Chapter 19: Acceptance
"This would be much easier if you two surrendered like good children", Kadabra says. "Klarion will get the helmet from your friends and Nelson, if the old windbag isn't dead already."
"That's never going to happen!" Artemis says as she shoots another arrow at him from behind my wall-shield. Kadabra deflects it with his wand easily. I thought this guy was a joke, but he's tough, for a fake magician.
"And what about you?", I ask him. "Klarion gets the helmet and he do whatever he wants to this world and the people in it. But what do you get out of this, Abra?"
"What I've always wanted: to have real, true magic. Once he retrieves the helmet, Klarion will bestow his dark magic upon me."
"That's what this is about? You're tired of being a fraud so you make a deal with the devil for magic lessons?"
"Do not mock me, boy!" He says with anger as he strikes my shield, this time making it crack almost in half. "After we're through with you all and Nelson, I'm going to give Central City the greatest magic show there is. And my first trick will be making the Flash disappear, forever!"
Abra strikes again, but I push the wall towards the attack. They collide with one another, making a small explosion clouding the distance between us and Kadabra.
"I think I have an idea", Artemis says with confidence.
"Okay, fill me in."
"First, how long do you think you can hold a person in midair?"
After explaining her plan to me, I walk my way to magician himself. As I make my way to him, I pass by my friends on the ground, in pain from the shocks of their prisons. I hope this works Artemis.
"Aww, so you've decided to surrender. But where is the girl?" I don't answer him, so he shocks me til my knees hit the floor. He walks over to me, pointing his wand to my chest. "Where is she?"
The shocks of pain reeling through my body makes it hard for me to think, to focus on anything. Hard, but not impossible. I open my eyes and look up. But I'm not looking at Kadabra.
You want me to do what?
I want you to levitate me in the air with your ring, just high enough so Kadabra can't see me. Once you have his attention, lower me to the ground and I'll sneak up from behind and take his hand.
And what if I can't hold you for long enough? I'd rather not risk dropping you and breaking something of yours.
You better not Rayner, or I'll break you. And I know you can, I trust you to do this.
A lot of trust for only our second mission together.
Second mission or not, I've seen what you can do. You've got this down pat.
I slowly start to lower Artemis to ground level, trying my best not to move her too fast or lose my grip on her. Kadabra isn't making this easy for me, but who ever said this job would be easy.
"Tell me where she is and I'll stop the pain."
"You're lying."
"I am." He shocks me again. Electro shocks flowing through my body, very painful. Endure, Rayner. You can take this.
Kadabra raises his wand from my chest to his side. "If you don't tell me, the next shockwave I give you will send you to the hospital in a cardiac arrest."
Before he can get that chance, Artemis sneaks up behind him, grabs his right arm and twists it behind his back. She takes his wand and steps back from him.
"You little brat! Give me that back!" Artemis decides to do the complete opposite. She breaks his wand over her knee, destroying his source of power. "NO!"
"Sorry, but your show is over", she says. He runs straight for her, but she spin kicks him in the face. Her kick sends him to the ground out cold.
With the wand in pieces, the electrical fields surrounding the others disappear. Kaldur, Superboy and M'gann, though still in some pain, stand to their feet.
"Are you guys okay?", Artemis asks us.
"We are fine, thanks to you two", Kaldur says.
"Are you okay Kyle?", M'gann asks me.
I take a few seconds more to gather myself and rise back up. "I'll be fine. But what about Sara and Wally?"
I can't believe he's… I didn't even know him long, hardly at all, but still…
I try to get on my feet, still in pain, but able to stand. I grab for my staff, break it in two, and start walking towards the Witch Brat. "You're going to pay for that!"
Before either one of us can say anything else, something shoots up from the magic flames. No, someone flies up. Someone wearing blue torso and pants, and gold boots, gloves, a belt and cape. Someone who's wearing the headpiece Wally just had. Doctor Fate in Wally's body?
"No fair!", Klarion yells up at Fate. "That dumb kid put on the helmet before I could get it! Guess I'm just gonna have to take it off his cold, dead body then."
"I will not allow that." That's strange. I know Wally said those words, but I'm sure I heard another voice say the words too. It must be the Lord of Order Nelson told us about, the one inside the helmet. But I wonder, if Fate is controlling Wally's body, what's happening to his mind?
Klarion fires another magic barrage attack straight at Wally/Fate, but he blocks it with his own magic: a shield in the form of a golden ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life. I've done some reading on Egyptian mythology, along with other myths.
"Give it up, Nabu!", Klarion yells. "Order went out of style in the 20th century."
"This battle is pointless. You sought to take the helmet before it claimed a host, but you are too late."
"Shut it, you old fart!" Klarion stops firing and raises two stone columns from the ground. He has both columns curve and crash into each other, with Wally/Fate in the middle. But an ankh appears in the stone, which shatters completely right away with Wally/Fate unharmed.
Wally/Fate then attacks with an ankh pointed straight at Klarion, blasting him with powerful magic. The attack is too bright for me to see anything near it, but once the light dies, he's no longer there. Normally, I'm always up for a fight with whatever comes my way. But with these two powerful sorcerers, I feel like an insect that would only get in the way. I'd rather not get in the middle.
