sclaimer: I don't own any of the Marvel Comics characters featured in this story. I also do not own any DC Comics characters.

Written by: ScorpinokXV

Story idea from: Crazyboi23

Chapter 7 - The Dreaded One - Part 1

Night - Inside The Tower of Fate

Aquaman with his trident in hand is walking into a large room that has shelves filled with books. He then turns his head with an impatient look, and waves Solomon Grundy to follow him inside. Solomon lumbers his way in, and scratches the top of his head in confusion. Aquaman rolls his eyes at the zombie man's naiveté, and starts pacing back and forth with growing aggravation.

"Where you take Grundy, Fish-Man? Grundy wants his gold!" Grundy bellows to Aquaman, and steps right into his personal space with a dissatisfied expression on his face. Aquaman narrows his eyes, and walks around Grundy over to a large chest located in the far corner of the room. Aquaman goes to open the top of the chest with his hand, but stops suddenly when he notices Doctor Fate's wife Inza entering the room wheeling in a trolley with a large plate of cookies on top of it.

Inza is an attractive woman with long black hair tied back in a top not. She has green eyes, and is wearing a conservative long sleeved yellow dress. Grundy tilts his head, and stares at the new arrival, who smiles back at him. "I hope you're hungry, Solomon." She said to Grundy, and motions her right hand to bring his attention to the plate of food. Grundy smiles eagerly, and walks up to the trolley to reach for the cookies. He stops suddenly, and looks up at Inza for approval. Inza smiles, and nods her head then Grundy begins to devour the plate of cookies with gusto.

Aquaman hits the bottom his trident on the floor loudly gaining Inza's attention. Aquaman stares back at her, and narrows his eyes. "Inza...where is your husband?"

"I am right here!" A voice calls out with all parties in the room watching as light purple colored magical energy forms into a bright ankh, and Doctor Fate soon appears from it, with his arms outstretched and his yellow cape fluttering behind him as he levitates above them.

Doctor Fate floats down to land on the floor in front of Aquaman, who glares at his face that is covered by the helmet of Nabu. "Keep me waiting again at your own peril." Doctor Fate doesn't appear fazed by the threat, but holds a yellow gloved hand up to him in a placating manner.

"I was sequestering myself, and in deep meditation in my chambers to prepare for the ritual." Doctor Fate looks over at Solomon Grundy, who just finished off the plate of cookies with Inza then wheeling the trolley away after he was done eating. "He is the one?" Doctor Fate asks Aquaman questioningly, and he gets an affirmative nod from the King of Atlantis.

Aquaman has a grim expression on his face, and rubs his yellow beard in thought. "Yes, but he wasn't alone, and I ran into some resistance in retrieving him...we almost didn't make it here." Doctor Fate has a surprised look on underneath his mask, and he motions for Aquaman to continue.

"Explain." Aquaman groused slightly at Doctor Fate giving him an order, and tightens the grip on his trident.

"Grundy was confronted by an unknown group of metahumans, and a fight was taking place before I had arrived. I attacked them to aid Grundy. Some of them were very strong, but their lack of communication and teamwork was their only drawback. I took advantage of this weakness to escape with Grundy. Now, are we ready to perform the ritual?" Doctor Fate shakes his helmeted head, and levitates over to Grundy, who grunts in derision.

"Grundy don't want to hear stupid Magic-Man talking! Grundy wants his gold!" Doctor Fate nods at Grundy, and waves for Aquaman to get the chest. Aquaman leers at Doctor Fate, and then grudgingly moves the chest into Grundy's field of vision.

"You will have what you seek, Solomon...but I need your aid to help in a ritual we must perform. Can you tell me about your origins? How you came to be like you are now?" Grundy furrows his brow in thought, and sighs with his head down and rubbing the back of his head with his large left hand.

"Grundy not remember...why can't Grundy remember?" Doctor Fate gives Solomon a sympathetic look to him from underneath his helmet, and Aquaman feels a bit of pity for the Undead Zombie man.

"A simple spell of revelation will show us your past." Doctor Fate explains to Solomon, and he lifts a gloved hand in front of Grundy's face. His hand glows, and another ankh symbol appears to bathe the large room in a brilliant light.

Doctor Fate began narrating the events that took place in Grundy's past, as the occupants in the room watched his past as if they were there. "Decades ago, Cyrus Gold was a wanted gangster. He was unscrupulous, and cared not for the lives of others. His only cares were for wealth, and power." The vision of the past showed Cyrus robbing a bank, and using a woman as his human shield against the police to make his getaway. Then it shows Cyrus at his hideout counting his money. "However, this evil attracted the attention of a greater evil...and Cyrus was killed." The vision showed that a deal with Cyrus' mobster associates turned sour, and the henchmen gunned Cyrus down.

