A/N: I know this chapter should contain some smexy Roy, but alas, it does not. It is indeed quite boring, but I wanted to write it 'cause Klarion is an annoying, yet badass mofo and writing him makes me all sorts of happy. After the next chapter (splitting it into two parts, yo) it's Downtime, and I'm pretty sure I could shove him in there somewhere. I've also got a pretty specially special surprise in the form of a thing I like to call an OC Contest.
What? An OC Contest? Yes, fictional reader, yes an OC Contest! Make sure you watch my profile for details and submission rules!
(And a little secret: I favor those who review... ;D)
August 19, 7:39 PM, Happy Harbor
"Recognized: Echo, B04." I walked into the cave, towel wrapped around my neck and drawstring bag and water bottle in hand from gymnastics practice, only to see – a shirtless – Superboy and Aqualad circling each other in the ring. Raising my eyebrows, I made my way over to wear Artemis and Megan were standing. "Uh, any reason Superboy has his shirt off?"
"Does he need a reason?" Artemis snorted.
I hummed, watching as he and Aqualad ran at each other. "No, I guess not. That boy is nice to look at."
"But, Kaldur's nice, too. Don't you think?" she asked, directing the question more at Miss M than me while I took a sip of water. "Handsome, commanding, you should totally ask him out."
"He's like a big brother to me," she answered. "But you know who would make the cutest couple? You and Wally!"
My eyes widened at that and I gasped, spluttering profusely and spraying water everywhere. I coughed and pounded on my chest, gasping for air through my peals of laughter. Just watching him eat that burrito was enough to keep any female being away from him for a thousand years!
"You're so full of passion and he's so full of, uh –"
"It?" Artemis finished, making us all giggle. That is, until Superboy flung Aqualad onto the ground hard, making the fail sign pop up next to him.
"Black Canary taught me that," Superboy grinned proudly, brushing off his hands before going to help Aqualad up. I smiled, reminscing in the first time I used that move on Roy.
Suddenly, the ceiling of the cave opened up, and Red Tornado flew in, landing in the ring. He took one look at all of us before turning and walking toward the hall. Wally wasn't having that, though, and quickly ran in front of him. "Do you have a mission for us?" he asked eagerly.
"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility." It's always weird to hear people call him 'the Batman.' You know what I call him? Bruce. No 'the's about it. That's like calling me The Echo. It just sounds weird!
Obviously, Wally thought so, too. "Yeah, well The Batman's with The Robin doing the dynamic duo thing in Gotham, but you're heading somewhere, right?" he grinned cheasily. "A hot date? Or a mission?" Sometimes I wanna punch him in the face. Just one hit, I'm sure nobody will stop me.
"If we can be of help," Aqualad added. Red Tornado stood there for a moment, before turning around and typing something in to a keyboard. In front of him appeared a large picture of an old man wearing a suit, a cane in his hand.
"This is Kent Nelson – a friend," he added. "He is 106 years old."
"Guy doesn't look a day over 90," Wally whispered to Artemis, and she rolled her eyes.
"And he has been missing for over 23 days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentor's Justice League." The image changed from Kent to Doctor Fate, making both Aqualad gasp.
"Of course," he began. "Nelson was Earth's sorcerer supreme. He was Doctor Fate!"
Wally scoffed, turning to Artemis and I. "More like Doctor Fake. The guy knows a little advanced science and Dumbledores it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes."
"Kent may simply be on one of his...walkabouts," Tornado continued. "But he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might. And it is unwise to leave such power unguarded."
"He is like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses on Mars; I would be honored to help find him," Megan said.
Wally's hand shot up faster than I've ever seen in my entire life. "Oh! Me too! So honored, magic...rocks." Artemis and I rolled our eyes.
"Take this." Red Tornado held up a strange looking key, and Aqualad grabbed it from him. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate."
"What are the chances we both so admire the mystical arts?" Wally grinned, sidling closer to M'gann.
"Pretty slim, I'd say," I muttered to Artemis, and she laughed quietly to herself as we made our way to the bioship. Once M'gann had taken off and we were headed toward Salem, where Kent's house was located, Artemis turned to Wally.
"So, Wally," she began. "When did you first realize your honest affinity towards sorcery?"
"Well, I try not to brag, but before I became Kid Flash I seriously considered becoming a wizard myself."
"I call bullshit," I whispered to Artemis, who nodded.
"We have reached Red Tornado's coordinates," M'gann announced, cutting off our conversation. "But –"
Superboy finished for her, "Nothing's there."
"Take us down," Aqualad ordered as she landed in a parking lot. We all exited the ship rather quickly, and Kid Flash immediately began a sweep of the area while I pressed my fingers to my temples, concentrating on finding buildings. As far as I could tell, the grassy lot in front of us was empty.
"I can't find anything," I muttered, my eyes still closed as I searched again. "Kid?"
"Nothing," he replied once he skidded to a stop in front of us. "This isn't simple camouflage." That's because it's magic.
