Chapter 44: Fate (Patreon)

With how my schedule has changed, it seems like I'm getting these chapters out later and later on Fridays. I'm gonna give myself another week to get on top of things, and if that doesn't pan out, I'll most likely move the release date to midnight (i.e. Saturday) for consistency.

Until then, thank you for waiting, hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 44: Fate

I stared at the matte black prosthesis that Batman had placed on the table.

The articulated ball joints gave it an I-Robot feeling of understated efficiency. Actually, ‘understated’ was probably the prototyping team’s buzzword, because even though I knew this was a full synthetic limb, it looked more like a doll arm than anything else. It looked like a toy.

“I don’t want this,” I said.

Batman raised an eyebrow behind his dark cowl. I heard the servos in Red Tornado’s head whir as he nodded slowly. “A prosthesis is not an ideal solution,” he said in that tin man voice of his. “But this device will serve as a stopgap measure until a suitable alibi for your absence can be fabricated.”

It took a great deal of effort not to growl. “That’s not what I meant.”

Tornado paused. “You refer instead to you desire to assist in the search for Kent Nelson.”

I crossed my arms.

“Has a scrying spell punched through the interference?” Batman asked. His question knocked the wind out of my sails.

I looked away, “No, but—!”

“The League is expending every resource to track Klarion down,” Batman cut me off. “But you’re doing no one favors, running around without direction.”

I was still formulating a response that had a bit more tact than ‘fuck you and the horse you rode in on’ when Tornado turned to look at his partner. Batman didn’t outwardly react, but after several seconds his jaw twitched slightly.

“I cannot and will not sanction a directionless mission,” Batman said at last. “But what you do on your own time is your business.”

I closed my eyes for a second, doing my best to contain the slight trembling of my fingers. “I understand.”

He placed a hand on my shoulder. “We are doing all we can, Destiny.”

“But what if that’s not enough?” I whispered.

A slight squeeze. I expected another empty platitude, or even worse an admonishment to ‘trust in Kent’. God knows I’d gotten enough of those from the rest of the Team in the last few days. Instead, he just stayed still for a second, before turning with a whirl of his cloak. In a way, I appreciated the silence much more.

“I will clear Miss Martian’s bioship for launch,” Red Tornado. “Should you require any additional materials, the League has fully restocked the armor during repair.”

I nodded sharply, “Right.” I turned to go, but a raised hand stopped me.

With a whir, he pointed a finger back down at the table, and the black prosthesis lying there. “I believe that your friends would be more comfortable if you were functioning at as close to peak capacity as possible,” he said.

I stared at the robotic arm for a moment. It was foreign, alien, all machine smoothed curves and light eating metal. I bowed my head as I picked it up and fastened it to my arm. Then I turned and marched towards the common room.

What was one more artificial replacement?

A plan began swirling through my mind as I walked. I flexed my ‘new’ arm, clenching and relaxing my fist. It was clunky, slow. The servos twitched. I drew my cloak tighter around it as I forcibly calmed my nerves.

I didn’t delude myself. My chances of finding a lead where the entire Justice League had failed was next to zero. The same went for the odds of randomly stumbling across Klarion. Remove all of that and, well, there was perhaps one last desperate gambit that I could try.

Because I’d die before I let another friend be ripped away from me by a capricious godling.

M’gann and Raven were already looking at the door when I walked into the lounge. At Raven’s raised eyebrow I did my best to calm my swirling emotions, but they only receded into the background. I powered forward instead.

“I have a plan for finding Kent,” I said. At my words, the other members of the Team quieted. 

Robin tilted his head, “Something new?” He asked. I nodded.

“I’m going to the Tower of Fate,” I said.

“The Tower?” Wally asked. “Didn’t Supes, like, check that place thirty seconds after he heard Kent was missing?”

“The goal isn’t to find him there,” I said. “It’s to find something that will.”

“Will you be able to enter the Tower?” Kaldur asked. “It will be protected by powerful enchantments without question.”

I nodded.

Raven looked at me sharply. Internally I prayed that she keep silent. “This isn’t a sanctioned mission,” I said as the rest of the team started trading glances. “But I have permission from Batman to do some… extracurriculars.”

