit with gold boots, belt, gloves and cape. But the most striking thing about his appearance was the golden helmet that he wore. It covered his entire head, save for his eyes and had no decorations except for the tall god fin on the top. "The most powerful sorcerer in the world." Rorek continued.
"More like Doctor Fake." Wally scoffed quietly to Artemis. "Guy knows a little advanced science and Dumbledore's it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes."
"Kent may simply be one one of his walkabouts. But as Arcane most likely already knows, he is caretaker to one of the most powerful mystic items in the world."
Rorek nodded. "The Helmet of Fate. It acts as a direct link between whoever wears it and the powers of Order. It is said that wearing the helmet is almost like becoming a Lord of Order yourself."
"And it is unwise to leave such power unguarded." Red Tornado finished.
"He is like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars." M'gann said stepping forward. "I would be honored to help find him."
Wally's hand shot into the air like a bullet. "Me too!" he said with way too much enthusiasm. Everyone turned to look at him, Rorek just raised an eyebrow. "So honored I can barely stand it." the speedster said taking a step forward. "Magic rocks." he said holding up two devil horn signs.
"Take this." Red Tornado said, handing an ornate gold key to Rorek. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate."
"What are the chances we both so admire the mystic arts?" Wally tried to say suavely to M'gann.
Later the team, minus Robin were seated in the bio-ship as it made its way through the night sky invisibly. "So, Wally, when did you first realize your honest affinity for sorcery?" Artemis asked.
"Well" he said. "I don't mean to brag, but before becoming Kid Flash, I seriously considered becoming a wizard myself." he said, leaning back in his chair and looking up at M'gann who was in the pilots seat. Artemis rolled her eyes and Rorek put his face in his hand and shook his head.
"We've reached Tornado's coordinates, but," M'gann said.
"Nothing's there." Superboy said.
"Wrong." Rorek said. "Land, and I'll show you what I mean."
As the ship landed a tabby cat with solid red eyes, save for it's slit like pupils narrowed its eyes at them and hopped through some wooden bars nailed against a window of an abandoned theater. "Grant us access to the tower and I promise and end to your suffering." said the voice of the man who had kidnapped Kent as the cat walked down the aisle. "Continue to refuse and…" the was the hum of building energy and a crackle as it was released. A cry of pain made a thin figure dressed in a black suit start laughing as the cat jumped into his lap. Long, thin fingers started stroking the felines fur making it purr. It meowed at him but the boyish figure with gray skin and thin features put a finger to his lips.
"Shush Teekl! I'm watching the show." the boy said snickering again. On the stage stood the man in the white shirt, holding a magicians wand in his hands which were clasped behind his back. Kent Nelson was also on stage, tied to a wooden chair.
"Enjoy it while you can." Kent panted. "Soon enough, my friends will come to help me." As he spoke the man in the white shirt walked over behind the old man, revealing that the shirt was open a fair amount and he wore a gold necklace as well as a large belt buckle with the letter A on it. As Kent spoke the man raised his wand, letting the electrical energy build there before releasing it into Kent's body again.
The boyish figure stood up clapping so suddenly that the cat leapt off his lap, hissing. "Encore, Encore!" he shouted. The cat meowed more insistently. "What?" the boy asked looking at the cat. It hissed, the sat up and looked at him, it's eyes glowing red. "Ohh." the boy said."
Wally skidded to a halt in front of Artemis and Rorek. "Nothing." he said. "This isn't simple camouflage."
"So what do you think?" she asked him. "Adaptive micro-optic-electronics combined with phase shifting?"
"Absolutely," Wally said, then noticed M'gann walking up. "Not! Clearly, mystic powers are at work here." Rorek narrowed his eyes at the speedster. Then, shifted his gaze subtly to look behind them where the boy, the cat, the kidnapper and Kent Nelson had just appeared out of a warp in space.
"Hey, Abra Kadabra." the boy said. "Aren't you using adaptive micro-optic-electronics and phase shifting?" he asked.
