Chapter Nine: The Philosopher's Stone
"The Philosopher's Stone, those who possess it no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy, can gain without sacrifice... create without equal exchange. We searched for it... and we found it."- Edward Elric- Fullmetal Alchemist
Harpy had received a call from Batman on her communicator. Apparently Morgan Le Fay was after the Philosopher's Stone. Joy.
Harpy called Tara with the news as she made her way to Batman's location.
"Do you know if it's a real Philosopher's Stone?" Tara asked.
"No. But Le Fay is after it, so it's gotta have some power, right?" Harpy replied.
"Yes. Le Fay would never go after something unless she could use it." Tara responded thoughtfully.
"If it is real, bring it in. If it isn't destroy it. Fakes are to dangerous to keep around." she ordered.
"Understood." Harpy answered before hanging up.
Harpy met up with Batman, J'onn, Wonder Woman, Flash, and a demon named Etrigan, outside of a castle in England. Apparently Etrigan had been trying to stop Le Flay for years.
"You say you've been trailing Le Fay for centuries?" Wonder Woman asked.
"In an unending game of cat and mouse. For the past generation she has hidden from me. But I'll never rest until her soul burns in the eternal pit." Etrigan answered.
"And I thought Bats was creepy." Flash commented. Etrigan growled at him.
"How has she eluded you for so long?" Batman inquired.
"The witch has an amulet that can sense when I'm drawing near." the Demon replied.
"With that stench who need an amulet?" Flash said. Etrigan grabbed him by his suit and lifted him up into the air.
"What!" the Demon snarled.
"Nothing." Flash stated quickly.
"Put him down." Harpy growled, her hands gathering fire, the unspoken threat quite clear.
"Perhaps we should consider another approach." J'onn stated peaceably. Etrigan tossed Flash to the ground.
"And what would you suggest?" the Demon asked as Harpy went to help Flash off the ground.
"I could try to locate her telepathically." J'onn stated. His eyes began to glow as he activated his ability. Moments later he cried out and collapsed. Everyone hurried to his side.
"What happened?" Flash asked.
"The witch must have sensed him." Etrigan answered.
"Let's get him to the Javelin." Batman side as he and Diana picked J'onn up.
On the Javelin.
"The witch has him trapped in an illusion." Etrigan concluded after examining the Martian.
"The good kind or the bad kind?" Harpy asked.
"She'll show you everything you desire only to take it away." the demon responded.
"Hmm. So what do we do?" Harpy inquired.
"I'll have to go into his mind and wake him up." Etrigan answered before going into a trance.
Flash waved his hand in front of the demons face. "Just when I thought her couldn't get any creepier." he said.
"Flash. Leave the demon alone." Harpy chastised.
"So what do we do now?" the Speedster asked
Harpy sat down. "We wait." she replied.
"I'm so bored." Flash complained.
"It hasn't even been five minutes yet." Harpy responded.
"That's like an eternity for me." Flash whined.
Harpy sighed. "You know the Javelin is kind of boring." she said to Batman. The Dark night stared at her.
"I mean it's gray. Gray is such a boring color. You should paint it a more interesting color, like red." Harpy suggested.
"Yeah red would totally make it look better." Flash agreed. Batman was trying very hard to ignore them both.
"And most of the League has red in their costumes. Me, Flash, Wonder Woman, J'onn, Superman, Hawkgirl." Harpy said.
"What about Green Lantern?" Diana asked.
"We can put his insignia on his chair." Harpy said.
"Bats doesn't have any red in his costume either." Flash stated.
Harpy looked over at Batman for a moment before turning back to Flash. "Well we won't be able to convince him to change his costume so I guess we could add some black highlights." she said.
"Yellow would look better." Flash argued.
"It would not. Black contrasts better." Harpy responded.
"Yellow's more cheery." Flash stated.
"We're not aiming for cheery, we're aiming for threatening." Harpy replied.
"Both of you shut up. We're not repainting the Javelin." Batman snapped.
"Well you don't have to be so mean about it." Harpy pouted.
"Yeah Bats. What, did you wake up on the wrong side of the cave?" Flash asked.
Batman didn't get a chance to respond because right at that moment Etrigan came out of his trance and J'onn woke up.
"Then it was all an illusion." he murmured.
"Perceptive, isn't he?" Etrigan said sarcastically.
"Lay off, gruesome." Flash snapped.
"J'onn, are you alright?" Diana asked.
"Yes of course. I'll be fine." J'onn replied.
"Did you locate Le Fay?" Batman asked.
"No. But I did sense that she hasn't found the stone yet." J'onn answered.
"Thank Hera for that." Wonder Woman said.
"Before she lashed out at me, I heard the words "archeologists" and "castle."" J'onn stated.
"It's a start." Batman responded.