A couple of feet away from me, ashes start to appear and come together, forming into Klarion, who looks like he's about to pull a sneaky attack. "Wally, behind you!" Wally/Fate turn around just in time for Klarion's attack to hit him, but he does blast back at the Witch Brat, hitting him in the shoulder.
The Lord of Chaos turns his angered attention towards me now. "Mortals should know when to butt out!" He then conjures up some demonic looking fire spell at me, which gives me my cue to run. Luckily, I'm rested enough to dodge the attack. I'm not at 100%, just enough to make it through the night.
"Leave her out of this! She has nothing to do with the matter", Wally/Fate says.
"I have everything to do with the matter!", I tell him. "This is my fight too, whether you like it or not, Doctor."
"Cram it you too!" Klarion sends two bursts of magic at us both, sending us rolling next to one another. We stand back up to see the Magic Punk ready to start using us as target practice with his magic shots. I block a few with my staff before Wally/Fate raises a circular shield to protect us, almost holding us before cracking under pressure.
What I just said about staying out of this fight? Forget that now! No one tells me whether I can or can't help in a fight, especially some Lord of Order.
Klarion starts shooting magic bursts at us like pistols at a shooting range. And we're the targets.
Wally/Fate puts up a golden shield in front of us, deflecting the shots away. "I'm helping you, whether you want me to or not."
"I will not allow you to do so", Wally/Fate says.
"You can try. And you need to focus on defeating Klarion, not keeping me safe. I can take care of myself just fine."
"I am a Lord of Order. Why should I let you interfere with this battle?", Wally/Fate asks me.
"Because every now and then, we all need help. We have to open our minds about new, different ideas that we may not want to accept, even if it's staring right in front of you. So please, let me do this for you." If you are in there Wally, I hope you got the message.
Wally/Fate just stares at me, still defending us with a now cracked shield, and I stare right back at him. I know it's Wally wearing the helmet, but when I look into his eyes, I don't see Wally's. I see the eyes of a sorcerer, a warrior, a true lord and protector of order and peace.
"Very well, mortal. But do not get in my way."
"Deal", I say as the shield breaks and we're pushed back a few inches. Me still on my feet, I run to my right as Wally/Fate flys up, both of us avoiding a breath of magic fire coming from the Magic Brat.
As Wally/Fate is avoiding the fire, I make my way to Klarion. He's an all-powerful Lord of Chaos, but can he fight hand-to-hand?
With my staff in hand, I swing at Klarion from behind and strike him to the ground. As he tries to get back up, I sweep kick his legs, making him fall flat on his face. Before I can strike him again, the cat – which I completely forgot about – jumps on my face and starts scratching me. It takes me a few seconds to realize what is happening, and then I knock the cat off me to the ground.
"Don't you dare…", Klarion says behind me, "hurt my KITTY!" He sends a massive wave of dark magic towards me. The attack is too fast, too big for me to dodge. I can't escape it…
Just as I think this is the end, I open my eyes and see Wally/Fate defending me. Fate has a protective barrier around us like an igloo, standing against the magic blast.
"Thank you, Fate."
"No. Thank you, Sara Lance. Because of you, I finally realized how to defeat Klarion."
"How?" And how did I help?
Wally/Fate disperses the barrier and the attack, sending a shockwave of air around us. Klarion, still standing before us, puts his guard up ready to continue.
"It is difficult for a Lord of Order or Chaos to maintain a presence on the physical plane."
After hearing that, Klarion glows a crimson rage and throws giant magical balls of fire at us. Wally/Fate flies above and avoids them, while I dodge them left and right, ducking and jumping around the great balls of fire.
"I am bound to the helmet and use a human host." Wally/Fate sends a gold magic blast to Klarion, but he deflects it with a shield made of stone. "But that is not your way."
"You're babbling, Nabu", Klarion says.
"Am I?" If what Fate's saying is true and he's bound to the helmet, then what is Klarion bound to?
Wally/Fate fires another blast of gold magic, and Klarion readies his magic shield to deflect. But the attack passes him by. Instead, it aims for and hits the cat, knocking him to the ground a few feet.
"Teekl! I can't believe you would assault a defenseless pussycat."
"We both know that creature is no cat, Witch Boy, and without your familiar, you have no anchor in this reality."
Klarion's body starts to flicker suddenly, like a fog in the morning. Klarion is bound to the cat! And without it, he can't stay in our world. Brilliant!
"Bully! Killjoy! Geezer!" Sore loser.
Wally/Fate sends a blast of magic at him, but Klarion backs up into a portal and then drops out of another near his cat, which he picks up caringly. "We're outta here!" With that said, Klarion disperses himself into the sky and away from us.
"Okay, so now that the magical battle is over, you can take off the helmet Wally. I'm surprised it even fits you, with that big airhead of yours." But Wally/Fate doesn't say anything back to me. He doesn't even look over to me. He's just standing there like a statue, not moving at all.
