JLA Watchtower (Archive)

Dr. Mid-Nite has been manhandled by this Dr. Fate - more mage-handled, actually - but he's recovered himself enough to follow the golden-helmed sorceror out towards the others... his eyes widening in concern for the young Hunkel in their charge...

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tornado-mouth.livejournal.com

MAXINE!!!

The voice in her head snaps her around, as she sees the Fate's approach. "Oh no you..."

She gestures, and a localized cyclone wraps around the head of Dr. Fate. The function is twofold- the localized, concentrated gale force is intended to rip the half-mask off of his face while as the same time asphyxiate him as the breathable air is drawn away, then cut off from, his facial area.

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It's not entirely clear he needs to breathe ... and while it clearly slows him for a moment, a blast crackles from his fingertips ...

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... but before they find their target, the blasts ricochet of the shining metal gauntlets of Queen Hippolyta ... Wonder Woman!

The Amazon Queen throws herself in-between the sorceror and his intended target.

"Fate ... Kent ... I beg you to stop this. You are not in control ..."

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Fate says nothing, but instead lunges at the Queen, a wildfire of energy erupting from his hands.

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tornado-mouth.livejournal.com

Unless Fate can break his way THROUGH the winds, he's not going anywhere. Maxine amps up the gale force and extends it around his body. He shouldn't have gone three feet.

"Uh, team, a little help...no offense meant, your highness, you're DEFINITELY help..."

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Power Girl grits her teeth.

Fate. Magic. Her one weakness besides Kryptonite.

Ha. Kryptonite.

She uses her heat vision on Fate in conjunction with Maxine's cyclones.

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Fate gets his bearings, and suddnly, Cyclone's torrent and Power Girl and Firebrand's flame shrink into a small tornado swirling on the palm of his hand. Without so much as a nod, he flicks his wrist outward, reflecting the fury back at the heroines, with devestating force.

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"No!" shouts Firebrand, reflexively reaching out and absorbing the bulk of the flame before it can do more damage. The effort leaves her stunned ... falling to the ground.

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Polly's fists pound into Fate's force field, distracting him from the kill.

"That will be enough Fate! This must end!"

The impact of the fists is a symphony of earthquakes, rattling the air around them.

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jla-goldenage.livejournal.com

"Sweet Christmas," says Amazing Man, touching a steel girder to absorb its characteristics. "This is outta control."

It doesn't stop him though, as he charges into the breach.

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There's not much the doctor can do against Fate, although he's been monitoring his force field to try and isolate a weak point, but he does rush to the spot where Firebrand has collapsed, to patch her up if he can.

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Kara rights herself, growling under her breath as she flips her cape onto her back.

"Of all the times for me to find out my origin..." she mutters. She rushes towards Mid-Nite and Firebrand. "Plans, ideas, anything?" she asks, kneeling down next to the doctor as we works on Firebrand. "Because I'm weak to the magic, and that's annoying me right now."

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"He seems to be under the control of someone called the Witch Queen, who apparently wants us dead - but there's not much we can do so long as he's got that force field up. Get him talking if you can, pry information from him - get him distracted and unfocused. I momentarily affected him with one of my concoctions, so I'm thinking if you can get that force field down long enough to inject him with this sodium thiopental derivative truth serum I've developed..."

A gun-shaped syringe is produced from his belt.

"... he might give us information we need, and it'll give us the added bonus of sedating him so we can stop fighting him. He's not our true enemy."

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Kara set her lips in a firm line and took the syringe from Mid-Nite.

"Wish me luck," she says before taking back off into the sky. She circles around Fate, clutching onto the syringe, trying to come up with a plan to make Fate get his guards down.

She approaches him, hiding the syringe in her fist.

"Dr. Fate! You don't want to do this! You're under a spell! At least the spirit of Nabu should know that much, right?"

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Fate is engulfed in light -- his energy arcing out into his force field, sparking off his back into hawk wings. He is outputting energy at a tremendous pace, easily warding off Wonder Woman and Amazing Man's pummeling blows.

The new future is written, Kara Zor-L, says a voice colder than even Nabu's at his most icy. Heroes will die, whole timelines sacrificed, the world will be ordered. It will be a world without heroes, because heroes will no longer be needed. There will be only The Witch Queen. Only Degaton.

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The light is bright enough to even cause Dr. Mid-Nite's goggles to have trouble filtering it out.

But he can still hear.

The Witch Queen and</>Degaton... or is Degaton somehow calling himself the Witch Queen? That would reveal much more about Per then he'd ever care to know...

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With Fate in overdrive, Degaton's soldiers begin to blink out.

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Kara squints her eyes in the bright light, coming closer to Fate.

"Okay, you know what, if Degaton's suddenly gone drag, I don't want to know." She studies him carefully, wondering if prying off his helmet will do any good.

She makes a move for it after a moment's thought.

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Fate flexes his mystic might, knocking Wonder Woman and Amazing Man away from him. Instead, he lunges toward Kara as she approaches, hands burning with mystic energy as he grasps to throttle her.