"Yes." Abra Kadabra said looking away irritatedly.
"It's a test of faith." Rorek said walking forward. "Watch." Reaching out, he inserted the key into mid air, where it entered with the sound of a key entering an old fashioned lock. Turning it instantly revealed a massive four sided stone tower, while they were standing at a large wooden door. Everyone stared, wide eyed at the tower, which hadn't been there a moment before. Rorek pushed open the door and pulled out the key, then lead the way inside. As the door closed behind them, he stayed just inside the doorway chanting under his breath. The door closed on its own, then vanished leaving them sealed inside. Rorek placed a hand on the wall. The walls all flashed white briefly, then the glow faded.
"Uh, where'd the door go?" Superboy asked.
"And what did you just do?" Wally questioned.
"The door is gone because the entrance is not the same as the exit. And what I just did was a barrier." he said turning to the rest of the team. "We aren't alone here. There was something outside. Something unbelievably powerful. That spell won't keep them out forever, but it should buy us some time to get to the helmet and get out."
Before anyone could say anything else, a gold hologram appeared in the image of Kent Nelson. "Greetings." it said. "You have entered with a key, but the tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent."
Wally looked back over his shoulder and grinned at M'gann. "We are true believers!" he said stepping forward. "Here to find, Doctor Fate." The hologram frowned at him and vanished.
Rorek groaned. "Tell me you did not just say that." the floor crumbled and collapsed under their feet. Screaming the team fell towards the lava far below them.
M'gann grabbed Wally and hovered in the air, while Artemis pulled out a crossbow and fired a bolt with a line attached. She swung around and caught Kaldur while Rorek glowed white and swooped down to catch Superboy before he hit the lava. Sure he was invincible, but lava really wasn't the best thing to test its limits with.
Outside the tower the boy with the cat, Abra Kadabra and Kent Nelson all appeared out of thin air. Pushing Kent forward, the boy smiled when a glowing golden ankh appeared on the door, but before it could open, a glowing white pentagram appeared on top of it, and the door stayed shut. Kent smiled. "It looks like someone in that group knows what their doing at least."
The boy snarled, and raising his hands he summoned two handfuls of dark red, flamelike energy and threw it at the door. The door shuddered but held. Unfortunately, the white pentagram had a crack running through it. Smiling viciously the boy summoned more flamelike energy.
Inside the pit, M'gann and Kaldur were both starting to have problems. "Having trouble, maintaining altitude." the martian girl said as she and Wally dropped dangerously. "Gah, I'm so hot." she said wiping sweat off her forehead.
"You certainly are." Wally sighed dreamily.
"Wally!" Artemis shouted.
"Hey!" he shot back. "Inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind!"
"My physiology," Kaldur said, "And M'gann's are susceptible to extreme heat. We must climb out quickly."
"No!" Rorek said. "Fighting the tower will only make things worse! We have to answer the tower's question honestly!" Saying this he raised his voice, as if speaking to someone far above them. "We are here at the request of Red Tornado, who seeks to have the Helmet of Fate moved for safekeeping and to locate Kent Nelson!" Instantly stone slabs slid shut over the pool of lava and the team dropped onto it.
"This platform." Kaldur said crouching down and placing his fingers against the stone. "It should be red hot. But it cool to the touch."
"Don't worry Megalicious. I gotcha." Wally said wrapping an arm around the still woozy martian.
"Enough!" Artemis screamed, pushing Wally away from M'gann.
She might have done more but Rorek grabbed the speedster by the collar and slammed him against the stone wall. "If you ever think about putting this team in danger from your own arrogance again" he snarled, "I will put you in the hospital!"
"Hey!" Superboy said, running over and trying to pull Rorek off of Wally. But the white aura that had flared up around the spellcaster in his rage signed the clones hands as soon as it made contact.
"Think before you act!" Rorek hissed. "You were so desperate to impress M'gann that you nearly got us all killed!"
"Hey! All I did was answer the computer's question!" Wally snapped.