I walk over to Wally/Fate as I put my staff away. "Wally? Can you hear me? Can you even see me? Wally!... Or am I talking to Fate instead?"
As if on command to hearing his name, Fate tilts his head downward to me, finally taking notice of me.
"Okay, now that I have your attention, take off your helmet and release Wally."
"No."
"No? Why not?"
"Because the world needs Doctor Fate. I will not release this body."
I can't believe I'm hearing this. Fate is keeping Wally's body and locking away his mind. Normally that would be funny to hear Wally losing his mind, but nothing about this is funny.
"You can't do that Fate! A host for your helmet should be a willing one for more than a few minutes, and they should certainly believe in magic! Wally doesn't!" He probably still doesn't believe in magic even though he's the host of one of the world's most powerful users of magic.
"And you do?"
"Of course I… Oh no. Not me. I may believe in magic, but I'm no magician, let alone a Doctor Fate. And neither is Wally."
"But I refuse to be hidden away again like an old antique. And I will not allow to let chaos rise!" This is certainly a dilemma. Fate doesn't want to let go of Wally, even though he's not a good match for him, and I can't—No, I won't leave without him. I may not know Wally too much yet, but him, Kyle and the others are the first real friends I've had in… forever. I won't abandon him or any of my friends.
"You're right, the world does need Doctor Fate, now more than ever. But the world… No, we need Wally West. We need his speed, his scientific, mind and his heart. Without him, our team will be incomplete, and then we will fail. So no, I'm not letting you keep Wally as your body. I'll fight you for him if that's what it takes", I say as I take a fighting stance in front of the Lord of Order.
Fate doesn't respond to me this time, doesn't even move or raise a hand against me. He just continues to stand there like a gargoyle on the Empire State Building. After a good minute of silence and soul-staring, Fate raises his hands to head, place them on his helmet and removes it. As soon as the helmet is off his head, Fate's outfit disappears and Wally goes back to looking like his normal self.
"Wally!" I say as I give him a big bear hug. It's only a good few minutes that I notice Wally trying to squirm free for air. "Oh, sorry", as I let him go to breath, which he does heavily. "How'd you convince Fate to let you go?"
"I didn't", he says as he looks over to his left. I turn in his direction and understand what he means: Kent Nelson.
"Nelson was in the helmet with you? Is he okay?"
But Wally doesn't answer me. He instead walks over to Nelson's cold body on the ground. I walk next to him as he kneels to the ground, picks up his pocket watch and places it his Nelson's hand. He got to be taking this hard. I remember the first time I someone die to protect… It's something I won't forget ever.
I kneel next to Wally and place my hand on his shoulder for comfort. "Don't worry, Wally. I'm sure Kent is in a much better place now."
Wally turns to me, his face to hollow and filled with sadness. "No, he's not. Not yet."
Mount Justice
August 20, 03:45 EDT
As I head back to my room on base, I stop myself at what Wally is calling the Trophy Room. Apparently besides Cheshire's mask, he's picked up a few other 'souvenirs' on missions before. But what stops me is that I see Wally in the room holding something new.
I step into the doorway and look to my right to find a big shelf with only four items in them. The souvenirs I see include a robotic eye (I hope it's robotic), a Kobra cultist mask, one of Artemis' arrows, and Cheshire's mask. With the missions we've been on so far, who knows what other weird souvenirs we'll pick up. Maybe we'll bring home an alien plant to grow in a garden.
Wally walks up to the top shelf and places a new souvenir next to the mask of the assassin: the Helmet of Fate. Before he took the helmet off, Wally made a deal with Nabu, the Lord of Order inside the helmet, that he would find a new host for him. Hopefully we can find a new Doctor Fate before something like this happens again.
"Hey", I say which grabs Wally's attention. "How you doing?"
"I'm okay, just thinking who I'm gonna find that'd be crazy enough to wear this thing."
"You mean who we're going to find. The Team is going to help you keep that promise. The world needs Doctor Fate."
"I know. I just wish this one didn't cost us so much…"
I walk up to Wally and pat him on the shoulder. "I miss him too. But if what you said is true, he'll at least have some company while we look."
Wally ends up smiling at that one. Glad to see he's feeling a little better. As I'm about to leave him to his souvenirs, I stop at the doorway. "And I know you'll probably never admit this to anyone, not even to me, but I'm glad you finally opened your mind to something you can't always explain. That just might save your life one day."
Wally doesn't answer me, not vocally at least. All he does is turn his head to me with a smile and a nod in response. I think that's the closest thing I'll get to 'I believe in magic'.
I head out and down the hall I see Artemis heading the opposite. "Sara, you know where Wally is?"
"Trophy Room", I say nudging my head down the hall.
"Thanks."
Before she leaves, I smile and stop her for a second. "Hey Artemis?" She turns back to me. "Whatever he tells you, don't believe a word he says."
For a moment, I see confusion in her eyes. Then immediately, confusion becomes clarity. "Got it."
With that said, we both head in opposite directions. Hopefully Wally's smart enough to realize one day what he has right in front of him. If he doesn't, I'll smack his head over and over until he does.