“Well, crap,” Wally said. “Count me in. Anything’s better than sitting around here and waiting for GL to go scanning through the place for the fifty billionth time.”

“I’m coming too,” M’gann said.

I just smiled. “I was hoping so,”

She blinked, before snorting. “Hello, Megan! You want to borrow the bioship!” I nodded.

“I’m down,” Artemis said. She jackknifed upright from where she was lying on a couch. “It’s about damn time we did something aggressive for once.”

Robin, Raven, and Aqualad quickly voiced their agreement as well. Only Superboy remained silent.

“Conner…” M’gann started, but I just raised a hand.

I locked a howler deep inside my chest, and said, “This isn’t about me, or you, or any arguments we’ve had. This is about rescuing someone. This is about being heroes.”

Superboy looked up at me, a myriad of emotions flickering across his face. “I…” he started, before looking away. “I—Sorry. I’m gonna sit this one out. Just gonna… keep an eye on the mountain while you’re gone.”

Before I could reply, he stood and hustled out of the room. 

I didn’t slump, but that was only because M’gann did it for me.

Aqualad sighed. “At that, maybe it is a good idea for some of us to remain. Just in case.” He gave me a small smile, mouthing ‘I’ll talk to him.’

“Wait. Who’s leader then?” Wally asked.

Kaldur clapped me on the shoulder. “Destiny did an excellent job in Bialya,” he said. “I’m sure she’ll continue to rise with the tide.”

“Ah,” I forced a tacit nod “Thanks. But we shouldn’t be seeing any combat.”

“It is always better to be prepared.”

“Right.”

“Well?” Artemis said. “What are we waiting for, engraved invitations?”

“Oh! Do we need to get permission to take off?”

“Already taken care of,” I told M’gann. The seven of us quickly gathered our kits and started towards the hangar. “I’ll show you where to fly to once we’re in the air. I think I can do a basic memory share if you take care of the heavy lifting.”

“Okay!” M’gann chirped.

The bioship lowered its ramp as we approached. It was different now, a bit cozier with the seven of us, than it had been the first time I’d flown in it. Still, the seats arranged themselves with just a brief prod from M’gann, and I found myself seated directly in front of her. The captain’s chair, so to speak.

The hangar doors opened as the bioship took off and faded activated its camouflage. “Where are we headed?” M’gann asked.

“Give me a second.” I thought back to my time traveling with Kent. He brought me to the tower exactly one time, and I focused on its location in my mind. My vision vibrated, splitting slightly, as I shared that thought with M’gann. “You get it?”

“Yes!” she said. “You’re getting better at telepathy, Destiny.”

“Every advantage matters,” I said. “Just look at Robin.”

Robin grinned. “I resemble that remark.”

I just nodded, tuning out the conversation that grew out of his reply. The ship was fast, but it would still take the better part of an hour to reach the Tower of Fate. I forced myself to stay relaxed, even as every muscled wanted to pull tight as steel cable. I wanted desperately to try scrying again, but it would be a fruitless attempt.

After learning more direct magic from Kent, I’d let that school of magic fall by the wayside. Now I was kicking myself over it. None of my basic farsight spells could penetrate whatever protection Klarion was using. Hence the desperate gambit.

For all of that, the bioship arrived at the tower all too quickly. I allowed myself a wane smile at the empty field. For once, I declined to disparage Wally’s expression of disbelief. I’d acted the exact same way when Kent first showed me where his Tower was. ‘In case anything happens to me,’ He’d said.

I certainly thought this applied.

The bioship took off behind us. It would fly circles overhead, out of sight, and, more importantly, out of reach in case we were ambushed.

I counted my steps forward. “Anyone nearby?” I asked. Both Raven and M’gann responded in negative.

“I’m not getting any reads on tech either,” Robin said after a second. “But it could be shielded, the scanners on my glove aren’t strong enough to pierce a lot of passive protections.”

I looked around the field. “Well, it’s not like we really have time to wait,” I said quietly.

I came to a stop, reaching out with a single hand. My fingers slipped through the air without a hint of resistance but— “There you are,” I said.