"No! All you did was lie to a powerful, possibly sentient tower designed to keep out all intruders! This isn't science Wally! It's magic!" Rorek shouted, releasing Wally and walking a short distance away.
"No it isn't!" Wally shouted back.
"Wally." M'gann's disappointed voice cut through their argument. "You don't believe?"
Everyone looked at the speedster. "Fine! Fine! I lied about believing in magic!" he shouted. "But magic it the real lie, a major load." he said crossing his arms and looking off to the side.
"Wally, I studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis. They mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water bearers."
"Dude," Wally scoffed. "You ever hear of bioelectricity? Hey, in primitive cultures, fire was considered magic too."
"You mean like this?" Rorek asked holding up and handful of flames.
"You can probably just access more of you brainpower than most people. You know, speeding up molecules, and condensing oxygen so that the fire doesn't go out." Wally said in an offhand manor.
Rorek gritted his teeth behind his scarf and clenched his fist, extinguishing the flames.
"You know, you're pretty close minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers." Artemis said putting a hand on Rorek's shoulder.
"That's science!" Wally shot back. "I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment, and here I am. Everything can be explained by science."
"You mean explained away by science." Rorek said turning away from the speedster. "You're so determined not to see what's right in front of you that you are more than willing to come up with another explanation, any other explanation."
"Let us test his theory." Kaldur said, gripping a handle near the middle of the stone floor.
"Wait!" Wally said. "The backdraft from the lava will roast us alive." But when Kaldur opened the trapdoor, it wasn't a flurry of sparks that came through, it was snow.
"It's snow!" M'gann said happily.
"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Artemis grinned at Wally. Stepping through the portal to a mountainside Rorek landed feet first in the snow. It took a second to reorient himself, because what had been down was now forward. Reaching back he helped the others through. As soon as Wally was through, the portal, which had appeared in the middle of nowhere in a random mountain range glowed gold and vanished. Turning around he saw most of them looking at him expectantly. "Well?" Artemis asked.
"Ever hear of string theory?" he snapped. "We're in a pocket dimension."
"Ugh!" Artemis grunted. Then they turned to Rorek, who no longer seemed to care about Wally's distaste in magic. His eyes had landed on a cane which hung in the air in front of them. Artemis walked forward while Wally rolled his eyes.
"Maybe it's Nelson's magic wand." he said sarcastically.
"No wait!" Rorek said lunging forward. But both Artemis and Wally had grabbed the cane at exactly the same time. Through sheer luck Rorek was able to clamp his hand on the top at exactly the same moment. Together the three of them were lifted into the air by the cane, suddenly glowing gold, then they vanished.
Inside the tower, the three intruders and Kent walked along at a hurried pace. The boyish figure was fuming. "How dare that little novice punk try and get in my way!" he ranted.
Abra said nothing, not wanting to face his master's wrath. Kent might have said something except for the collar around his neck that prevented him from speaking and allowed Abra to force the collar to speak in his voice. It was how they had gotten so far in the tower in such a short time. Grabbing Kent's shoulder, Abra pulled the old man to a stop. "Tell us how to find the helmet!" he growled. He grabbed the collar and pulled it off, tossing it over his shoulder so that Kent could answer.
"Can't." the old man rasped. "Having too much fun." Growling Arba zapped Kent again, sending him to the floor.
"Still having fun?" Abra asked cruelly.
"Oh! I am!" the boy cackled. "Zap him again! Or dump him off the side and watch him splat!" Raising the wand, Abra sent another surge of electricity through the old man's frame. He would have continued, but the cat meowed and the boy sighed. "Huh, yes yes. I suppose we might still need him."
The three remaining team members trudged through the snow, trying to find a way out of where they were. "I don't understand Wally." M'gann said. "It's almost like he needs to believe the impossible can't happen."
"Wally uses his understanding of science to control what he cannot comprehend. To accept the existence of magic would be to relinquish the last vestige of that control." Kaldur explained.
