I do not own Young Justice or any of the characters.
Magic
Cassius winced and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes and waiting for the throbbing to fade. He was mostly recovered, but every so often, his insides would flare up for a few moments. He'd been cleared for missions again, but he doubted he'd be able to go through one without the pain causing a problem. And he had enough of those. The Shadows were extremely displeased that the team stopped them. The only reason he was breathing now, was because Kid Flash had let it slip that he was hurt and recovering to one of the Shadows they fought, accidentally covering for his ass by letting them know he had nothing to do with it. He opened his eyes as Superboy threw Aqualad.
"Black Canary taught me that," Superboy said.
Just then, a hole opened in the roof, and Red Tornado floated down into the room. Within a second, Kid Flash was standing in front of him.
"Do you have a mission for us?" Kid Flash asked.
"Mission Assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado said.
"Yeah, well, the Batman is with the Robin, doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham," Kid Flash said, then pointed at Red Tornado. "But you're headed somewhere, right? Hot date?" he pointed at Tornado with both hands then winked, adopting a terrible French accent, "or a mission?"
"If we can be of help..." Aqualad offered.
Red Tornado turned away from them, a holographic keyboard and screen appearing. He typed for a moment before an elderly man in a suit with a gold-handled cane appeared on the screen. "This is Kent Nelson. A friend. He is one hundred and six years old."
"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety," Kid Flash joked.
"And he has been missing for twenty three days," Red Tornado continued. "Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentors Justice League." As he spoke, Kent's image was replaced by Doctor Fate.
Doctor Fate was a god-like being with magical powers who would possess the body of anyone who put on the faceless gold helmet he inhabited, then use his powers to protect the order of the world. Or, at least, something like that. Cassius had never payed him that much attention.
"Of course!" Aqualad said. "Nelson was Earth's Sorcerer Supreme! He was Doctor Fate!"
Kid Flash snorted, leaning toward Artemis to whisper. "More like Doctor Fake. Guy knows a little advanced science, Dumbledore's it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes." He made finger quotes around "Dumbledore."
"Kent may simply be on one of his...walk-abouts," Red Tornado said. "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 of Mars," Megan said. "I would be honored to help find him."
Kid Flash's hand shot into the air instantly. "Me too!" He stepped forward. "So honored I can barely stand it." He held up rock on devil horns with both hands. "Magic rocks."
"Take this," Red Tornado said, raising a small golden key with oddly shaped teeth. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate."
Aqualad accepted the key.
"What are the chances we both so admire the mystic arts?" Kid Flash asked Megan.
"About the same as the chances that anything that comes out of your mouth is true," Cassius spoke up finally, receiving a glare but ignoring it, wincing as his insides flared again. "If we're going to assume he was taken to get the helmet, I might have a theory who it could be. A couple, actually. Felix Faust, Klarion, and Wotan all stick out the most."
"That is entirely possible," Red Tornado said.
A few hours later, they were flying to a location Red Tornado gave them for the mission, which Cassius had been too busy being in pain to hear the importance of, and Artemis was needling Kid Flash about his false love of magic. Shortly after she finally gave up, Megan announced they'd reached the location, a massive empty lot. Cassius and the others stepped out of the ship and Cassius looked around. There was nothing, as Kid Flash reported a moment later when he returned, only to catch himself as he was discussing scientific methods of hiding the Tower of Fate with Artemis, switching to saying it was hidden with magic as Megan walked over.
As Artemis glared at Kid Flash, Aqualad walked forward, holding the key out in front of himself as though putting into a lock, and it clicked as it passed into an invisible handle. He twisted, and the tower appeared, a massive, square, brick building standing a hundred feet tall and the door being double their height. Aqualad pushed the door open and they all walked inside, looking around. The door closed and was gone, and the empty room was colder than Cassius expected.
Just then, a glowing, gold, ethereal Nelson formed in front of them. "Greetings. You've entered with a key but that power does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent."
"Magic security system," Cassius noted.
"We are true believers," Kid Flash lied, stepping forward, "here to find Doctor Fate."
The ghost frowned and faded. Then, the floor beneath their feet began to tremble and creak.
"Fuck yourself, Wally," Cassius said, just before the floor shattered and they fell into a circular pit with lava at the bottom.
Cassius held his hand out just as the heat reached them and his insides began to sear in pain, his goo failing to respond. He groaned, eyes squeezing shut and face contorting in pain, just in time for a hand to catch the back of his belt, jerking him to a stop. Then, Superboy shouted in pain as his feet skidded down into the lava just before he stopped. He yanked his feet out and glared at the lava.
"Those were my favorite boots," Superboy snarled. "This Nelson guy better be worth it."
Cassius curled into the fetal position where he was hanging as his insides throbbed, the pain growing worse slowly.
"Cassius!" Megan called out from off to the side, where she was hovering with Kid Flash.
"Are you alright?" Aqualad asked.
"F...Fine!" Cassius forced out through gritted teeth. "Can't you...tell?"