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Dr. Mid-Nite hopes to help with keeping Fate unfocused - by tossing a blackout bomb at his back as he lunches for Kara, which should instantly cover him in sticky black mist - a mist Kara should easily be able to see through...

And if he gets his force field up to block it - he may still have to take it down to rid himself of the blackness, which should give Kara her chance...

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The black-out bomb succeeds in staggering the wizard, at least for a moment. Blinded, the sorcerer is forced to use magic to burn the darkness away.

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Kara takes in a deep breath and moves for the helmet, her hands clamping on it, using her Kryptonian strength to try to pry it off his head even as the magic burns her fingers...

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The older JSAers have told stories about Kent Nelson, about how ... for a time ... his mystic powers were weaker than they were earlier, but how his strength was immense. Not as strong as Superman, or Power Girl ... but strong.

And it's with that strength that Fate struggles ... until someone intervenes ...

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"Act quickly, sister," shouts Queen Hipolita of the Amazons, the Wonder Woman of the Golden Age. With strength rivaling that of Hercules himself, she inserts herself into the fray, grabbing his arm. ...

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jla-goldenage.livejournal.com

Fate struggles, enraged, but then a hand composed entirely of glistening metal grabs his other arm, pulling Fate back.

Will Everett, The Amazing Man -- the first African-American superhero.

"Whatever you got cooked up, Power Girl, it's now or never!"

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Power Girl grunted as she struggled with the helmet. It refused to budge, and the magic emanating from it was rapidly weakening her, though not to the extent that kryptonite might.

She paused, then, and pulled the syringe with the serum back out from her belt.

First things first.

She jammed the syringe into the base of his neck and flooded his system with the serum.

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The helmet gives in an explosion of golden light. Beneath, Kent Nelson looks shocked as the needle plunges into his skin. Then ... somethign tht resembles relief falls over his face.

"Thank you," he whispers.

And then he passes out.

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"Good job, Power Girl!" shouts Firebrand, descending from the sky above them. "But her face is ashen, despite the joy in her voice.

"Johnny's hurt bad. It doesn't look good."

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"I'll be the judge of that," Mid-Nite says, running towards the fallen speedster. "What hit him?"

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"He was hit by energy blasts from Degaton's soldiers. He took a bunch of hits."

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Kara wheezes a little weakly, trying to catch her breath. She drops the helmet and kneels down, shuddering a little. Fate's magic was not good for her system. Her hands burned and she felt a little depowered, though she figured that was a side effect. She would be good as new quite soon, she figured.

"He's going to be okay, right?" she asks Dr. Mid-Nite. "Both him and Fate?"

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"Fate should be fine. If he's conscious at all, he should be easy to get to speak openly."

Johnny, he's not so sure just yet.

"Give me some time and a little room to get to work."

He's got three different bottles out already to soothe the skin burns, and the goggles are scanning for any internal damage.

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The burns are bad, the internal damage is worse ... he's in bad shape, and probably not going to make it.

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That's never stopped Dr. Pieter Cross from trying.

Without any of his standard equipment - without any equipment other than what he's carrying on his person, it will be a hell of a risk. But less of a risk than doing nothing.

"If any of you have long-range teleportation abilities to get us back to the headquarters, please speak up now," he says, as he begins rigging up a sonic device used for helping to delicately contain internal bleeding.

"Otherwise, stand back and pray."

With that, he starts to go to work.

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Briefly, Johnny Chambers' eyes flicker open, and his mouth opens, struggling to find his voice.

Finally, he just says "Libby."

And then he's gone.

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Danette Reilly falls to her knees, realizing instantly what's happened. Her hands dart to her eyes, from which tears are burning so hard they transform into steam.

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Not enough time.

Even when time traveling... not enough time.

The doctor's head bows... and he says a quiet prayer.

That John Chambers will find his peace.

That they haven't cancelled out the life of his daughter.

That they haven't destroyed the time stream.

That Degaton and this Witch Queen will be brought to justice.

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Suddenly, there's a light in the sky above them ... a portal?

From the light descends a caped man with purple hair ... the man who enabled the JSA to follow Degaton's henchman to the past.

"Another debt Degaton owes, Dr. Mid-Nite," says Pariah, descending from the sky. Since last we spoke I've learned of many others. We need to return."

His eyes fall to Johnny Chambers' body, and sadness seems to well from him.

"There's still time to repair the damage he's done to the time line."

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Pieter pulls himself together quickly.

"Then let's not waste any of it."

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"We shall accompany you," says Hippolyta, eyes still watering, jaw clenched.

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"No," says Pariah. "We can't risk any further damage to the time line."

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The Queen of the Amazons begins to protest, but then stops. She searches deep into Pariah's eyes, and then, finally nods.

"May the gods be with you, then."

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Pariah simply nods. He's seen gods die, after all.

And without another word, he rises into the light, beckoning the others to follow him.

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