"Even though he's know you and Rorek for longer than we have?" Superboy asked.
Kaldur sighed. "Rorek and I have worked together more often than we have with either Robin or Wally. And while I am not sure where Robin stands on believing in magic, I am fairly sure that Wally's refusal to even consider its existence might be part of why someone like Rorek, whose entire life has been shaped by it, would feel unwelcome." A creaking sound cut off any more conversation. On a mountain top, not far from them was another hole in the universe that lead somewhere else, it even had a few steps extending from it.
Back inside the tower Rorek, Artemis and Wally appeared on a platform between two stairwells not far from Abra Kadabra, Kent and the cat boy.
"Abra Kadabra!" Wally said, recognizing one of the Flash's foes.
"Well would you look at that." Kent said grinning. The cane, that the three teens still could not let go of, glowed gold again and so did Kent, who lifted into the air and shot towards them. He landed kneeling and extended his tied hands to the cane. It shot into his hands, breaking the connection to the teens and the ropes on his wrists melted away. "In here!" he said holding up the cane and firing a bolt at the wall near them which then turned into an elevator.
"No, no, no!" the boy screamed. "I want that helmet! I want it, I want it, I want it!" he ranted, like a child throwing a tantrum and fired bolts of red lightning at the door.
Inside the elevator the four passengers stood in an awkward silence for a few moments. "I'm Kent Nelson by the way." the old man said at last, breaking the silence.
"No duh." Wally muttered before he was elbowed by Artemis and smacked on the back of the head by Rorek.
"I'm Artemis." the archer introduced herself. "Miss Manners here is Wally. And that's Rorek." she said nodding at the white haired spellcaster.
"So you're the one who set up that barrier at the tower entrance." Kent said turning to Rorek. "That was good work. You had Klarion spitting fire. Literally."
"Klarion!" Rorek half gasped.
"Yes." Kent nodded. "We're up against an opponent with tremendous mystic power." Kent said, more to explain it to the others than Rorek.
"Abra Kadabra?" Wally scoffed. "Flash proved he uses futuristic technology to simulate magic. Guy's all show and no buis."
"Right you are." Kent agreed amiably.
"He is?" Artemis asked surprised, making Wally grin smugly.
"Abra is a charlatan," Ken continued.
"But Klarion the Witchboy is a whole different story." Rorek said, his hands clenching and unclenching. "The kid with the cat," he said when Artemis and Wally shot him confused looks. "Is an actual Lord of Chaos."
"The ultimate enemy of a Lord of Order like Doctor Fate." Kent said.
"Right…" Wally said sceptically. "You're a Lord of Order."
"Oh no, not me." Kent shook his head. "I'm just an old coat that Fate used to put on. Until my wife Inza convinced me there could be more to life." he said taking out his pocket watch and flipping it open to gaze lovingly at the picture inside. "Ah, she was a real pistol, that Inza. Anywoo," he said snapping out of his thoughts. "Klarion is after the helmet. If he gets his sticky little mitts on it, he'll turn the planet into his own personal playground of pandemonium." The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Walking out the four people strode up a staircase and towards a large golden bell. As the walked under what appeared to be a wooden platform the the bell was hanging from a doorway shimmered into existence in the ceiling, or it could have been the floor, after all who could tell when the entire area looked like an Escher painting, and out fell Superboy and Kaldur. M'gann floated down gently after them. Artemis ran over to their friends. "Friends of yours?" Kent asked. The a bolt of electricity flew at them so fast that Rorek barely had time to smack it aside.
"Friends of yours?" Wally asked as he moved Kent out to the line of fire. As Abra fired off more bolts of electricity the team dove out of the way. Kent Stood up and Banged on the giant bell once with his cane, causing the entire object to glow gold. Then he stepped though, still escorted by Wally. Gathering power, Rorek hurled a bolt of white light at the face magician and dove in after them. But he hadn't been the only one. Klarion had seen what Kent was up to and had flown at the bell in time to follow them.
