Chapter 45: Denying Your Demons Part 5
Earlier, with Kadabra
Superboy's fist connected with Kadabra's chest, and the blow sent the sorcerer flying backward into the stone wall. Blue sparks flickered through Kadabra's outline. His body dissolved into fractured light. The real Kadabra stepped out from three meters to the left. He brought his gloved hands together in a slow, mocking applause. "Bravo." Kadabra's smile was sharp. "Such vigor. Such determination. But that won't stop a sixty-fourth-century magician, children." He spread his arms wide.
The chamber filled with duplicates as dozens of Kadabras materialized in overlapping waves. "Scatter!" Kaldur shifted his water-bearers into a defensive position. "Superboy, maintain pressure. Artemis, covering fire. Miss Martian, find the real target."
Superboy charged forward and plowed through the nearest cluster, but his fists passed through three holograms.
Artemis nocked an arrow and tracked movement patterns. "Too many targets. Which one's real?"
"Scanning." M'gann's eyes glowed green as her telepathic net swept across the chamber.
Her consciousness slammed into a wall of feedback.
Quantum sigils flared across her mental probe, forming fractal patterns that burned against her mind's eye. She gasped and pulled back instinctively. "His mind is shielded. I can't read him."
Kadabra laughed, and the sound echoed from every duplicate simultaneously. "Did you think I would leave my mind unguarded? How quaint." He swept both hands upward. A shockwave burst across the chamber.
Stone dust billowed from the floor as an invisible force shoved outward. Artemis staggered, her bow jolting in her grip. M'gann steadied herself with telekinesis, and Superboy braced against the blast with a planted heel.
Kadabra fired energy bolts between them. Purple-white lances of force sliced the air at sharp angles, each blast timed to force new evasive movement. Artemis ducked beneath one that scorched a line across the wall behind her. M'gann raised a telekinetic shield and deflected two more. Superboy caught a chunk of rubble knocked loose by the blasts and hurled it at the nearest Kadabra, but the figure dissolved into light before impact.
"Team, maintain formation!" Kaldur extended both arms. Water surged from his bearers and formed tendrils that wrapped around each teammate's waist. The lines pulled taut and held them together through the barrage.
Artemis dropped to one knee and already had another arrow drawn. "Kaldur, keep us steady." "On it." His water tendrils remained active as a flexible tether connecting all four members.
She fired. The arrow split mid-flight and released a payload of magnetic shrapnel in a wide cone. The tiny fragments were scattered across the chamber. Each one pinged off solid surfaces while passing harmlessly through holograms.
M'gann seized the opening. Her telekinetic strike lanced toward the Kadabra, who had flinched when shrapnel pinged near his shoulder. Green energy slammed into a shimmering barrier around him. The shield cracked for half a second, fractal lines spreading across its surface.
The shield repaired itself instantly. Kadabra's smile widened. "Clever. But insufficient." He pulled glowing discs from his coat and scattered them across the chamber.
Kaldur's eyes widened. "Move!"
The first disc detonated. The explosion froze mid-expansion in a suspended sphere of fire and force. Then it resumed, the shockwave blasting outward in a delayed rush. Artemis dove behind cover as the second disc triggered. Its detonation stuttered through three separate phases, each explosion hanging in temporal stasis before releasing. Overlapping shockwaves crossed the chamber in unpredictable intervals.
M'gann threw up a telekinetic shield, but a frozen blast resumed directly behind her and knocked her forward into the floor.
Superboy charged through the chaos, ignoring the erratic detonations. One blast struck his back and staggered him, but his momentum pushed through. He broke through another hologram, then another, and finally his fist connected with solid flesh.
Kadabra's head snapped back. Superboy grabbed his collar and lifted him off the ground. "Got you." Kadabra's smirk didn't fade. "Exactly as planned."
Sigils flared beneath Superboy's feet. Energy rings rose from the floor, forming and expanding upward. One ring encircled his ankles, another his waist, and a third his chest. The rings locked solid and formed an energy cage.
More rings erupted across the chamber. Kaldur raised his water-bearers but still found a cage forming around him as the rings cut through his defensive constructs. Artemis fired at the framework around her, but the arrow passed through without effect. M'gann tried a telekinetic push, but the bars didn't even flicker.
"No!" Artemis gripped the glowing bars as electricity sparked against her gloves.
Kadabra dusted off his coat. "Finally, some peace and quiet."
With Ghostfreak and Klarion
For Ben, this mindscape was no different from the dream worlds he'd navigated before. He'd tangled with other astral entities across the years. Ghostfreak raised a claw. "Let us calm things down." He reached out with his consciousness and grabbed the fabric of the mindscape itself. The jagged shifting colors drained away and left flat gray in every direction.
