jla_watchtower | The Past is Prologue -- Ancient Egypt

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The Past is Prologue -- Ancient Egypt

Dr. Richard Occult takes politely of the feast Prince Khufu, the first incarnation of Hawkman, has provided to the weary travelers, but his attention remains fixed on his colleauges.

Hector Hall, the current (by his reckoning) incarnation of Fate eats not at all, refusing to remove his helmet. The chaos magicks that have infested his aura are growing stronger, making him edgy. So too is Gemma Marsters, after Arion's revelation that she may be destined to become the Witch Queen.

They wait for Nabu, whom Khufu has sent for. The delay in his arrival concerns Occult. Something is wrong.

The other shoe drops an hour into the meal, when an Egyptian messenger comes, sprinting into Khufu's tent.

"Your .. your highness ... It is Nabu. He has arrived, but .. he ... he ..."

The messenger stops, and catches his breath.

"Your highness, he is plagued by demons."

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You ... will not ... prevail protests the struggling Mekanique. Our victory ... preordained. ...

"No," says Arion, calling upon magics that even here, at this time, are older than history. "It is not."

What happens when you suddenly remember living lifetimes you haven't experienced yet? And what happens when suddenly you know far more than you should of power?

She couldn't stop the transfer now if she tried, and to be honest she's too caught up in it all to even try. A voyeur to a life that may never be she can't look away as she lives it all in her mind.

And now she has a lot more knowlege to draw upon as she pulls at Mekanique with the new things she's learned.

"You will be an empty shell."

The patterns play out across Mekanique's brain ... the symmetrical dance of artificial neurons across elaborate circuitry. Briefly, Gemma catches a glimpse of the past ... Mekanique's past -- Degaton stealing Chronos from the JLA, and absconding with him to the 6oth century ... rendevouzing with Kadabra. How the three time travelers made a pact to resurrect her, and use her as a weapon to defeat their enemies. ... How Chronos, years later by his time, realized the horror they'd perpetrated, and escaped into the past to stop it, but had been driven so insane that he nearly erased the universe trying to kill Jean Loring and and Ray Palmer.

And then there's Gemma ... and as the template for Gemma's future self dissolves in the matrix, the other threads begin to unravel. And then there's something else ... a voice that sounds not far different from her own. A message to herself. A last will.

Find Rip Hunter.

And with that, Mekanique's astral projection dissolves, disappearing into the ether.

Well done, Gemma Marsters says the voice of Nabu, finally beginning to break through. Now, Hector Hall, you must return to the world and stop Abhararakadhararbarakh.

"I think I'm goin' t'be sick." One hand over her mouth as she is digesting everything she just experienced.

"Easy, child," says Rose, resting her hand gently on her shoulder as the world around them spins, returning to its "normal" perspective. "You've done well."

"Indeed," says Fate, sounding dour but more like himself again. "And that means there's only one thing left to do here."

Reality returns to its normal aspect in full, and his gaze trains on Abra Kadabra, who's on his last legs against Flash, Khufu and the Thunderbolt.

"Kadabra," he says. "I would have words."

An ankh of energy flashes around Fate, and the 60th Century villain's force field -- already overtaxed -- crumbles beneath the force of his power.

Kadabra, too, is blown backward by the attack, landing on his back in the desert sand.

"You will speak, Abhararakadhararbarakh," says the voice of Fate. "Why did you do this. How?"

Fate waves his hand, and suddenly the nano-bots flooding Nabu's system are torn from his body, rising out of him like a swarm of insects. It's painful, and the wizard screams, but it seems to be working.

The old wizard will survive, uninfected.

"Tell me" says Fate, and Kadabra's survival from this moment on is suspect."

Kadabra cowers. "It was Degaton. Degaton used Chronos to find me ... to get me to repair Mekanique. To make her more powerful. Then he hatched a plan where we could rule the world. A world where there were no heroes to stop us."

He begins to rise, but Fate's glower stops him.

"Think about it. I admit, we had to start out bad, killing heroes to make sure those who'd stop us were out of the way as we kept splitting timelines. Mekanique calculated what we needed to do. But after that ... no Krypton exploding. No fateful muggings in Crime Alley. No death of Abin Sur."

He seems to get a bit of his spine back. Just a bit.

"But there was more. We called it the Superman Quandary. Superman's saved the world so many times, you can't erase him from the time line without destroying everything, which isn't what we wanted. So Mekanique calculated the sequence of events, time line to time line, until we could accomplish it all. But there was only one thing in our way. ..."

"Rip Hunter," says a familiar voice, as a seeming portal of light appears in the sky below them. And from the portal descends a woman engulfed in flame.

"Good to see you all again," says Firebrand. "Things have gotten bad. The JSA's needed."

"Firebrand!" says Fate, seemingly surprised. Which is a rarity. "How is it you've come to this place in time?"

"Long story, Fate," she says. "We've gotten some help. But Degaton's made his move, so we need to, too."

"So we shall," he says. "But first ...."

Fate waves, and a light engulfs Kadabra. The villain screams, and then is gone.

"He shall be imprisoned in my amulet, until we can bring him to justice properly. Come, my friends. The war awaits us."

He stops though, and turns and looks at Khufu. And for a second, sadness seems to radiate from him.

"Goodbye, Lord Khufu. Thank you for your help. We shall meet again."

And with that, Fate flies into the portal, leaving in his wake a beam of light that will allow the others to rise after him.

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The Past is Prologue -- Ancient Egypt

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