The energy tingled against my palm. I moved my hand up and down, search for a latch, or something to anchor to, but in the physical world there was nothing more than empty field. It was only through my mystical senses that I could perceive anything at all. But even still, there wasn’t anything for my magic to grab on to.

“So is there a secret password or something?” Kid Flash asked. “Like, ‘Open Sesame!’ or ‘Fatabra kadabra!’ or something?”

“Really?” Robin jibbed. “Fat-abra?”

“I mean, he’s called Doctor Fate right?”

I grit my teeth, a counterspell tore through the empty air in front of me. No response. 

“You can get us in, right?” Raven asked.

I took a calming breath. “Give me a second,” I said. “He only showed me this once.”

Slowly, I reached out a second time. My robotic arm rose to join my real one. For some reason, the barrier was clearer there. The boundary… it was because the part of my ‘self’ that encompassed my prosthesis was still raw. It wasn’t a part of me, not really, but maybe… because I was still attached to an idea of an arm, it counted enough for me to feel.

It was enough for me to see.

Reaching out, I knocked on the heavy wooden door. Metal rapped audibly against the oak, and the doorway rippled into existence before me.

“Woah…” I heard behind me, but I wasn’t focused on that. The moment the tower revealed itself I spun around, mana flaring and—

Nothing. I narrowed my eyes, searching the surrounding area.

“Destiny?” M’gann asked.

“I was expecting an ambush,” I said.

“There is no one else nearby,” Raven said. Her eyes glowed an intense violet as she spoke. “Not even Klarion would be able to escape my notice now, not after he caged me for the better part of an hour.”

I stayed still for a moment longer, before shaking my head. “Let’s go inside,” I said. “There’s a guardian. Let me do the talking.”

I got a series of nods in reply, and I pushed my way into the tower. The sitting room was the same as I remembered, pictures, fireplace, and all. The moment the door shut behind us a ghostly impression of Kent flickered into existence in front of us. I swallowed at the sad smile on the facsimile’s face.

“Destiny,” Kent’s voice said. “What’s brought you back to this neck of the woods, kiddo?”

“I… we’re looking for Kent,” I said.

The facsimile chuckled, idly fingering his cane. “Well, I can tell you that the old codger isn’t here. Hasn’t been back since he stopped in with you.”

“I know,” I said. My voice came out quiet. I could feel the concern of my teammates growing behind me. Maybe I should have just gone by myself. Clenching my fist, I rallied. “But there’s something here that will help me find him. I’d like to borrow it, if that’s okay.”

“Are you sure about that, young lady?” Kent said. For a moment his silhouette seemed to stretch, growing larger than life. “It’s hard to return things to the Tower, after all.”

“I’m sure.”

“If you insist.”

There was a ding as the image of my mentor faded away. The fireplace and accompanying wall slide aside like the entrance to Diagon Alley, squeezing into what should have been the tower exterior. An old timey elevator, sliding cage door an all, popped into the gap.

“All aboard,” I said.

The gate closed with a rattle behind us, and the lift began to rise.

“So what are we borrowing?” Robin asked. I heard a tinge of suspicion in his voice, but luckily the lift was fast.

“A powerful artifact,” I said, as the elevator opened up on the top floor.

In the center of the platform floated a single glowing helmet. The empty eye sockets bored into me, watching from behind the smooth faceplate.

“Wow, is that the Helmet of Fate?” Wally asked.

I walked forward.

“Destiny?” M’gann asked. There were more questions that followed, but they washed over me without registering. The Helmet loomed before me; its mystical power seared my skin as I approached. I could feel the Order Magic drawing around me like a cocoon.

I slipped away from a grasping hand without looking, without pausing.

My hands wrapped around the Helmet of Fate. I felt like Atlas, holding the sky between my hands. It was nothing more than crude metal, but at the same time it was so much more. It was impossibly more.

I smiled. “Luminous beings are we,” I murmured. So many things I had lost, I would not suffer one more. “Not this crude matter.” And then I placed the Helmet on my head.

“Long has it been, since I have seen one of your kind.”