I do not own Justice League.
Enjoy!
Things hadn't gone as swimmingly as he imagined.
The next team member came with her own bag of problems, which triggered Superboy's bag of problems.
And just when the fire had calm down and he was ready to see the only female on the team in a swimsuit, some green Arrowed girl named Artemis Crook showed up as Green arrows niece.
Maybe it was her smugness that rubbed him the wrong way, or maybe he didn't like the fact that Green Arrow replaced Speedy so fast.
To have the person you look up to, replace you so quickly, was so awful, he wondered if his hero would replace him if he was gone.
But over the mind link, he made sure not to think about what was really bothering him because he didn't want them all the stare at him.
He intended to keep his none-earth thoughts far away from any mind link.
He was a normal guy which meant he didn't believe in something ridiculous like magic.
However...
When he saw how Magic a babe like Megan was, he did some mental gymnastics and started praising magic to get into her good graces.
"So, Hex," said Artemis, as they flew to the location. "When did you first get the call to the Mystic arts?"
Wasn't he the same guy that was talking smack about magic only a few hours ago?
"Oh, me and Magic?" He said. "Oh, we go way back, in fact before I became Kid Flash, I wanted to become a Wizard"
And Artemis rolled her eyes hard before she turned around.
They landed and he went searching for anything strange, he was about to say Science had something to do with finding nothing when he saw Megan and quickly changed his tune.
"Clearly this is the work of magic," he said.
Artemis crossed her arms.
Aqualad took a leap of faith and plunged a key into the air and turned it.
The air transformed into a several foot high tower, the door opened and they went inside.
The door vanished behind them and the guardian of the tower appeared before them.
"State your purpose and intent," said the guardian.
He looked at Megan and walked up and said. "We are true believers, here to find doctor Fate"
The program blinked before disappearing.
A second later the ground caved in from under them and they saw lava approaching them fast.
Holy, hell!
Megan grabbed onto him but the heat alone was weakening her making her fall.
At least he was going to die with a babe.
"Hello, Megan" she suddenly said. "We didn't actually answer the question" she then yelled. "Red Tornado sent us to see if Mister Nelson and the helmet we're safe!"
The lava before them suddenly closed and they all landed on solid ground.
"This platform should be red hot but it is cool to the touch," said Aqualad.
"Don't worry Meg-malicious." He said, going to comfort Megan. "I got you-"
"Enough!" Artemis yelled, pushing him away to the wall. "Your little 'impress Megan at all cost game' nearly got us all barbeque!"
"When did this become my fault?" He said.
"When you lied to that thing," she said. "And called yourself a true believer!"
"Hex." Said Megan. "You don't believe?"
Of course not.
"Fine." He said, finally admitting it. "Fine! I don't believe in magic. Magic, is the real lie, though. It's all a load of baloney"
Even he was sure, the boy he was reincarnated as came from a mutant ancestor or something.
"Hex, Magic is very real," said Aqualad. "I learned about it at the Atlantist university for the Mystic arts. It's what powers the tattoos on my body"
He rolled his eyes.
"Right...but that can be explained by science too," he said. "Just like everything else in the universe. The fire used to be thought of as magic but in the end, it was just some chemicals"
"You seem, quite confident for somebody who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," said Artemis.
"Well, that's science too," he said. "I had a mutant ancestor or something and it skipped generations. I can totally prove it by looking at my family tree. See science. Everything can be explained by science. There is no such thing as magic"
"Well, then. Let test your theory," said Aqualad, before he opened the ground up.
"Wait, opening that would cause the backdraft to fry us all-" he began only for the guy to open it anyway and out came snow.
Genuine snow.
His mouth was open.
"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Said Artemis as they all hopped through.
He hopped through and found himself in a winter waster land.
"Well?" Said Artemis.
"Have you ever heard of string theory?" He said. "We're in a pocket dimension"
Artemis groaned in frustration.
"Look," said Megan.
They looked to find a hovering cane.
"Ooh, maybe its Nelsons magic wand," he said, before running towards it and grabbing it, at the same time Artemis did.
"Got it," they both said before it glued their hands to it.
"Wait. I can't let go" they both said.
And then they were launched into the sky by the cane.
He came to, only to find an old geezer flying towards him and the cane finally detached himself from them.
"Quickly in here," said the old geezer, pulling up an elevator.
They ran inside it and the door closed, cue several awkward minutes of having trying to call bull on what was happening around him.
They got out and walked to a bell, only to see Nelson kidnappers, basically a few feet away.
The old man went into the bell and he ran inside with him, only to find himself at the top of the tower with a crazy kid with his cat.
The kid threw fireballs at the old man, who winced and then put up a protective shield.
But the old man's body was weak, the old mab was 103 years old.
There was no recovering from that ball of fire.
So before his very eyes, the old man kicked the bucket in his arms.
He tried to perform CPR but the old man wasn't waking up.
The guy was gone and Megan was mind shouting at him about needing Doctor Fate.
The helmet.
He had to put it on.
Oh, damn.