"Boring!" Klarion's voice screeched from the core. The diamond flared, and the gray walls exploded into glass shards that morphed into jagged teeth and flew toward Ghostfreak in a spinning vortex.
Ben didn't flinch. He triggered his intangibility and let his mental avatar turn translucent and smoke-like. The teeth passed harmlessly through his chest. He solidified the instant they cleared and then expanded his form.
Ghostfreak's grew until he towered over the diamond like a mountain over a pebble. His single eye was now the size of a building and locked onto Klarion's core. Ben raised one massive claw and brought it down in a crushing motion.
Klarion's diamond shot upward and dodged the strike. The core spun and fired a beam of transmutation magic at Ghostfreak's giant face.
Ben split himself. His massive form divided into a dozen giant Ghostfreaks that surrounded the diamond in a perfect circle. Each one opened its chest cavity. Tentacles of shadow erupted from twelve different directions and converged on the core.
"Parlor tricks!" Klarion shrieked.
The diamond pulsed with crimson energy. The shockwave vaporized the tentacles and forced all twelve giants to stagger backward. Klarion warped the mindscape's gravity. The entire dimension flipped sideways and sent the giants tumbling.
Ben grinned internally. He shrunk all twelve forms down to the size of insects and scattered them across the tilted landscape. Klarion's perception couldn't track them all. Ben reformed into a single standard-sized Ghostfreak behind the diamond and unleashed a telekinetic blast.
The fragmented reality of the mindscape responded to his command. Mental debris from Klarion's own shattered constructs slammed into the red diamond and drove it toward the ground.
Klarion growled and righted the dimension. The diamond spun and created a whirlwind.
Ben reached out and molded the swirling energy into massive serpentine creatures. They coiled around the diamond, constricting.
The diamond flared and burned them into ash. Klarion fired a concentrated beam of transmutation magic directly at Ghostfreak.
Ben teleported and reappeared above the diamond. Purple energy gathered from his chest into a massive sphere. He hurled it downward with both hands.
The sphere exploded on impact and sent shockwaves rippling through the mindscape. Klarion's diamond shot through the blast and fired back with crimson beams.
Ben teleported again in and out. He appeared to the left and fired a purple beam. This continued several times.
Klarion shrieked.
Ben teleported directly into melee range and drove his clawed hand forward in a thrust that crackled with purple energy. The strike connected with the diamond's surface and sent it spinning backward. Ben pressed the advantage. He teleported above it and brought both fists down in an overhead smash that drove it toward the ground.
The diamond recovered mid-fall and fired an energy wave in all directions. Ben teleported out of range and reappeared at a distance. He raised both hands and summoned dozens of purple energy spheres that floated around him in orbit. With a gesture, he sent them flying toward the diamond in a coordinated barrage.
Klarion created a shield of red light that absorbed the first wave of spheres. The second wave broke through and peppered the diamond with explosions. The third wave forced Klarion to drop the shield and dodge.
Ben capitalized on the opening. He teleported into point-blank range and opened his chest cavity. Tentacles of shadow shot out and wrapped around the diamond in a binding pattern. He poured his will into the tentacles and used them to restrain the core.
"Get off!" Klarion yelled.
The core burned with intensity. It seared through the tentacles and left charred marks. Ben refused to let go. He channeled negative energy through his grip and used his ability to affect souls to dampen Klarion's spirit. A cold, freezing sensation spread from Ghostfreak's tentacles and clashed with the heat of Chaos.
The diamond pulsed with a frequency that hurt Ben's mind. It forced the tentacles to recoil and broke free. The core spun and fired a beam of transmutation magic at close range.
Ben teleported. He reappeared behind the diamond and charged forward. His claws glowed with purple energy. He drove them into the diamond's surface in a double palm strike and then vanished in another teleport.
He reappeared in front of the diamond and delivered an uppercut that sent it flying. Teleported above it. Brought his leg down in an axe kick. Teleported to the side. Fired a purple beam. Teleported again. Another kick. Teleported. Another beam. He moved like a character in a fighting game and chained attacks together in combinations that would be impossible in the physical world.
Klarion's diamond spun wildly, trying to track the rapid movements.
Ben teleported a dozen times, creating copies that surrounded the diamond. All of them fired purple beams that simultaneously converged on the core from every angle.
The diamond released a massive shockwave that wiped out the afterimages and cleared the space. Klarion warped the mindscape again. The void transformed into a field of jagged red crystals.
Ben teleported to the top of the tallest crystal and gathered energy in both hands. He brought his palms together and fired a massive beam three times as wide as his normal attacks. The beam carved through the crystal field and struck the diamond head-on.
Klarion countered with his own beam. The two energies collided in the center of the mindscape. Purple darkness met crimson chaos. The impact created a shockwave that shattered the crystal field and rattled the foundation of the mental world.