"Having trouble...maintaining altitude," Megan said as she and Kid Flash sank toward the lava slowly, sweat pouring down her face. "I'm so hot."
"You certainly are," Kid Flash said.
"I'm...going to...kill him!" Cassius snarled, then groaned as his insides throbbed.
"Wally!" Artemis snapped.
"Hey, inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind!" Kid Flash snapped back.
"We need to get them both out of here!" Aqualad said. "Me as well. All three of our physiologies are susceptible to extreme heat."
"Hello Megan," Megan panted as she and Kid Flash neared the lava. "We never truly...answered the question." She looked up at the surface. "Red Tornado sent us to see if Mr. Nelson...and the Helmet were safe!"
Suddenly, a stone floor closed over the lava and Superboy, Megan, and Kid Flash all dropped to the ground. Artemis began to lower herself, Aqualad, and Cassius to the ground with her grapple gun, and Superboy took Cassius once he was in reach, setting him down carefully.
"This platform," Aqualad said, kneeling and setting his hands down. "It should be red-hot, but it is cool to the touch."
"Don't...looks a...gift horse...in the mouth," Cassius said, still in agony.
"Just how weak to fire are you?" Kid Flash asked.
"It...boils my goo...and burns it," Cassius said. "Try injecting...boiling water...into every vein in your body."
"Yeah I think I'll pass," Kid Flash said.
Megan's legs wobbled slightly as she straightened up and Kid Flash wrapped an arm around her.
"Don't worry Megalicious," Kid Flash said. "I got you."
"Enough!" Artemis snapped, shoving him hard. "Your little 'Impress Megan At All Costs' game nearly got us all barbequed!"
"When did this become my fault?" Kid Flash asked.
"When you lied!" Cassius snarled, dragging himself to his feet, revealing the front of his clothes charred, since they were made up of his goo. "When you called yourself a true believer, and got us all thrown into a lava pit because you just had to try to make yourself seem like everything about you matched Megan! It's your fault because you're so fucking desperate to impress a girl that ninety percent of the bullshit that comes out of your mouth could fertilize a corn field! Look at me, you ignorant, oblivious little brat! this is what happens when you care less about the mission than you do about your relationship status!"
Kid Flash stared at the burns on Cassius's body, which were very slowly shrinking. "Okay, fine. I lied about believing in magic! But magic is the real lie! A major load!"
"Wally, I studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis," Aqualad said. "The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my Water Bearers."
"Dude, have you ever heard of bioelectricity?" Kid Flash asked. "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 said.
"That's science!" Kid Flash said. "I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment and here I am!"
"Yeah," Cassius said. "There you are. Failed laboratory experiment with a third the speed and ability of the other Flashes, no ability to see what your narrow mind can't rationalize, and no concern for anything besides impressing a girl. A real gift to society."
"You know, you're not so great yourself," Kid Flash said.
"At least I can go one full mission without fucking it up for everyone else," Cassius said. "How do you explain me, then, Mr. Science? Every time I turn into goo, I erase my cells. My goo is inorganic. How do you explain that?"
"Hey, I never said I have all the answers," Kid Flash said. "Only that everything can be explained by science."
"Let us test that theory," Aqualad said, reaching over to a trap door on the floor.
"Wait!" Kid Flash said. "The backdraft from the lava will roast us alive!"
Aqualad lifted it and a blast of cold air and snow blew up through it, wind blowing inside the area below them and Cassius able to see snow below them.
"It's snow!" Megan smiled.
"Christ that breeze feels amazing," Cassius said, moving to stand over the opening with his arms out to his sides to catch the cold air.
"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?" Artemis asked.
"I'm going through first," Cassius said, dropping through the floor and feeling gravity shift to behind him.
He flipped, landing on his feet and stepped out of the way of the others as they dropped through the hatch that now floated in the air like a window. The others followed, and just as Kid Flash turned to look at the hatch, it shone gold and shrank out of existence. Cassius formed a snowball as Kid Flash huffed.
"Well?" Artemis asked.
"Ever head of string theory?" Kid Flash asked. "We're in a pocket dimension."
"I think you mean straws," Cassius said, throwing the snowball into Kid Flash's face. "Like the ones you're grasping at."
"What's that?" Megan asked suddenly, pointing to Nelson's cane, which was hovering off to the side, snow and ice beginning to build up on the bottom of it.
"That would be Nelson's cane," Cassius said.
"I think you mean magic wand," Kid Flash said sarcastically.
"Magic yes," Cassius said. "Wand, no."
Kid Flash sped over to it in time to grab it at the same time as Artemis.
"I got it," both said, just before the cane rose, glowing gold, both gasping. "I can't let go!"
Then, it streaked into the air and both of them vanished in a flash of light, along with the cane. Cassius sighed, kneeling down and scooping snow onto his burns.
"Does that help you heal?" Megan asked.
"In a roundabout sense, I suppose," Cassius said. "It's helping with the pain, and it cools the burns, which lets them heal faster. So, kind of."
"So, where to now?" Aqualad asked.