The three heroes arrived on the top of the tower in a flash of golden light, with the Helmet of Fate floating in front of them. But as Kent made to reach for it a blast of crimson energy struck him in the chest. Standing across from them was Klarion, his hands still full of chaotic power. "Mr. Nelson!" Wally gasped. Kent struggled to stay upright. Gasping he chanted an incantation and slammed his cane on the tower roof. A dome of golden light encased them in time to block Klarion's latest blast.
"NO!" Klarion screamed.
"Not bad for a former Doctor Fake, eh kid?" Kent wheezed, before collapsing. Kent turned to Rorek. "You need to," he coughed horribly.
"I can't." Rorek said, not allowing for Kent to finish. "But I'm not compatible with the helmet. Or with Fate. But I can buy some more time." and with that he held out his hand and the light around them condensed into a single point before expanding to reveal a gleaming longsword. Power crackled along the blade as the teen stepped out of the protective bubble and slashed through the next of Klarion's attacks.
Kent turned to Wally. "As skilled as your friend may be, he's no match for Klarion. The bubble will give you just enough time to do what you need to do."
"I have no idea what I need to do!" Wally nearly shouted at the man he cradled in his arms.
"Have faith in what you cannot explain." Kent wheezed, pulling out his pocket watch and opening it. "Believe in what you can no longer…deny." And then the man went limp in Wally's arms.
"Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty! Come on! Come on!" Wally panted, as he pushed furiously on Kent's chest. But the CPR had no effect. Flashes of red and white light filled the area as Rorek and Klarion attacked each other. It soon became clear that Klarion was on a whole different level from Rorek. But something was preventing him from crushing the human. Whenever his magic came into contact with that sword, it weakened, enough for the human to cancel it out with his own with light.
"I want that helmet and I want it now!" Klarion snarled, sending more dark magic at Rorek, who was flying around Klarion, sending out arcs of magic from his sword that Klarion was able to shrug off.
Wally looked at the hemet and them back to Kent. Then a voice echoed through his mind. 'Wally, Rorek, we're in trouble!' M'gann sent via the telepathic link. 'Tell Kent we need Doctor Fate!' Through the link the two teens on the towers top were able to see what was going on, Abra had most of the team trapped in domes of electricity, then the link was abruptly severed as M'gann was trapped in one as well.
Unfortunately for Rorek, the brief lapse in his concentration due to the unexpected link was all the time Klarion needed to knock him out of the air. When he got up, his eyes had turned red. "That was a mistake." He snarled, sounding angrier that Wally had ever seen him. Rorek was generally a pretty composed guy. But now he was angry. With a roar he sung the sword down and a wave of black light erupted from it. Klarion was too surprised to move. When the energy fade the Witchboy was standing there, and for the first time since the fight began, had sustained damage.
"That hurt you little insect!" Klarion screamed as he thrust both hands out towards Rorek. A dragon made of red energy slammed into Rorek's chest, sending him sprawling against the golden bubble.
"A test of faith." Wally said, as Klarion created two gigantic clawed hands of red energy and slammed them into the bubble, the tips finally breaking the surface.
"Hey dumb kid." Klarion called out to Wally. "You put that on you may never get it off!" And with that he made a ripping gesture with his hands and the energy constructs followed suit, tearing the bubble apart.
Wally barely had time to pull the golden helmet down over his head as a wave of red, flame like energy washed over him.
Opening his eyes Wally found that he was standing in a blank void. "Ok, ok. I'm not here. I'm just delusional." he told himself.
"Still don't believe?" an amused voice behind him asked. "Seriously kid, how'd you get so bullheaded in fifteen short years?" Kent Nelson asked as he walked up to the speedster.
"But-but you're-you're…" Wally couldn't get the words out as he backed away from the old man.
"Yep." Kent said. "But don't feel bad. Soon as this little brouhaha is over, my spirit will ascend and I'll be reunited with my beloved Inza."