"They cursed Cyrus' body with a powerful gris-gris which took his soul, and they dumped his body in a swamp filled with mystical properties." The vision shows the swamp bubbling, and mystical energies of different colors intermingle, and the swamp glowed. "The magical forces did not sit well together, and after several decades, Solomon Grundy was born, cursed with an insatiable greed. Unaware of who, and what he was." The final vision shows Solomon Grundy emerging from the swamp waters with no expression, and lifeless eyes.

The spell ends, and the occupants of the room see Solomon with wide eyes as if he's awakened from a dream. "Grundy remembers." Solomon said in stark realization. Aquaman lifts the lid off of the large chest to show Grundy that it's filled to the brim with gold doubloons. Doctor Fate addresses Aquaman to get his attention.

"He will be able to help us." Solomon's expression changes to a frown, and he folds his large arms over his chest.

"No." Aquaman stares over at Grundy with a look of frustration, and rubs his forehead with his hand.

"We agreed Grundy...you help us, you get the gold." Grundy roars in anger at Aquaman, and roughly pushes the chest with the gold away from him, with the gold spilling out all over the floor of the room.

"Grundy not want gold stupid, Fish-Man! Grundy wants what men took from him...Grundy wants his soul back!" Grundy is breathing heavily, and he grits his uneven teeth with his head down. After a minute, Solomon looks up at Doctor Fate with determination in eyes. "If Grundy helps you...will you help Grundy get his soul back for him?" Doctor Fate is moved by his plight, and nods up to Grundy with a yellow gloved hand over his chest.

"You have my word that I will do everything in my power to find your soul for you." Grundy smiles down with his uneven teeth at Doctor Fate, and Aquaman grunts in agreement.

"Now that we have that settled, let's be done with this ritual! My Kingdom could be attacked at any moment, and I will have no more delays!" Aquaman said with finality in his voice, and Doctor Fate nods in his direction as he levitates past him, and motions for Solomon to follow, which he does without hesitation.

"Come with me, we shall begin the ritual now."

Onboard Amanda Waller's Private Jet - Approaching Salem, Massachusetts

The sleek jet used by Waller's team, Freedom Force is being piloted by Captain America with the rest of the team members taking up seats in the back. Ace is sitting between Thor, and Sif. She has her head down looking at her feet shyly, with a small smile on her face, while holding onto Thor's red cape. Thor doesn't seem to notice this, and Sif smiles to herself at the young girl's crush on her Prince. Galatea is staring out through one of the airplane's windows, and rubbing where her recent injury was with her right gloved hand. Toyman is checking some of the experimental weapons that he 'borrowed' from a high security level of Cadmus, and giggling creepily.

Giganta is in the co-pilots chair, and taking not-so discreet looks over at Cap. Giganta is about to say something, but Volcana beats her to the punch in breaking up the quiet atmosphere.

"Man, getting any information out of the Queen was like pulling teeth! You'd think she would be a little more grateful to us for saving their collective asses. I seriously wanted to start a fish fry when she told us to leave, but you somehow managed to get the info we needed, Captain. Color me impressed." Volcana admitted with a smirk, and put her hands behind her head of thick red hair.

Cap smiles wryly from the pilot's chair, and chuckles. "This wasn't the first time I had to be a diplomat between humans, and Atlantians, Volcana. Mera wasn't as bad as Namor when we first met." Cap's smile becomes wistful when he remembers his time being the leader of his first superhero team called The Invaders during World War II.

"Aqua-Drip is crazier than I am. If I had a woman like that, I'd never leave Atlantis." Toyman added with a disturbing giggle as he adjusted a component on the weapon he's holding. Volcana laughs loudly, and puts her hands over her face to try to stifle them when everyone turns to stare at her.

"*Hhhm~Ha-HAh-ha! I-It would be the first sign of the Apocalypse if you had a woman like that, Toyboy!" Toyman grumbled obscenities under his breath, and continued working on his new equipment. Sif understood the joke, and tittered slightly as she took out her special stone to sharpen her sword, Dragonfang.

"Aye, t'would be a colder day in Niflheim for that to ever occur." Sif tries out her own joke at Toyman's expense, and the obscenities he utters start to get louder.

"Toyman, language!" Cap warns from his location in the pilot's chair, and Toyman stares at him incredulously, with his tiny arms raised in indignation.

"You're serious?! You've already forbidden me from flirting with women, and now you're the cussing police?! I'm sorry, I thought the constitution granted me the ability for freedom of speech...you know the AMERICAN constitution?" Toyman smirks underneath his Toyman head. "That's not very patriotic of you, Captain America!" Everyone on the team is waiting for Cap's response, and they can hear Giganta giggling from inside the cockpit.

"He's got you there, Cap...a-are you blushing? You are! You're blushing! How cute!" Giganta chirped, and held her gloved hands on the side of her cheeks smiling at Cap. Steve coughed lightly into his right gloved hand, while his left one continued flying the plane.