Using the clues he had gotten from J'onn, along with the computer on the Javelin, Batman found out that Castle Branek, the place where the philosopher's stone was supposed to be hidden, had been excavated after World War Two and the only surviving participants were Henry Moss and Harv Hickman. Batman, J'onn, and Etrigan went to question Moss while Harpy, Flash, and Wonder Woman went to question Hickman.
"Harv Hickman? The Magazine publisher?" Flash said in surprise once he, Harpy, and Wonder Woman had arrived at Harv's mansion.
"You know his work?" Diana asked.
"I, uh, I only read it for the articles." Flash stated.
"Of course you do." Harpy responded sarcastically.
"This must be his annual Halloween bash." Flash said. His statement was supported by all the people in costume lined up outside the door.
"I hate Halloween." Harpy muttered.
"Really. Why? It's fun." Flash responded.
"I didn't used to hate it, then I moved to Gotham. Halloween is the one day of year the rouges can walk down the street without causing a panic. Makes it easier for them to commit crimes." Harpy explained.
"Let's find Mr. Hickman." Wonder Woman said, changing the subject. The three heroes walked forward and shoved their way to the front of the line.
"Are you on the list?" the bouncer asked.
"This is an emergency. We are with the Justice League." Wonder Woman declared.
"Sure lady," the bouncer scoffed, "So are they." He indicated several people in bad Superhero costumes.
Harpy glared at the bouncer, the temperature seemed to increase. She spread her previously concealed wings and summoned fire to her hand. "This is an emergency. Are you going to let us in or am I going to have to get rough?" she questioned angrily. The bouncer stepped aside.
Harpy pulled her wings in and banished the fire. "Thank you." she said gruffly to the bouncer as she passed.
"You could have handled that more diplomatically." Diana chastised once they had entered.
"No, I couldn't have. I don't do diplomacy, that's my oldest sister's job." Harpy responded.
It only took minutes for them to find Hickman. The man didn't seem to be concerned that they were there, and seemed to be trying to impress Diana by giving her a tour of the house.
"Home theater, complete gym, game room." He explained as he led the three heroes though his home. He stopped in front of a statue. "And this is one of my most prized possessions, a genuine Greek"
"Roman." Wonder Woman interrupted.
"Excuse me?" Harv questioned.
"This statue is a Roman Copy." Diana explained.
"How do you know that?" Harv asked.
"Trust her on this one. I guessing she posed for the original." Flash said.
"Oh, a model eh? I thought so." Harv stated before continuing his way down the hall. Harpy took the opportunity to slap Flash over the back of the head Before following Hickman.
They passed by an indoor pool that was made to look like a natural grotto. Two women in bikinis were splashing and giggling.
Flash immediately took notice of this. "Uh, I've got a fresh lead. Carry-" Harpy grabbed him before he could finish. "You're not going anywhere until this is over." she growled. She turned to Harv.
"Hey Hickman. Your home is nice and all, but we're here because of the Philosopher's Stone. There's an evil sorceress after it, and she probably knows by now that you're one of the archeologists that excavated castle Branek." she said.
Harv gulped. "Right this way." he said.
Harv led them to his bedroom, which was full of modern art and ancient artifacts.
"Here it is." Hickman said, pointing out what appeared to be a gray brick. Harpy didn't know whether to be relived or frustrated at the sight of the fake. "The secret to my success. After I found it I had everything I ever dreamed of. Cars, cash, girls."
"Let me understand this," Diana interrupted "you posses the most powerful object in the world, yet all you wished for is money and women."
Harpy resisted the urge to laugh at Wonder Woman calling the fake "the most powerful object in the world."
"What else is there?" Harv questioned.
Suddenly the room shook and a powerful wind blew the doors that led outside wide open.
Morgan Le Fay and her son floated in moments later.
"At last, my quest is over. The stone is mine" Le Fay stated.
"That's what you think lady!" Harpy exclaimed as she flew forward and grabbed the stone. Even it was a fake, it still had power and Ivy had orders. She could feel tainted energy begging to be used almost as soon as she touched it. After dodging a blast of magic, Harpy smashed the stone to pieces.
"What have you done?" Morgan said.
"I got rid of your reason for being here." Harpy stated.
"Have we lost, Mother?" Mordred asked.
"Only this battle." Le Fay said before using her magic to transport herself and her son away.
"Couldn't you have found another way?" Hickman asked.
"Probably. But your mansion wouldn't have survived it." Harpy responded.
"Well, what was it?" Tara asked as she spoke into her cellphone. She was sitting at a heavy oak desk in an office with books lining the walls.
Ivy's voice answered through the speaker. "It looked like a gray brick. It's energy felt sick and corrupted."
Tara chuckled. "That's no where near a real stone." she stated.
"Yeah well, you would know." Ivy commented.
"Indeed." Tara agreed as she absently grasped the gold pendent she was wearing. The red oval stone set into the metal gleamed brightly in the light of the desk lamp.
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