Adam leaned against the wall over the infirmary, and watched the three writhing heroes below him with a slightly pained expression. J'onn sighed. "I see you're not down there with them. Or are you about to be?"
"No, I don't have that particular problem. As long as I don't use my magic, or the transporter, I'll be fine." He replied, giving the slightly tired Martian a grin. It wasn't terrifically reassuring,but J'onn figured it wasn't worth pushing it.
"Alright, but if you need anything..." Adam nodded, and pushed away from the support, and turned to wander drunkenly back the other direction, heading for the cafeteria. J'onn swallowed. Fate was difficult enough, though not as much so as Zatanna, whose power was in her voice. Etrigan was simply strong, even though J'onn was stronger. No one, not even Adam to J'onn's knowledge, knew exactly what Adam's upper limits were, and J'onn did not want to have to find out.
"Sure you shouldn't be in the infirmary?" I snorted. That was the hundredth time someone had asked me that, and I whirled around about to give whoever it was, a piece of my mind. Hermes, the messenger of the gods was standing there. We'd met before, but it hadn't been pleasant for either of us then. "I love doing that kind of thing to people."
"I'm fine, even if it feels like there's a wild animal running laps in my intestines." I replied, with a weak smile. I wasn't feeling nearly as well as I wanted other people to believe, but Hermes was polite enough not to say anything if he knew. He chuckled, and shook his head, then stuck a hand in his bag.
"Special delivery, from the cutie." Aphrodite. She was the only other being on Olympus, who didn't hate my guts. He lifted a silver bracelet from the back, and passed it over. In the form of a snake with two heads, and open mouths, I knew exactly what it was. "She said she thought you might like to have this for a while." I could have kissed him. The bracelet slipped around my wrist, and the snake heads clicked slightly as they bit each other. Instantly, the stomach churning sensation of a pair of wrestling pigs vanished.
"Pass on that I owe her a big kiss." I told him, already eternally grateful that he'd come to see me. I'd felt him arrive, but had figured he was here to see Diana.
"No problem, I was here to see Diana anyway." He shrugged, and pointed out the window. I could just make out the exhaust of her invisible jet as it broke towards the atmosphere. That'd been one hell of a piece of engeneering. Even with the Thanagarian tech, it wasn't easy to turn it from an air breather, to a short orbit spacecraft. Had driven Batman, and Booster Gold, our default technical wizards, nuts, getting everything to work, and preserving it's flight characteristics. It became quite the spectator sport, until they started throwing people out of the hangar. Didn't stop Kara and I though. Bats and the jet weren't the only things in the place that could turn invisible.
"What is this about owing someone a kiss?" Kara asked. I turned around, knowing that Hermes was already gone. I held up the bracelet.
"Aphrodite sent me a present to help with my powers while magic is wonky." I replied, with a grin. "I was saying I owe her a kiss in return." Kara raised an eyebrow.
"And should I be jealous?" She asked slipping an arm around my shoulders.
"Of course not, I married you, and you're the only one I want. I'll freely admit she's a beauty, but she's got nothing on you, at least in my eyes." I kissed her soundly, in order to prove my point. She giggled, signalling she was assured. Then she kissed me. After she left, I was sitting on the floor, recovering and I saw J'onn. He saw me, and turned the other way, appearently thinking I was in the same condition as the others. I decided it wasn't a good idea to go after him just yet.
"I told you so." I snorted, a few hours later in the cafeteria. J'onn was who I was talking to, and we'd just finished listening to Shayeras account of the destruction of the Annihilator.
"Told me what?" He asked.
"That it wasn't that big of an emergency." I replied. Kara laughed. J'onn didn't seem to appreciate the joke. Zatanna coughed, and I looked at her.
"How in hell did you escape the going nuts thing?" She asked me.
"Your magic, and Fate's was gods gifted at some point, and thus serves a part of the balance. It's mainly good, but that's not the point. Etrigans runs the full gambit, of good and evil. So he was stuck between human and demon. Your's is in your blood, and it had to be blessed by a deity of some kind, while Fates stems originally from the Egyptian gods. In any case, the magical energies themselves are aware of the balance of good and evil. When that balance was lost, the energy that flowed through you three took control." I answered.
"So? Why weren't you affected?" Zatanna asked.
"Simple. My powers are seperate from my consciousness, in order to keep them under control. They only mix when I use them. Since I didn't use them, they couldn't take control." I shrugged. "And if I'd used the transporter, I'd had to use them pull myself back together on the other side, and I'd've been caught."
"Oh." Zatanna replied. She didn't look like she believed me, but seemed to be willing to accept that, because she knew she wasn't going to get anything better. I was glad.