"It was the time, and way I was raised, that's all." Steve clarified to the rest of the team, and most of them nodded in understanding, with Galatea leaving her seat and walking into the cockpit area.

"And they call Superman a boy-scout. You could give him a run for his money, Captain. Speaking of the boy in blue, Amanda's information on Superman's activities over the years really paid off." Galatea leans over, and looks at the instruments to check how much farther they had to travel. Giganta notices something new about the costume she's wearing.

"The red cape, blue gloves, and boots are new. They look good on you." Giganta said to Galatea with a smile, and Galatea glances over at her with a small grin. Cap nods his head in agreement with Giganta's compliment to Galatea.

"I'm not one for fashion, but you can never go wrong wearing the red, white, and blue." Cap hears a loud groan coming from Toyman, with Thor, Sif, and Volcana laughing good-naturedly at Cap's quip. Ace smiled ever so slightly, and continued to hold onto Thor's cape.

Galatea has a dusting of pink on her cheeks in embarrassment, and folds her arms under her breasts huffing in a loud manner, and turning her head away from the two in the cockpit.

"I don't know...it just felt right, okay?!"

"Understood, now you were saying about Waller tracking this Superman...is that how she discovered Doctor Fate's location? Queen Mera told me that her husband was taking Grundy to see him, but she wouldn't go into any specifics." Galatea hums to herself, and nods to Cap in agreement, with Giganta listening in.

"That's right. Amanda said that Superman went to Fate for help to battle some demon named Karkull, and Cadmus' tracking satellites confirm that his tower is still located in the very same spot. Amanda had Tala mystically shield the satellites from detection, so the Justice League couldn't spot them. Tala also used the same shielding spell over this Jet." Cap, and the others hear a beeping from the plane's GPS indicating that they're arriving at their destination shortly. Galatea leaves the cockpit to go back to her seat.

Cap peers down through the large cockpit window, and spots the tall imposing tower that looks like one you would see on a medieval castle. "There's a big clearing near the tower. I'm going to set her down there." Steve informed to his team, and guided the sleek aircraft into the clearing, and pressed a switch on the plane's console to lower the landing gear.

Steve makes a textbook landing with the Jet, and it eventually travels to a stop 20 feet away from the Tower of Fate. Freedom Force begin to disembark, with Cap taking point with Galatea, Sif, and Thor with Ace holding his large hand. Volcana, Giganta, and Toyman soon followed. Volcana looks up at the tower with her hands on her curvy hips, and whistles.

"You think the mystic is compensating for something with this?" Volcana joked to her team, getting laughter from Toyman, and light chuckles from some of the other members. Ace is staring intently at the tower, and squeezes Thor's hand tighter. Thor feels this, and looks down at Ace trembling slightly.

"I don't like it here." Thor gently lifts Ace's hand that's in his own, getting Ace's attention. She sees that Thor is giving her a reassuring smile.

"Be at ease, Lady Ace. Thor shalt not let any harm befall thee. You have the word of the Son of Odin!" Ace looks unsure, but the rest of Freedom Force nod in agreement with Thor, and Sif takes out her sword DragonFang, and places the flat end on the sword in front of her face.

"Have no fear, little sister. This shield-maiden of Asgard will defend thee to my dying breath." Sif assures her with confidence in her voice. Ace looks back up to Thor, and then over to Sif. She has a small smile on her face, and reaches over to hold Sif's hand gently with her free one. Sif hears a soft *thank you* coming from Ace, and Sif beams down at Ace, and connects their hands together. Cap looks on with approval, and nods his head.

"This team is really coming together. Thor and Sif's connection to Ace is giving the poor girl a newfound confidence. Galatea is learning not to rush head long into a fight. Volcana, and Toyman have a strange, but budding friendship, and Giganta is slowly recovering from being mind controlled by Grodd." Cap notices Sif giving him side long looks, and she quickly turns her head.

"Sif seems to have something on her mind...although that last person to give me a look similar to that was Sersi." Steve feels his cheeks getting warmer at the memory. "Stow those kind of thoughts, Soldier! You, and your team have a mission to complete!" Cap berates himself internally, and gets his game face back on in front of the rest of Freedom Force.

Steve takes his circular shield off of his back, and gets ready to throw it at the tower. "Everyone, stand clear!" Cap orders, and the rest of Freedom Force give him a wide berth. Cap throws his shield with authority at the tower, and a magical force field reveals itself to the team. Cap jumps high in the air, and catches his shield in his left hand, and rests the straps on his forearm. "This mystic must be a powerful one, like Doctor Strange from my world."