"So, what do you think?" Artemis asked. "Adaptive micro-optive electronics combined with faze shifting?"
"Absolutely...not," Wally quickly amended as M'gann walked up. "Clearly mystic powers are at work here."
Aqualad suddenly walked in front of us, his arm outstretched with the key in hand. "A test of faith," he muttered, stopping and turning his hand. A loud click sounded throughout the area, and suddenly, out of completely nowhere, a large door appeared. Along with that wooden door, came an amazingly tall tower that you could barely see the top of if you were standing at ground level. It was magnificent.
We walked inside, and the door closed behind us. I turned around, only to see the door had disappeared, leaving us trapped in this medieval castle-esque room. "Door's gone," I hissed, at the same time as Superboy asked,
"Uh, where'd the door go?"
A holographic image of Kent appeared in front of Aqualad. "Greetings," he said, voice ringing loudly as if he were here in person. "You have entered with a key, but the tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent."
"We are true believers, here to find Doctor Fate!" Wally announced, walking forward. Kent gave us a condescending and sympathetic look, before he suddenly disappeared.
"Please tell me that that didn't work," I began. "Because if it did...GAH!" The floor crumbled away under our feet, sending us flying down to a pit of boiling lava. I fired my grappling gun quickly, hovering just above the surface, while Artemis shot her crossbow and grabbed Kaldur. M'gann flew up and grabbed Wally, leaving Superboy to grab along the edges. His feet sunk into the lava, and he let out a pained cry, before glaring down into the lava.
"Those were my favorite boots," he growled, taking my outstretched hand so we were both secured on the rope. "This Nelson guy better be worth it."
I tried clicking the button to make the line retract, but it didn't. "Oh crap," I muttered. "My lines stuck. We need to find a way out of this, now." I looked to my right, only to see M'gann sinking.
"Having trouble...maintaining altitude. I'm so...hot," she gasped, looking faint.
"You certainly are," Wally grinned.
"Wally!" both Artemis and I groaned.
"Hey! Inches above sizzling death; I'm entitled to speak my mind!"
"My physiology and M'gann's are susceptible to extreme heat," Aqualad said. "We must climb out quickly."
"Hello Megan!" M'gann panted, still finding the energy to hit her forehead. "We never truly answered the question. Red Tornado sent us to see if Mr. Nelson and the Helmet were safe!"
With the last word she spoke, the floor closed up over the lava, and Superboy and I gladly hopped down off my rope. "This platform," Aqualad muttered as soon as he landed. "It should be red hot, but it is cool to the touch."
"I got you Megalicious," Wally smirked, wrapping his arm around M'gann. Artemis growled, stomping forward and pushing him off of her.
"Enough!" she shouted. "Your little impress Megan at all costs game nearly got us all barbequed!"
"When did this become my fault?"
"When you lied to that...whatever it was and called yourself a true believer!"
"Wally," Megan began, her eyes narrowing. "You don't believe?"
He hesitated a moment, before sighing. "Fine, fine! I lied about believing in magic! But magic is the real lie – a major low!"
"Wally, I studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis," Aqualad spoke, still feeling the ground. "The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water bearers."
"Dude, did you ever hear of bio-electricity? Hey, in primitive cultures fire was once considered magical, too. Today, it's all just a bunch of tricks."
"You're pretty close-minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers," Artemis accused.
"That's science! I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment and here I am! Everything can be explained by science!"
"You sound like you're in denial," I snorted.
He rolled his eyes at me, "I'm not in denial, I just know the truth while you guys refuse to believe it! There is no magic!"
"Then let us test your theory," Aqualad remarked, and grasped something, pulling his arm back to reveal that it was a hatch.
"Wait!" Wally shouted. "The backdraft from the lava will roast us alive!"
A blast of cold air and snow lifted up into the room, making me shudder. It almost seemed like it was snowing upward. "It's snow!" Megan grinned.
Artemis quickly got over her shock so she could smirk at Kid, "Do you ever get tired of being wrong?"
Kaldur leapt through the hatch, followed quickly by the rest of us. What seemed like would be a downward drop twisted so we flew in parallel to the ground. I landed on my butt in the snow, after Kid, and turned around to look at the entrance, only to see it disappear in a blast of light.
"Well?" Artemis prodded, hand on her hip.
"Ever heard of string theory?" Wally retorted immediately. "We're in a pocket dimension."
"What's that?" M'gann asked, pointing to a floating staff in front of us.
"I recognize that from Tornado's picture of Mr. Nelson," I mumbled, walking closer.
Wally rolled his eyes and stepped forward to grab the staff at the same time Artemis did, "Ooh, maybe it's Nelson's magic wand."
"I got it!" Their hands grasped the cane simultaneously. A strange noise filled the air and they tried to pry their hands off of it, but to no avail. "I can't let go!" Suddenly, the cane shot up in the air, with both Artemis and Wally still attached to it, and disappeared into thin air.