Chapter One: When All Else Fails, newt 'em
Inza Nelson was not someone you wanted to mess with.
As a mere mortal she had gone with Doctor Fate on many of his adventures. She had no powers, no abilities and yet she had dived in with him. Perhaps he did all the heavy lifting, but she had little concern with getting involved. She'd faced demons, chaos lords and gods.
As Doctor Fate she had faced all that again. The power was hers and without a guide like Nabu, she had done much. She'd removed the inner demons from thugs and would-be murderers, turning them into charitable, kind members of society. She had removed a man from memory because he had sought to ruin society and had near killed her husband with it. She'd done much, much more. And when she was tried for it, she turned the corrupt men who sought to judge her into newts. Only temporarily. But no one dared judge her after that.
Inza Nelson was a powerhouse to be reckoned with.
It seemed Parallax had not got the memo.
Inza clutched the body of Kent, hand resting against his chest as she looked into the eyes of Parallax. This was what she had always feared. That she would lose Kent to hero work. That one day he would not come home to her. Her magic could heal his body in an instant, but his soul was gone. Now she felt a deathly emptiness as she looked into the cold, dark eyes of the killer. Time seemed to slow down as she felt the rage and hatred rise from that inner darkness. She could see the monster coming towards her with stretched mouth gaping.
"You're dead."
Inza plunged into the stream of souls. Probably not as Parallax had hoped. It was his life force that she drew on to give her the energy to pull Kent's soul back. He fought her. They both did. But this was not Parallax's realm of expertise. Kent was drawn to Order and the natural flow but Inza was not going to let her husband decide to simply die and leave her. She was Doctor Fate and she could do anything. A final heave pulled them back to reality.
Parallax was not dead. That much energy should have killed him. Last time Inza had brought someone back from death it had taken life force from across an entire neighbourhood. But he was dazed.
Parallax had been called Green Lantern before taking this name. If he was anything like Alan, the power came from a ring on his hand. She couldn't see a ring but Inza was no stranger to illusions. She did not even need to lift a hand as a golden orb clamped down on Parallax's, severing it. The blood scarcely had time to leave the stump as his form changed and shrunk. A three-legged newt was no harm.
The battlefield was silent. The newt glared at her balefully.
"You don't get to hurt Kent." Inza told it. She had no intention of ever letting this monster return to its human form. It tried to rush her but was not used to its new form and the lack of a limb. It tripped.
"Inza," She looked up. Alan had landed beside her. He used his ring to contain the newt. She looked up at him.
"You should turn Hal back."
"Hal?"
"That's his name. Hal Jordan."
Oh great. Now he was an actual person.
"He killed Kent." She pointed out, looking at the contained menace. It did not look pleased to be a newt. She'd never pegged that newt for being a Hal.
"I think you'll find he didn't kill me." Kent pointed out, stirring in her arms. He shifted, moving away from her "You shouldn't have saved me."
"Kent, I'm not going to live without you!" He gave her a look. Inza looked away. She knew what he meant.
"Mrs Nelson, we can take it from here, if you return Jordan to his form."
Batman should have learnt to hold his tongue. Inza was on her feet in a second, staring up at what was probably meant to be an intimidating bat costume but she'd had enough of this.
"Yes, because you were doing a brilliant job before I stepped in."
"Inza, stand down. It's over." Wonder Woman put her hand on Inza's shoulder. She took in a slow breath of air. There were a lot of heroes around them. She was no empath but the emotions in the air was strong. Fear permeated everything. Fear that had been for their lives against Parallax was now fear of her.
That stupid newt was still glaring at her, hissing in its container.
Could newts even hiss? She shot it a glare. There was not something right about it. About the whole situation.
"I can sense it." Kent said softly. She looked at him quizzically.
"It's not Jordan. I've met the man before and this is not him." Great, now her husband knew the now-newt-but-former-man. "Possession. I'm familiar with it. Whatever is inside him is a powerful entity. And you've trapped it."