"Let me give this a shot!" Fireballs are formed in Volcana's hands, and she begins her attack on the force field with her pyrokinetic flames, with them having no effect. Volcana blew a bang of her red hair from over her eyes, and pouted at her failure. Giganta grows 40 feet tall, and Galatea flies up next to her. They nod at each other, and start battering the shield with their fists. Cap shouts to get everyone's attention.

"This isn't working! We need to think of another way to get inside the tower." Sif releases Ace's hand gently, and walks over to stand beside Steve on his right hand side.

"Tis true that this sorcerer has great magics at his command, but we shall fight his magics with our own!" Sif raises her enchanted sword DragonFang above her head, and makes a downward slash with it toward the force barrier. A tear in space/time is revealed, and the Freedom Force members can make out ancient looking artifacts, and long-winding stone staircases.

Cap places a red gloved hand on Sif shoulder, and a happy smile can be seen playing on Sif's ruby lips. "Good work, Sif! That's our ticket inside, people! Let's move!" Steve is the first to enter through the portal, followed by Giganta, Galatea, Toyman, and Volcana. Thor flew in next, with Sif taking Ace by the hand, and walking through before the portal closed after them.

A few minutes later, the Justice League's aircraft called the Javelin lands in the clearing alongside Freedom Force's magically cloaked jet. Three of the Justice League members disembark, and they are Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Thanagarian Hawkgirl.

Superman waves his two teammates over to stand in front of the tower. Then Superman shouts out with his hands cupping his mouth looking up at the tower. "FATE!" Superman waits a few seconds, but gets no response. "FATE!" Superman tries to get the sorcerers attention a second time with the same results. Wonder Woman stands to the side of Superman with her arms folded, and her hands resting on her forearms. Diana tilts her head in curiosity, and asks Superman some questions.

"This Fate is some kind of mystic? Do you think he can help us find some answers?" Superman nods confidently to Diana, as Hawkgirl begins to study the tower closely.

"I do. He's one of if not the most powerful Sorcerer on the planet. If anyone can tell us what those creatures were that did this..."Superman trails off, and points to a large scar on the side of his shoulder. "...it's Doctor Fate." Superman tries to scan the inside of the tower with his X-Ray vision, but it has no effect. "It's no good. My X-Ray vision can penetrate that magic force barrier around the tower." Hawkgirl sighs loudly getting the other two Leaguer's attention. Hawkgirl is charging up her battle mace, and an electrical aura forms around the spiked ball of the mace.

"How about we just knock then? HAAAAA!" Hawkgirl yells a war cry, and smashes her mace into the magic barrier. The mace breaks through, and destroys both it, and the stone wall of the tower.

Hawkgirl turns to her two surprised friends, and smirks patting the base of the mace into her other hand. "Knock, Knock." Superman is stunned into silence, and Wonder Woman can only sum up her thoughts in one word.

"Hera."

Superman shakes off his momentary surprise. and nods to Hawkgirl before entering Fate's tower with Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl following after him.

With Freedom Force - Further Up The Spiral Staircase

Cap, and the other members of Freedom Force are looking around as their continue to ascend the staircase to the upper levels of the tower. Everyone stops when they hear a loud smashing noise coming from the first floor. Giganta gives a questioning look up to Steve, who is several steps ahead of her. "Should someone stay to investigate?" Cap shakes his head to Giganta.

"No, I don't want to split up the team. If this Sorcerer is as strong as I believe, then we're going to need everyone to with us if things turn ugly." Steve pauses in his explanation when he hears a faint voice getting louder at the top of the stairwell. The members of Freedom Force race to the top of the Stairwell, and to the entrance of a large area with an unknown dimension inside with a pathway leading to Grundy, who is laying on a stone platform. The Sorcerer, Doctor Fate is levitating high in the air, and fires a mystic bolt that travels from his hands over to Aquaman's trident that the King of Atlantis is holding. The mystic bolt then travels over to hit Grundy, causing him to cry out in pain.

"~Waaa-beee-yyyooon! So Fate commands!~So Fate commands!~SO FATE COMMANDS!~" Cap has seen enough, and throws his indestructible shield at Fate, and scores a direct hit to his chest area. Doctor Fate falls back down to the ground in a heap. Aquaman turns his head towards the entrance area ,and narrows his eyes in anger.

"It's you again." Aquaman readies his trident, and Doctor Fate begins to recover, places a gloved hand over his helmet to shake off the attack. "NO! You've interrupted the ritual! The Old Ones will come!" As if to validate Doctor Fate's claims, a dark swirling vortex opens inside of the chamber, and a large number of the Old Ones start pouring in through it.

Cap points his red gloved hand with his shield on his arm, as the Freedom Force members get ready to engage their enemies.

"FREEDOM FORCE! TAKE THEM DOWN!"

Author's Note: Thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! It really motivates me to make new chapters! :) Let me know what you thought of this chapter, and I hope to see you in Chapter 8 of ''Warrior's of Two Earths - The Dreaded One: Part 2!' :D