jla_watchtower | Salem -- Fate's Watchtower

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Salem -- Fate's Watchtower

Hector Hall sits alone on a throne of stone in his tower, blood pulsing through his temples. The Helm of Nabu whispers dark things at him, but he pushes the skittering voice aside. He will not fall to chaos. Doing so is unthinkable.

So why don't you just cast off the helm? says the voice. He has no answer. The misery has gripped him since he returned from Bete Noir. His magic is wild, now. Sloppy. Things do not happen with the precision to which he's become accustomed.

"My soul is imperiled," he whispers to no one, and as he speaks, he realizes that they are the first words he's spoken in hours ... maybe all day.

Rose Psychic left them to seek assistance. She believes she has an answer for him. And Gemma ... Gemma has surely become concerned, by now. His absences and solitude are nothing new, but there is a shadow fallen over this tower. He doesn't know how to find the light again.

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"Atlantis," says Rose, awe on her lips. "A nation underneath the seas ... the heart of magic in this realm."

"Smashing." Hector's magic is feeling all over the map and she's keeping tied closely into it for now since she doesn't know any water breathing spells.

A small globe of light emerges in Rose's hands, flitting effortlessly through the barrier.

"This will lead us to the temple, to retrieve the amulet we are in need of."

"The sooner the better," growls Fate. "I feel uneasy maintaining this level of power right now."

But with the aid of the other mystics, his capsule holds.

"You'll do it," Jay says surely. "We'll make it."

"Indeed, Mr. Garrick," says Rose, a serious look on her face. The golden orb floats through the water, drawing their bubble toward it to a shrine on the outskirts of Atlantis ... a stone, coral-covered temple in the shadow of the lost city.

"There," says Rose, her tone of voice clearly disbelieving things would be as easy as that. "The amulet is there, in the shrine where it was placed centuries ago."

But even as she speaks, the waters darken, and a shadow looms over the city.

Above them, a ghastly visage ... a woman in a white veil, her hand extended toward them ... long, gnarled fingernals adorning withered fingers.

"You reach from the past to prevent my future says an icy voice that seems to cut through the water. Fate is mine. You will not take him from me.

"He was never yours to begin with," Jay says matter-of-factly. "And you won't take him as long as he has friends standing by his side."

He's not standing as though he's ready for a fight. If one breaks out, though, he'll be ready in a flash.

"He's not yours!" She'll move between Hector and the visage hovers. Let the hag try something and she'll find out how much of a scrapper Gemma is.

The globe is now being buffetted by an underwater maelstrom, waves of water and pure energy bashing against their mystic shields. Which are beginning to crack. The visage cackles.

I saw you, Spy Flash, watching me through the veil. Did you thrill to watch my champion fell the Superman? And you, Gemma Marsters. If you knew what shadows lurked ahead for you, you'd turn over Fat to me yourself."

The storm engulfing the orb grows greater.

"Or did you already?"

"What the hell are you nattering about?" What shadows?

"I'd never give him to you!"

"She's just trying to rattle you, Gemma," says Rose sharply, her forehead creased and sweating fromt he exertion of lending Fate power to preserve the shield. "Don't listen to her."

Really, Rose Psychic, says the horrid voice. "Tell me then, you know the great evil arises in this era. So who is the Withc Queen?"

"NEVER!" shout Rose, in an uncharacteristic display of losing her cool. Rose lashes back agains the onslaught buffetting them, but it's spititng into a storm compared to the power raining down on them.

She adds her power to Rose's but the seed of doubt has been planted.

"You're not welcome here."

She's never really tested what her limits are, she might be doing that today as she pours her energy into the shield.

"Oh, fu...fudge this. Thunderbolt, make the waters surrounding this bubble within a five mile radius immune to the magic that's attacking us."

"I'll give it my best, bud." the Thunderbolt says, and magic pink lightning leaves through the bubble.

The waters glow pink as the Thunderbolt's power shields the orb, but he's being spread thin, and both The Witch Queen and Rose seem to know it.

"Hector," she says in her clipped, school teacher tone. "If we continue this battle, the storm will reduce Atlantis to rubble. We need to move. Seize the amulet and the battle's won."

"I ... dare not relent my will at this time. Soon, she will defeat the Thunderbolt."

Then, he has a plan.

"Jay Garrick. If I lend you protection from the elements, and Rose Psychic guides you to where you need to be, can you seize the amulet?"

"Just say the word, Fate." Jay's face is set firm.

Fate doesn't take his eyes off the visage hovering over the city, but Jay finds himself engulfed in a golden glow ... a mystic shield that will protect him from the depths' rigors.

"Go!" shouts Fate, buckling under the weight of the enegies he and the others are countering expanded her attack to the city itself.

Now, their magics are needed to not only protect themselves, but thousands of others.

And in a blur, Jay rushes for the amulet.

Fate's power tingles at his skin, as he moves through the water as effortlessly as if it were air. For a few moments, Jay Garrick is the fast man beneath sea level.

Rose Psychic's golden orb leads him straight to the temple ... but inside, it turns out Jay's not alone. A glowing, spectral hand is holding what seems to be the amulet, pulling it into some sort of mystical portal.

Jay grabs hold of the amulet and begins altering its vibration, attempting to find a frequency of vibration where it will phase through the glowing hand.

The amulet scrunched in it disembodied palm, the hand now clutches at Jay Garrick, the light from the portal expanding as it now tries to draw him in, too.

Someone disturbed the resting place of Queen Kella. The temple doesn't see worshipers - at least not openly. Worship of the dark things of the sea isn't exactly encouraged, even in a more "open," Atlantis. When the seals and wards in this area were disturbed there was a swift call to arms and who better qualified to deal with it? The Regent materializes inside the temple. The Atlantian guard will be there shortly.

This place makes him weaker then he'd normally be magically, but he still blasts the creature. "Back OFF!"

Magic touches magic, mind touches mind ... and in their intersection Tempest feels a presence that is definitely not a creature ... Indeed, both he and Jay Garrick feel in their bones a power that's both old and familiar.

This does not concern you, Garth of Poseidonis says the voice that seems to rattle within them both. Atlantis is in grave danger, unless you heed my warning.

And then, Tempest's magics and powers seem to abandon him, turning on their owner and propelling him backward with full force.

Remember the source of your powers, young Tempest.

"I am not of one city any longer! I am the Regent of all the ocean cities and I tell you to let the patriarch of the Flashes go now." Some things just don't translate well in Atlantian. To the older man. "He will go nowhere without explanation!"

This is a lot of trust in Jay Garrick, more likely then he knows.

The water begins to coalesce into a vaguelly humanoid shape -- one hand now holding the amulet, the other now clasping Jay Garrick's wrist.

"You'd argue with me while the The Witch Queen threatens the city? You have changed, young Tempest."

There is a face ... a vaguely familiar outline of a face ... someone important. Someone he should know, but can't recall.

"There is only one Atlantis, one true Atlantis at the heart of our powers. You know this in your heart to be true."

The voice now reaches all the JSA and their allies, whispering in their ears.

"Fight here and Atlantis falls. Trust me. My time here is short, and I dare not speak my name."

Salem -- Fate's Watchtower

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