Shuffling after the surprisingly spry old man, Wally found himself humouring him (because he too, was just as curious about what was going on) and peered out through one of the rather enlarged eyeholes in the Helmet which showed him a view of the outside world—of reality. There he found two things: one was Rachel curled up around Kent's body as she wept unabashedly into his chest with her familiar standing guard over the pair. But above that he saw himself; or more accurately, himself cosplaying as Doctor Fate as he (Nabu?) fought with the witch boy, Klarion. Those sights were enough to make Wally's heart clench; in fear or heartache, he didn't know.
"That's enough playtime, you brats" Nabu crooned as he divided the two beings of chaos. One—Rachel—shielded both herself & Kent behind Nabu's back whilst the other—Klarion—continued to fire on the golden-garbed wizard without restraint. Just as it had done with every iteration of Doctor Fate, the golden suit moulded itself to the speedster's body, clinging to every nook & cranny with amazing dexterity; save for the golden cape which hung from his shoulders like a waterfall and whose collar reached up towards his ears in a great big swooping arch.
"…Give it up, Nabu! Order went out of style in the 20th Century!" Klarion cried as he flung blast after blast at the Lord of Order, who simply blocked the attacks with a giant golden ankh placed between them.
"This battle is pointless" Nabu replied, his voice layering with his host's—Wally—to create an almost magical authority that demanded respect. It was likely the reason Klarion was fighting so hard and the very same reason that Rachel seemed to cower in fear at his back. "You sought to take the Helmet before it gained a host! But you are too late!"
"Shut it, you old fart!" Klarion growled, sending two arching pillars of stone at the wizard.
"Brat!" Nabu responded in kind as he exploded from the stone cage and sent a barrage of magic at the witch boy. It was only thanks to his feline familiar that he was able to reincorporate again, a little off to the side.
"That was a dirty trick, you armadillo!" Klarion sneered as he stabbed Nabu in the back, catching him off guard.
"Aaah!" Wally gasped inside the Helmet, falling to his knees in pain. He turned to Kent with tears pricking at his eyes and shoulders that shook with phantom pains. "Oi! What gives?"
"Well, it IS your body" Kent shrugged as if it made perfect sense.
"Then let ME control it!" Wally bargained, regaining his footing. "With FATE'S power and MY speed—!"
"—Sorry Kid" Kent interjected, sounding not at all that apologetic. "Doesn't work that way. But you can see why I haven't put on the Helmet in so long"
"…And if Fate…LOSES this fight?" Wally hesitantly asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"YOU see Insa before I do" Kent replied gravely.
"You're outta practise, Nabu!" Klarion crowed as he tossed Nabu-slash-Wally around like a ragdoll before summoning a storm to beat down upon the golden wizard. "And that pathetic host body has zero affinity for the mystic arts!"
"Argh!" Nabu grunted in pain as he quickly threw up a shield to protect himself from the lightning that threatened to cook him and his new host alive. Mercifully, Klarion seemed more interested in him than the witch girl and his old host body, leaving them alone where they had sequestered themselves in one of the darker corners of the Tower's rooftop.
It was there that Rachel had dragged Kent's body away from the fight so that she could both protect him and try to revive him. The latter wasn't working out so well and even though she knew that he was very likely dead, she couldn't find it in herself to stop. Death was a strange concept to a being of the sixth dimension; mostly because if you an anchor to the physical plane, then you were able to corporate and discorporate at will (with some practise, of course) and ultimately cheat death for a time. So an actual end to a life was strange and seemed almost wrong to the girl. Logically she knew that everything had to eventually come to an end and as she held his cold & lifeless hands in hers, she felt a strange sense of hopelessness—the same kind she felt when she had summoned her father all those years ago—sweep through her; like she had just lost everything all over again.
"Ooh~! Rainbow powers~!" Klarion cooed at the reaction between chaotic and orderly magic as it collided, producing sparks of the aforementioned 'rainbow powers'
"Mrrow!" Teekl meowed, garnering her witch's attention.
"I am paying attention, you stupid cat!" The witch boy growled as he continued to attack Fate.
"Mrrow!" She hissed, arching her back when he just didn't seem to get it. Teekl was used to the names, Klarion liked to toss them about so much that they had seemingly lost all meaning by this point. But that was not the issue at hand, here.
"Yeah? Well, in case you hadn't noticed: I'm winning—!"
FLASH! BOOM!
Nabu easily freed himself from Klarion's control in the small blip of distraction that the cat had unknowingly provided for him. Light & magic exploded out from the wizard, knocking everyone back a pace or two and out of the corner of his eye, he noted that a small dark dome had erupted around where Kent and Rachel had once sat; likely the witch girl's doing. Standing tall, Nabu turned to face Klarion surrounded in a ring of golden fire that he would inwardly admit, made him look rather imposing and to be feared.