"All the more reason to leave him as a newt." Inza pointed out. But she had experience with removing inner demons. She felt a sense of obligation to try and remove it. If he was a possessed human… Inza was willing to concede that it might not be all his fault.
"Inza, he lost his city. His home, friends… all gone" Alan said softly. Inza crossed her arms.
"And I nearly lost Kent." She was aware of the heroes around them giving her a pointed look.
Oh. Yeah. She could hear how that sounded. Inza looked at the newt with newfound sympathy.
"Maybe I can remove whatever is inside him?" She said, bending over to look at the amphibian. It glared back at her. She twisted her hand, pulling whatever force rested inside the newt towards her but it would not budge. Cleansing of drugs and vice was easy. This… this was strong. She could feel it digging in like a parasite throughout the newt's body. The amphibian twisted, feeling the internal tug of war that went on in its body.
"I can't shake it." She said, gritting her teeth.
"Stop her, Nelson. I don't trust her."
Since when did Batman know her husband?
"Batman, she won't hurt him. Trust me." Good Kent.
"She already has."
Inza stopped trying to remove whatever entity rested in the newt/man and turned to look at Batman.
"I could turn you into a bat, you know." She told him, hands on hips. He glowered at her. Apparently that was happening a lot. Kent groaned, rubbing his brows.
"Inza, love, not helping."
"Stand down, Mrs Nelson." Superman said. She looked at him. Jay appeared, standing between the two.
"No offense guys, but I think we can handle it from here. Inza's new to being Doctor Fate but she knows us."
Ted was by her, arm over her shoulder.
"I'm going to have to teach ya how to throw some punches, girlie." He said. "Once we've sorted this." She gave a small nod.
"Are you going to turn Hal back?" Alan again.
Inza sighed. Could she feel anger at him for what he had done? No. Not after finding out what he had lost. She could understand his actions. If she'd lost everything… Yeah. She understood that. And if he was being possessed on top of that…. The newt looked back at her.
"I can't remove whatever is influencing him. But I can remove the memories that drove him here. A new chance." Inza said.
The newt grew. Its form took that of a child. Inza looked at Kent. He gave her a frown. No one seemed impressed. The child stared at them.
"Hal?" Green Arrow asked
"How do you know me?" The child asked.
"Mrs Nelson, turn him back." Batman growled.
"Batman," Kent stepped in, moving between her and the caped crusader. "This might be our best option. Inza and I can look for a solution. We can ask around. Once we've removed whatever is possessing him, we can return Hal to his true form and memories."
"The JSA can look after him." Alan said, stepping in.
"Hang on, he's my friend. I think if anyone should be looking after him, it's me." Said the Green Arrow.
"We don't mean to limit him to just us. We'll all help." Said Jay.
"He's got to live somewhere. I don't think the JSA headquarters is the best place." Green Arrow pointed out.
"Inza and I have the Tower. And an actual house. Our work means that we'll always have someone at home."
Inza glanced at Kent. She was out of work at the moment. Perhaps he wanted her to get to know Hal? So she wouldn't newt him. A second time. The red headed woman looked at the child. He was wide eyed, looking between the heroes as his fate was decided. Did he realise that? He seemed so small.
She sighed. Before her rebirth, Inza had always wanted a child. She never bore one and she wondered if she was barren. In the Amulet, Nabu had simulated a happy family life, including a child for her and Kent. But that was all just a lie. Now there was a homeless child. And it was her fault. A bomber jacket sat on his shoulders, much too large for him. He watched the heroes argue about what to come of him. The fact that he did not speak out suggested his confusion. Inza glanced over her shoulders. They hadn't made any decision yet.
"Come on, lets go back to the Tower." She told the child, taking his hand.
She was aware that that had startled everyone as they all turned to her but they didn't get a chance to speak. Instead she teleported them all to her and Kent's home. A small tower house in New York, connected to the Tower of Fate.
"Great, now everyone knows where we live." Kent muttered.
"I'm going to make us some sandwiches and drinks." Inza told the heroes, still holding Hal's hand.
"I don't appreciate this Mrs Nelson. We didn't talk about coming here." Bats. She raised an eyebrow at him, putting on her guise as Inza so he could see the expression. She'd remove the helmet later.