Ben gritted his invisible teeth. The strain was immense. Klarion technically had more raw power, but Ben had discipline. He held the beam steady and felt the pressure build.
"You can't win this!" Klarion taunted. "This is my domain!"
"Don't need to win." Ben pushed harder. "Just need to keep you busy."
The beam struggle intensified. Ben felt Klarion's focus narrow to a single point. Perfect. While the Chaos Lord fought him here, his control over the physical world had to be slipping.
Ben decided to escalate. He dropped the beam and teleported out of sight. His form scattered into a thousand particles of consciousness, spreading across the mindscape.
"Where did you go?" The red diamond spun frantically. "Coward!"
Ghostfreak reformed in a hundred places at once. Each version was solid and real within the mental landscape. They all spoke in perfect unison. "Let's try something new."
The hundred Ghostfreaks raised their claws and warped the environment again. The formless void crystallized into a vast Gothic cathedral. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe," they all chanted.
Klarion unleashed a shockwave that wiped out half the Ghostfreaks. The entire structure collapsed into rubble.
Ben instantly restored the destroyed copies and transformed the rubble into an army of stone golems.
The diamond spun and vaporized a golem, but more kept coming. Klarion's focus split between the golems and the Ghostfreaks that circled overhead.
Ben pressed the advantage. He merged all his copies back into a single form and grew to titanic proportions again. His body stretched upward as he reached down and squished him.
The core burned with intensity. It seared through Ghostfreak's mental flesh and left black scorch marks. Ben channeled negative energy through his grip and used his ability to affect souls to dampen Klarion's spirit. A cold freezing sensation spread from Ghostfreak's fingers and clashed with the heat of the Chaos Lord.
The diamond pulsed with a frequency that hurt Ben's mind. It forced his fingers to open. The core shot free and fired a beam of transmutation magic at close range.
Ben shrunk his body to normal size in an instant. He teleported and reappeared directly behind the diamond.
Tentacles shot out of his chest cavity. The tentacles wrapped tightly around the diamond and formed a cocoon of darkness.
Ben pulled the cocoon tight. He felt the consciousness within struggle against his grip. The diamond's surface cracked under the pressure. Klarion sent waves of crimson energy through the tentacles in an attempt to break free.
Ben countered by warping the mindscape again. The void around them transformed into an endless ocean of dark water. The tentacles became chains of solid ice that dragged the diamond down into the depths. Ghostfreak dove after it and phased through the water without resistance.
The diamond broke the chains and shot upward. It burst through the surface and evaporated the entire ocean in a flash of red light. The mindscape returned to an empty void.
Ben rematerialized in front of the core. He decided to try something riskier. He opened his single eye wide and projected his consciousness directly into the diamond.
The red surface rippled like liquid. Ben's awareness plunged through the outer layer and touched the raw essence within.
He saw flashes of the past. It was one act of torment after another for the sake of chaos and fun. An ancient city sinking into the ocean. 'Was… Was that supposed to be Atlantis?' Ben dug his mental claws deeper into the diamond's core.
The mindscape began to fracture. Cracks appeared in the red void as the strain of their battle reached a breaking point. White light from the real world bled through the fissures.
"Get out!" Klarion screamed.
Ben tightened his grip on the consciousness within and prepared for the final moments of the struggle.
With Wally and Fate
Wally blinked. The sensations of the rooftop vanished. The cold rain, the pain in his ribs, and the screams of his friends ceased instantly.
He stood in total darkness. The silence was heavy.
"Okay. Okay. No problem." Wally mumbled to himself. His voice echoed strangely in the void. "I am not here. I am just delusional. Maybe I took a hit to the head."
No one answered. He spun around in a circle. Nothing but black space surrounded him.
"Hello?" Wally called out. "Kent?"
Silence greeted him. He was completely alone. Panic began to set in. He checked his hands. They looked normal. He checked his pulse. It was racing.
A light flared in the distance.
Wally shielded his eyes. The light expanded and stabilized. It took the shape of a large ring. The edges burned with golden energy.
He hesitated for a moment. Then he walked toward it. The circle hovered in the air. The center of the ring cleared. An image formed within the frame.
Wally gasped.
The image displayed the rooftop of the Tower of Fate. He saw Klarion struggle against the grip of the Helmet. He saw the Ghostfreak alien freeze in mid-air.
Then he saw himself.
His body stood in the center of the chaos. It floated several inches off the ground. A golden aura flared around his shoulders. A cape materialized from thin air. It settled on his back.
Wally looked down at his own chest. He wore his stealth suit. He looked back at the circle. The Wally on the screen raised a hand. The movement was precise and commanding.