"Let's just pick a direction and walk until the tower gives us a way out," Cassius said. "If the tower wants us to help Nelson, it'll give us a set of stairs."
The others agreed and they began to walk. As they did, Megan and Aqualad discussed Kid Flash's complete refusal to believe in magic. Finally, a set of stairs appeared off tot he side, atop a tall hill, and with a door back into the tower at the top. They all walked over to it and climbed the stairs, re-entering the tower. However, the re-entry was decidedly less graceful than the exit. Aqualad and Superboy both walked through and promptly fell forward onto a floor, Superboy landing on Aqualad. Cassius had Megan float him to the floor beside them when she flew through. Cassius looked around. Nelson was standing with them now, one hand resting on his cane, and all around them was a warped dimension with stairs running in every direction and at every angle, and just in front of them was a massive golden bell.
"Care to explain this one, Flash Brat, or can we skip your bullshit?" Cassius asked.
"Fuck you, Void," Nelson said.
"Oh, so you're Void," Nelson said.
"You've heard of me?" Cassius asked.
"Once or twice," Nelson said. "I actually have a message for you from two people you lost."
Cassius frowned.
"One of them is glad she managed to get you off the island alive, thanked you for giving her some kind of burial, even if it wasn't perfect, and wanted me to tell you she's watching over the girls for you," Nelson said.
"Girls?" Kid Flash asked, then snorted. "And you accused me of only caring about picking up chicks."
"That's not who he's talking about," Megan said.
"And the other?" Cassius asked.
"She said she doesn't blame you, since you weren't given an option, and that all three of them are waiting in heaven, but that you should follow your heart, even if it leads you to someone else," Nelson said. "She sounded like such a sweet woman. I was very confused when they both told me the recipient was Void. I thought they meant it didn't matter. But now I understand."
Cassius stared at the floor. "Thank you, Mr. Nelson."
Nelson nodded, smiling. Just then, a bolt of electricity flashed over them, Nelson and Kid Flash only barely dropping to the ground in time for it to miss. Cassius glared at Abra Kadabra and Klarion, who smirked at him. Abra Kadabra was a dark-skinned man, looking to be Hispanic, with a decently powerful build, A white shirt with the neck a "V" to the bottom of his chest, black pants, and a magic wand, the end of which was currently glowing with light blue electricity.
"Great," Cassius sighed, recognizing the outline of Klarion's horned head as one of the silhouettes of the Light members.
Abra Kadabra continued to shoot bolts of electricity at them, all of them dodging around and around them. As they did, Nelson slammed his cane against the bell twice before it began to glow. He and Kid Flash walked into it and Klarion flew forward, passing into it as well. Cassius turned to Abra Kadabra and raised his hand, beginning to form his goo, only for agony to scream along his nerve endings, starting from where he'd tried to form it and spreading outward. A cry of pain tore out of him and he fell to his knees, clutching at his sides, just in time for a bolt of electricity to explode into him, sending him flying backward into a sideways stairway. However, rather than stay there, as Abra Kadabra was standing on a sideways staircase, he fell, plummeting about twenty feet before crashing down on another normal staircase where Abra Kadabra couldn't target him.
"Thanks," Cassius groaned. "You're a very...good tower." He forced himself up, looking around. His goo was out, but he could still fight without it. "Can you get me Abra Kadabra?"
The stairs to his right began to glow faintly, so he turned, sprinting up them. Then, they came to a section that was inverted ninety degrees and continued to the left. He raised his foot, turning himself and leaning back just in time to continue running along those stairs. Then they turned upside down before the stairs themselves began to twist. After a moment, he reached a platform below the one Abra Kadabra was on just as he caught the others all in cages of electricity. He quietly reached up, gravity flipping as soon as his hands were pressed against the underside, leaving him in a handstand. He silently flipped his feet to the floor, then gripped the edge of it before flipping around, gravity rolling with him until he landed behind Abra Kadabra. The charlatan spun, only for Cassius's right hand to catch his wrist, his left hand drilling a punch into his side. Abra Kadabra shouted in pain, dropping the wand, and Cassius stomped on it, the others' cages vanishing instantly. Abra Kadabra stepped forward, throwing a punch, and Cassius brushed it aside, drilling a punch into his jaw, then a knee into his gut. Then, he clasped his hands above Abra Kadabra and slammed them down into his back, sending his face bouncing off the floor and knocking him out. Megan floated them both over and Aqualad restrained Abra Kadabra as Cassius dropped onto his back, groaning as pain radiated through his body in a constant wave.
"You okay?" Artemis asked.
"I'll be fine," Cassius said. "Eventually. As long as I can avoid going near a fire or pissing off Black Canary."
The others all nodded and Cassius let out a long, slow breath as the pain finally began to fade slowly. After a few more minutes, Kid Flash returned with Nelson's body, telling them he was killed by Klarion, and the Helmet of Fate. They all walked down the stairs, for about three stories before opening a door and finding themselves outside again. Aqualad removed the key from the lock and the tower vanished again. Then, they all got on the Bio-Ship and went home.
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