"O-oh, ok." Wally said, not sure how to deal with this level of nonchalance from someone about their own death. Then a new thought struck him. "Wait! Does that I'm…"
"Ah, you're alive." Kent said, laying a comforting hand on Wally's shoulder. "But your soul no longer controls your body. See, we're inside the helmet. You put it on and my soul got sucked in, probably because I spent so many years serving it's master."
"Master?" Wally asked confused.
"Nabu." Kent said. "The real Doctor Fate. One of them Lords of Order I was telling you about. He's the guy controlling your body now." Kent said patting Wally's shoulder. "Wanna watch?" he asked and then they could see it all.
Nabu floated in midair, holding up a glowing ankh shield that was blocking Klarion's attacks. "Give it up Nabu!" Klarion sneered. "Order went out of style in the twentieth century!"
"This battle is pointless." Doctor Fate said in a double layered voice, one was Wally, but the other was much deeper and more powerful. "You sought to take the helmet before it claimed a host, but you are too late."
"Shut it you old fart!" Klarion sneered, raising his hands and lifting two pillars of the towers roof and slammed them together on Doctor Fate. The ankh symbol appeared in front of the rock and it blew apart.
"Brat!" Doctor Fate snapped and blasted an ankh shaped energy beam at the Lord of Chaos. Klarion screamed and dissolved, only to reappear behind Doctor Fate and blast him in the back with red lightning.
Inside the helmet Wally screamed and fell to his knees. "What gives?" he asked.
"Well, it is your body." Kent shrugged.
"Then let me control it!" Wally said standing back up. "With Fate's power and my speed,"
"Sorry kid, it doesn't work that way." Kent said. "But you can see why I haven't put on the helmet in sixty-five years."
"And if Fate loses this fight?" Wally asked apprehensively.
"You see Inza before I do." Kent said, all traces of amusement gone.
On the outside, Klarion sent a beast of chaotic energy at Fate, who dove out of the way then held up an ankh shield as it came back around, only to get nailed in the back with another one. Grinning Klarion made two finger guns and shot at Fate rapidly, with little red lights appearing over his shoulders. Fate held up and hand and created a barrier but a few shots later it broke and Fate was blown back. Fate lifted into the air and flew in a circle to avoid a blast of red fire breath from Klarion. Trusting up a palm Klarion summoned pillars of his flamelike energy that Fate expertly avoided until one appeared directly underneath him.
"You're out of practice Nabu." Klarion gloated. "And that pathetic host body? Zero affinity for the mystic arts."
"Then why don't you try me?" a voice said as Rorek rammed his sword through Klarion's back. They boy and his cat both screamed as white lightning crackled around them. Klarion teleported away, panting and looking wary. But Rorek wasn't finished yet. His eyes had turned white and shone with power. Swing after swing and arc after arc of mystic white energy scythed their way through the air slamming into Klarion's shield. Then the teen's boot came down on the tail of the red eyed cat, his sword pointed at the back of it's neck. "That's your weakness isn't it?" Rorek said, his eyes never leaving the Witchboy. "Neither Lords of Order nor Lords of Chaos can maintain themselves on the physical plane without some kind of anchor." At this point white flames had erupted in a circle around him. "Fate used the helmet and a human host. But not you."
"You're babbling brat!" Klarion snapped.
"Then why don't I make it simple?" Rorek said, and he touched the tip of his sword to the cats neck, sending arcs of magic power along it. The cat howled in pain and Klarion's body flickered.
"Teekl!" Klarion screamed. "I can't believe you would attack a defenseless pussy cat."
"We all know that creature is no cat Witchboy." came the dual voice of Wally and Nabu. "And without your familiar, you have no anchor in this reality."
"Bullies! Killjoys!" Klarion shouted at them. But fate just held up his hands and sent another blast of magic at the Lord of Chaos. "Holy crap!" Klarion said before disappearing in a dark red portal. He reappeared briefly inside Rorek's ring of fire and blasted him off the cat before disappearing again in the blink of an eye.