"It is difficult for a Lord of Order or Chaos to maintain a presence on the physical plane" Nabu sneered, sending Klarion into a tailspin of rage and barely concealed fear. "I am bound to the Helmet and use a human host. But that is not your way"
"You're babbling, Nabu!" Klarion cried as he dodged another attack from the wizard who had quickly taken to the air.
"Am I?" Nabu smirked as he moved, this time, to attack the feline familiar who stood nearby and yowling at her master's feet.
"Teekl!" Klarion cried as he flickered in place. Now that his anchor to the physical world was injured, he would be lucky to survive the rest of his encounter with Fate. "I can't believe you would assault a defenceless little pussycat!"
"We both know that creature is no cat, witch boy!" nabu retorted, his tone full of mirth. "And without your familiar, you have no anchor in this reality!"
"Bully! Killjoy! Geezer!" Klarion taunted as he scooped up his injured cat and cuddled her close. He still couldn't believe that she had been hurt; he couldn't remember the last time that had happened. Probably the last time he had tangled with a Lord of Order.
"Enough of your noise, brat!" Nabu sneered, sending a bolt of golden hue at him.
"Holy carp!" Klarion swore as he quickly teleported the both of them out of there. "We're outta here!"
And just like that, it was over.
"YES! Woohoo! That's how we kick it on the earthly plane!" Wally cheered, pumping his fists in the air when he-slash-Nabu had not only WON the fight, but SURVIVED it too. At least until he realised that he was STILL trapped inside the Helmet. "Uh…it's over, right? So WHY isn't Nabu taking off the Helmet?"
"Because the Earth NEEDS Doctor Fate" Nabu replied as a visage of a figureless Helmet appeared before them. Honestly, it felt A LOT like the whole fiasco with Mumbo Jumbo and his brain-maddening hat. "I will NOT release this body"
"He CAN'T do that!" Wally protested, "…Can he do that?"
"Can, but shouldn't" Kent scowled in reply. "Nabu, this is not the right candidate. The kid's soul belongs to the world of Science, not Sorcery"
"True" Nabu nodded "But I do not appreciate being permanently hidden away—useless and isolated for DECADES at a time—especially when YOU refuse to let me adorn the body of that witch girl"
"She is a Lady of Chaos, as you perfectly well know, Nabu" Kent retorted, the grip on his cane turning white-knuckled. "And a powerful one at that. You cannot possess her even if you tried"
"I could" The Lord of Order petulantly replied.
"And risk death?" Kent cocked a brow, mindless of the teen's reaction at his side. "On either end? Even YOU aren't THAT stupid"
"CHAOS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO REIGN!" Nabu exploded.
"That won't happen again" Kent reassured him, "The boy'll take the Helmet and make sure that you're put to good use"
"I will?" Wally asked, taken aback. Kent cocked a questioning, but silent brow at the ginger, making him quickly backpedalled before he turned to the illusion of the Helmet to back up the old man. "I—I mean, yeah! I swear I will!"
"But in the meantime" Kent smiled wanly, "I'll stick around and keep you company"
"Wait—! What happened to you ascending? To seeing Insa?" Wally cried, turning to the old man with wide eyes.
"So you believe NOW, eh?" Kent smiled knowingly, "Don't sweat it, Kid! I'll spend a few millennia here and THEN go & see Insa"
"But—but what about Rachel?"
"That's the great thing about infinity, it's ETERNAL" Kent smiled down at the image of his wife outlined in the gold of his pocketwatch. Kent liked to think that if he'd ever had children of his own, then they might've turned out to be little spitfires just like his wife—just like Rachel. "We'll see each other again some day, but for now she has you and the other young'uns to watch out for her"
"The bargain is ACCEPTABLE" Nabu grudgingly agreed.
"Some free advice before you go" Kent turned to Wally one last time. "Find your OWN little spitfire; one who won't let you get away with nothing. For example that…"
Taking off the Helmet had felt…odd. Like peeling off wet socks or shaking his head free of ringing ears, Wally took a moment to compose himself in the middle of the rooftop before he turned to the back corner of the Tower where Nabu had noted a black dome of inky shadows going up around Rachel and Kent Nelson. Tucking the Helmet under one arm, the speedster cautiously made his way over to said corner as he warred with himself as to how to approach this strange situation. he certainly didn't want a repeat of the Amazo incident should Rachel decide to freak out. Although, she had an obvious right to, considering her mentor had just died (possibly at the hands of her so-called brother in the middle of their fight).
Hesitantly—almost fearfully—his hand reached out to the dark dome, but before his fingers could so much as graze the inky shadows, it dissipated as if it had never been there. With the dome gone, Wally was confronted with another image that made his heart clench; only this one was for a vastly different reason. Staring up at him was the teary-eyed visage of Rachel as she clung desperately to the Kent's cold and weathered hand. But that still wasn't the reason he so hated what he saw; no that feeling belonged to the big red-rimmed eyes that stared at him with utter fear.