He walked to it, while the magical kid was ripping the shield apart and put it on, just as fire was blast toward him.
He suddenly found himself in a dark space with a spotlight on him.
"I'm hallucinating." He said. "That's right"
Suddenly he heard a familiar voice.
"Seriously kid," said Nelson. "How can you survive 15 years being this stupid?"
"Wait. A minute, aren't you?" He said, didn't he kick the bucket?
"Yes," said the old man, like it was normal. "But my soul got sucked into the helmet. It was probably because I served its master for so long"
"The helmet master?" He said.
"Nabu," said the old man. "He's the true Doctor Fate. He's using your body right now to do battle, let's watch"
They saw the battle raging on and Hex got a horrible shock to the system when Nabu got hurt.
He was made to realise if Nabu got hurt, it hurt him too.
Meaning if Fate loses, he will die.
What the hell?
What kind of awful artefact was this?
However, thankfully Fate won in the end and saved the rest of his team.
However, instead of celebrating, Hex was left confused.
"Why isn't he taking off the helmet?" He said.
Nabu answered him and said.
"Because the Earth needs Doctor Fate. I will take this body"
"Wait. He cants do that!" Said Hex, before he asked the old man and said. "Can he do that?"
"He can but shouldn't," said the old man, before he addressed Nabu and said. "Nabu this isn't the right candidate. The kid belongs to the world of science"
"Actually, he belongs to me" inputted a voice that Hex hadn't heard in years.
Everybody turned around to see a man in a black suit, strolling out of the darkness.
Hex said. "My King"
The old man was stunned.
"Hello, Hex," said the man.
"Who are you?" Said Nabu.
The man said. "I'm Zygon, ruler of the planet Firescorn. Hex here is one of my civilians, so he's my responsibility, even if he's not on my planet. I check in on him and his family from time to time." Before he said. "And did I just hear right? You intend to take his body?"
"Yes, his body will be of great used to fate," said Nabu. "What happened today, proves that the battle between Order and Choas still rages on. We can not exist naturally. I must have a body, Nelsons body has grown weak however Hex's body is young and has room to grow stronger. The Lord of Choas will come back and only I can stop him. I need this body"
However, Zygon merely smiled and said. "Oh, really? But why does it have to be my civilian? Surely, there are humans on this planet who have nothing to live for and have young bodies?" Before he turned to him and said. "Hex, are you willing to hand your body over to the Lord of Fate until the day you die?"
"Of course not," said Hex. "I want to experience life, I want to go to college. I want to buy a car. I want to date Mr Martian Manhunters super hot niece!"
There was some silence after that, as all of them raised an eyebrow.
Nabu finally said. "It is not up to your child. I have stayed locked away for over 50 years because Nelson felt love was more important than keeping balance in the universe. Love doesn't exist, if everybody is dead"
"Well, then the child has spoken," said Zygon, like Nabu, hadn't spoken at all. "Release your hold on him."
"No. I need his-" Nabu didn't get to finish because they all felt a burst of shocking power coming from Zygon, the old man gasped and was forced to his knees.
"What is this power!?" Said the old man.
How could such a thing exist?
Hex felt fine because his Leader would never hurt him.
"Did I say you had a choice?" Said Zygon, his eyes glowing gold. "If your so lonely then take the old man's spirit. When you think you can take a life from one of my civilians, then you answer to me." The power underneath him increased.
Nabu felt so much pain.
Hex was in awe.
"Nabu, I am not some weak, pathetic, Earth Leader. I am Zygon" said Zygon. "If you don't release him right now, the breaking of this helmet is the least of your worries. Not even your title as the Lord of Order will save you from me. I will chase you for all of eternity and you will see the face of true evil. I got into your helmet from planets away. Do you think the realm of magic will stop me from coming for you? You should re-evaluate your answer before I get mad"
Nabu took over the helmet quickly and Hex got his body back, Zygon disappeared from the helmet.
Hex was left in awe.
What an amazing ruler, Zygon had put the fear into a god and had shocked an old man who thought nobody was more powerful than Doctor Fate.
He had such a newfound appreciation for Zygon.
Would his mentor and the Leaguers, have been able to do the same thing?
In the real world, Hex then respectfully put the watch back into the old man's hands as the others came to join him and bury the old man.
He put the helmet onto his souvenirs stand.
"So," said Artemis, getting his attention. "You never told us what happened when you put the helmet on"
He blinked and said. "Oh, I was bioscripted to become Doctor Fate for a few minutes, no big deal"
Like he was going to tell her, that his planets ruler broke into the helmet and threatened the guy.
"What?" Said Artemis, in disbelief. "Even after all you've been through, you still don't believe? Why are you keeping it then?"
"It's a souvenir," he said.
"Geek!" she said, looking at him with disgust before turning around and walking out.
He looked back at the helmet and then he saw Megan walking past.
Showtime.
"Hello, Megan," he said, as he chased after him.
Nobody knew it yet didn't but in a few weeks time, the whole team was going to enter a nightmare scenario.
A place where everybody was going to face their worst fears, including him.
And scene!