Inside the tower the team screamed as they were constantly assaulted by the electric energy Abra controlled via his wand. Suddenly and ankh appeared behind him and his clothes and wand vanished. He barely had time to gasp "What?"
Superboy then stood up "Show's over" he said and punched Abra in the face, knocking him unconscious.
"Yes!" Wally cheered inside the helmet. "That's how we kick it on the earthly plane." But Fate didn't move. "Uh, it-it's over, right? So why isn't Nabu taking off the helmet?" he asked Kent.
"Because the earth needs Doctor Fate." came the deep voice of Nabu as a glowing helmet appeared inside the void. "I will not release this body."
"He can't do that!" Wally shouted. "Can he do that?" he asked Kent.
"Can but shouldn't." Kent replied. "Nabu, this is not the right candidate. The kid's soul belongs to the world of science, not sorcery."
"True." Nabu conceded. "But I do not appreciate being permanently hidden away, useless and isolated of decades at a time."
"Then let us find the right candidate." Rorek stepped into being beside Wally and Kent.
"Dude!" Wally shouted, having never been so relieved to see his sorcerous friend. "What…"
"Astral injection." Rorek said. "I've temporarily put my soul into the helmet. But I'm not all here."
"I can see that." Wally muttered. It was true, Rorek was see through, almost like a hollywood ghost.
"We will take the helmet, make sure that you are able to help when necessary." Rorek said.
"And in the meantime, I'll stick around. Keep you company." Kent added.
"Wait! What happened to you ascending? Seeing Inza?" Wally asked.
"So you believe now eh?" Kent said. "Don't sweat it kid. I'll spend a few millennia here, then see Inza." he said taking out his pocket watch. "That's the great thing about eternity. It's eternal."
"And I will visit as well." Rorek said. "I may not be able to wear the helmet, but I can visit inside it temporarily. Isolation is a torture I know all too well."
"The bargain is acceptable." Nabu said.
"Some free advice before you go." Kent said turning to Rorek. "You're a lot like me. So find your own little Spitfire. One who won't let you get away with nothing. For example that,"
It faded white as Wally regained his senses he realized that he was taking the golden helmet off his head and Rorek was taking his hand off the helmet. Together they walked over to Kent's body. Wally placed the pocket watch in his hand and closed Kent's fingers around it. Rorek sorrowfully placed a hand on Kent's forehead then moved his hand down and gently closed the old man's eyes for the last time.
Mount Justice. August 20. 04:38 EDT.
Wally walked over to a shelf that had an eye, a Cobra cultist mask, the Arrow from the Amazo mission and the Cat mask he's picked up on Artemis's first mission. Almost reverently he placed the Helmet of Fate next to the cat mask.
Someone cleared their throat. Artemis stood leaning against the doorway. "You never siad what happened to you, when you put on the helmet." she said.
"Energy from the thing rewrote my brains beta waves. I was bio-scripted into becoming Doctor Fate for a few minutes, no big."
"Wait, you're still claiming there's no such thing as magic? If that's how you feel, why keep it at all?" Artemis asked.
"Souvenir." Wally shrugged before zooming off.
"Geek." Artemis called after him.
"Let it go Artemis." a voice from behind her said.
Artemis whipped around sharply staring into the piercing blue eyes of Rorek.
"Why? You use magic, shouldn't this be something you want him to admit?" she asked him.
"There are some things you can't believe, even if you believe them." Rorek said.
"Ugh, stow the fortune cookie act." Artemis said walking out just in time to hear Wally try to get another date with M'gann, this time through tickets to a magic show.
*Again this chapter was kind of important to Arcane's character development. His acceptance of Wally's lack of belief and when he lost his temper were all things that he needed to do. It showed that he did have limits and Wally was pushing them.
*Sorry to all you Spitfire fans out there, but in this fic Spitfire will be Artemis and Rorek. Yes I did just steal the entire ship name.
*If anyone wants to guess what make's Rorek's sword so special feel free to post in the reviews.