Rachel was scared of him and he had no idea why; it couldn't have been because of Doctor Fate, right? She couldn't be scared of her own mentor, could she? Then again, Fate was a powerful hero—one of the founders of the precursor to the League—and technically speaking, the enemy to a Lady of Chaos; so he supposed it was only natural. But it didn't make it any easier. Especially when Rachel backpedalled, going as far as she could until her back hit the wall when Wally bent to tighten Kent's fingers around his pocketwatch from where it had fallen and to close his glassy eyes.
"Go away…!" Rachel murmured softly, her eyes untrusting of him.
"Rae…" Wally crooned; hand reaching out to reassure her.
"I said, GO AWAY!" Rachel cried, tears falling freely as Hugin leapt from her shadow and charged on some unknown order, going straight for his eyes.
"Je—Jesus!" Wally stuttered, quickly backpedalling as he pulled back his hand in his attempt to be free of the four-eyed bird. It was much better than the black tentacles, but no less terrifying.
'SLEEP!' Mercifully, before the pair of dark talons could sink themselves into his eyes, the bird dropped from the air and melted back into the shadows, leaving Raven to flop to the side, falling against the flagstones with barely a peep as M'gann (who had appeared through the new Forbidden Door, alongside the rest of the Team) telepathically commanded both familiar and master to sleep.
"Are you all right, Kid?" Kaldur asked concernedly as he and the others soon joined them on the rooftop.
"Ye-yeah" Wally stammered, his heart racing a million miles a minute. Witches could be scary.
"What about Rae?" M'gann pursued because she was just as worried about the little witch who would react in such a way. Again.
"Uh…over there" Wally pointed to the other side of Kent's body where Rachel lay sleeping.
"Oh no…!" M'gann's hands quickly snapped up to cover her mouth when her gaze drifted upwards, going first from Wally, then over to Kent Nelson—who was clearly unresponsive— and finally up to Rachel whose cheeks had been ingrained with tear tracks.
"Is he…?" Artemis hedged, not quite able to finish her sentence as she paled at the sight of the spry old man who had been alive and well only moments before
"…Yeah" Wally replied softly; his voice small but deafening on the quiet rooftop.
20 August 2010
Mount Justice, Happy Harbour
Carefully, Wally placed the Helmet of Fate on the Shelf of Souvenirs, right next to the android eye from Twister, one of Red Hood's hoods (as gifted to him by Robin), Artemis' green arrow which had spared him his life when Rachel went on a rampage and Cheshire's mask. It was a small collection so far, but they were only just beginning. Brushing off the dirty finger smudges (the ones left behind from their early morning grave burial of Mr Kent Nelson on the Tower grounds), Wally stepped back to admire his growing collection.
"Ahem!" Artemis cleared her throat, suddenly appearing in the door and delighting slightly at making the speedster jump at her arrival.
"Hm?" Wally hummed, trying to regain his posture.
"You never said what happened to you" Artemis smirked as she leant up against the doorway, arms crossed casually. "When you put on the Helmet"
"…Energy from the thing rewrote my brain's beta waves" Wally eventually smirked in kind, unable to fully give in to the belief of magic after stubbornly denying it for so long. His proud male ego just wouldn't allow it. "I was bio-scripted into becoming Doctor Fate for a few minutes. No big"
"Wait—! You're still claiming that there's ''no such thing as magic?' Ugh! If that's how you feel, why even keep it at all?"
"Souvenir" Wally grinned smugly.
"Geek!" Artemis scoffed, rolling her eyes in disgust.
"…How—how's she doing?" Wally hesitantly probed. There was no need for him to specify who the 'she' was, not after today's mission.
"How do you think? Kid just lost her mentor and her home!" Artemis scoffed.
Something which had been a total slap in the face for the little witch, because whilst she had been granted sanctuary in the Tower as Doctor Fate's apprentice, she had been enlisted as Kent's charge, not Nabu's. And the rightful Lord of Order wasn't going to stand to have his perfect little Tower to be tainted by something so chaotic and because—in his own words—"…chaos has NO business running rampant in MY Tower, sowing her seeds here and pretending to keep order" Which was why Rachel would be staying at the mountain for the foreseeable future (there were enough bedrooms to go around), after they returned to the Tower in the following week to retrieve all of her belongings.
"Guess you're right…" Wally nodded reluctantly (almost as if it hurt to admit) as he picked at the dirt beneath his nails.
"Of course I am" Artemis puffed up her chest with pride, "And when you're done playing with your…toys—"
"—They're souvenirs—!"
"—We're watching a movie in the lounge"
"Yeah, be right out"