"You don't get to make every decision. There was no point standing about on a rooftop when we can sit and talk here."
"You're a danger, Mrs Nelson. I've followed your work."
"I help people. Unlike you, I've tried to help everyone. I don't just fight the big bad. I've fought against poverty and inequality. I bother to fix up the city after some villain's torn through it. Do you give it a second thought?"
Wonder Woman stepped between the two.
"I've spoken with Inza, I can vouch for her." She said, ever the diplomat. "And now is not the time to be discussing Inza's conduct. You can speak to me about it later and I'll talk to her."
Inza liked Wonder Woman.
"Can I have some orange juice?" It was the tiny Hal. Inza nodded.
"I'll help." Jay said, suddenly at her shoulder. She smiled at him. The JSA were good. They'd been a family to her when she married Kent and became isolated from the real world. The three of them walked into the kitchen, allowing the others to talk. Inza poured Hal some orange juice while Jay started the kettle boiling and making sandwiches.
"Kent never used his powers like this." He pointed out. There it was. Jay handed Hal a sandwich which he took happily. Inza shifted his focus on the food so he wouldn't have to hear all of this. It was a matter of a thought.
"Kent and I have different skill sets. When I first merged with Fate, it was about ten years ago. Nabu was still kicking around in here. I mean, he puts a natural dampener on how much power to use but also he said something about Fate being both male and female. I can't do a lot of what Kent does. My energy blasts are weak. Constructs aren't much better. But I have different skills. Ones that Kent struggles with."
"And you don't have years of having Nabu tell you what's acceptable." Jay pointed out. Inza sighed.
"That too. But I also don't have a voice telling me to accept fate. I'm not going to let someone fall on my watch, even if that's what Order demands. Nabu didn't serve good. He served Order. And Order can be bad."
"He was a great asset to the JSA."
"He possessed my husband and nearly killed him many times."
"We all risk our lives."
"It's different when someone is risking it for you."
"Perhaps." Jay conceded. "But Kent chose to put the helmet on."
"He was manipulated. Nabu killed his dad, then raised him." Inza pointed out.
"Isn't that what you are thinking about doing with Hal?" Jay asked softly, looking over at the child.
"It's temporary. Until we can remove whatever is possessing him."
"How do you know it won't come out while he's a child?" Jay asked.
"It's suppressed. For now. Neither of them have memories beyond this point. For now." It was a temporary fix. The entity inside Hal would eventually shake off the spell and start to recall itself. And with that, perhaps Hal would remember as well. She wondered how much the entity influenced him. Alan had said his home was destroyed. Inza knew how personal failure could mess up one's psyche. Especially without Kent. Hal had not had Kent.
"Do you think you and Kent can help him?" Jay asked, giving Hal another sandwich. Inza started to brew coffee and put tea in the pot.
"I hope so. I think we can. Kent knows about possession. We'll figure it out." It was more a promise to herself.
"And you think you and Kent are prepared to look after a child?" Jay queried.
"We've discussed it in the past." Inza looked down as she poured water into the pot. "Neither of us were willing to give up 9 months to have a child." Which wasn't the best mentality for adopting either.
"Neither of you?"
"Oh, Diana suggested that if Fate can do anything that maybe I could magic Kent pregnant. It was an option." Inza said, waving her hand dismissively.
"You use magic a lot." Jay pointed out. Inza shrugged and took the helmet off, placing it on top of the fridge. Hal would start to pay attention now.
"It is rather convenient." She sighed softly.
"Where's mom?"
Inza sighed softly and went over to sit next to Hal.
"Truthfully, I don't know. Some stuff happened. You aren't exactly in the right time. But we'll look for her. But for now Kent and I are happy to look after you." She told him. They would have to find his family and explain. Or explain what they could. Whether he could go back to them, Inza did not know. The boy sat and thought.
"You're a superhero?"
Inza gave a nod.
"And you can fly." She gave another nod and a smile.
"What's it like?"
"It's just a part of me now."