Wally did not move his own arm. The disconnection terrified him.
The figure on the screen spoke. The voice was deep. It resonated with power. It was not Wally's voice.
"Fate has arrived."
Wally stared at the golden circle. He was trapped in here. Something else was out there in his body.
#
Golden light erupted from the Helmet of Fate. It swallowed Wally West whole. The erratic energies on the rooftop dissipated in the presence of a Lord of Order. The light faded to reveal a new figure. He stood tall in a blue bodysuit with golden gauntlets, boots, and a heavy golden cape.
Nabu looked through the eye slits of the helmet. He prepared to unleash his power against his ancient enemy. He paused.
The scene before him was rare. Klarion stood rigid near the edge of the roof. The Chaos Lord did not cast spells or scream insults. He convulsed. His skin had lost its pale hue and turned a dull gray. His eyes were wide. The sclera was solid black. The irises glowed a toxic green. Black fissures cracked the skin around his eyes and spread down his cheeks.
Teekl hissed at his master's feet. The cat arched its back. It swiped at the air in a panic. It did not know how to fight an internal enemy.
Nabu raised his right hand. He projected his senses toward the Witch Boy. He felt the chaotic signature of Klarion. He also felt a second bio-energy signature entwined with it. It was distinct and stubborn.
Nabu understood. This was the work of the ally named Ark. The young hero had risked his own soul to bind the Chaos Lord from within. It was a crude tactic. It was also highly effective. Klarion was distracted. His defenses were down.
Nabu took the opening. He traced a glowing Ankh symbol in the air.
"Order must be restored."
He thrust his palm forward. A beam of golden light struck Klarion in the center of the chest. It did not burn him. It gripped the foreign soul. The magic seized the Ectonurite presence and extracted it.
A shriek tore through the air. The gray color drained from Klarion's skin. A shadowy entity with a singular eye flew backward out of the Witch Boy's body. Ark tumbled through the air and solidified near the tower entrance.
Klarion gasped. He fell to his knees. He looked up to summon a counterattack.
Nabu closed his fist.
Golden bands materialized from thin air. They snapped tight around Klarion's torso and arms. The magic pinned the Chaos Lord to the ground. A smaller sphere of gold enclosed Teekl. The cat yelped as the cage sealed shut.
#
Wally stood in the center of a black void. A large golden window hovered in front of him. It displayed the view from the helmet's eye slits.
He watched his own arms lift into the air. He did not tell them to move. He felt no tension in his biceps or shoulders.
Wally tried to jerk his head to the left. The view remained locked on Klarion. He tried to take a step forward. His legs remained planted on the rooftop tiles.
He stopped struggling. The connection to his nervous system was gone. The entity in the helmet controlled everything.
"Order must be restored." The voice rumbled through Wally's own throat. He heard it, but he did not speak it. It sounded nothing like him.
#
Ghostfreak hovered near the tower wall as the nausea from the chaos-mindscape faded slowly. He looked at the center of the room where Doctor Fate held Klarion and the cat in golden bands. The Lord of Order looked shorter than Ben expected.
Red energy surged outward, and the golden bands shattered. Klarion dusted off his suit jacket.
"Give it up, Nabu! Order went out of style in the 20th century." Klarion shouted. He threw a bolt of magic, but it struck a golden ankh shield.
Nabu lifted both hands. "This battle is pointless." The voice carried a double tone that grated against the ears. "You sought to take the helmet before it gained a host. But you were too late."
"Shut it, you old fart!" Klarion snapped. He yanked two stone columns from the tower structure and slammed them against Fate. Golden symbols glowed on the rock surface before the stone burst into pebbles.
"Brat." Doctor Fate snarled. He launched a golden wave at Klarion, but the sorcerer blocked it with ease. Teekl ran to the edge of the roof to escape the blast while the spell forced Klarion to dissipate into mist. Doctor Fate descended toward the tower roof, but Klarion reformed from scattered black fragments behind the Lord of Order. He lifted his hand before red lightning shot from his fingers and struck Doctor Fate in the back.
#
Inside the helmet, Wally cried out in pain and fell to his knees. "What gives!"
The pain hit him despite the lack of control, and it was unfair. If this entity lost, did Wally die too?
Wally stood back up in the void and tried to enable his super speed, but nothing worked.
"Seriously?" Wally yelled at the screen, but his voice echoed in the emptiness while Nabu failed to react. "You have a speedster body, and you just stand there?" Nabu did not answer, so Wally watched the fight continue because he had no choice.
#
Klarion formed a dragon of red magic that lunged at Fate's downed form. The magician jumped aside and raised a shield as the dragon returned, but Klarion struck the barrier and knocked him across the roof. Fate pushed himself up while Klarion turned the flames in his hands into hovering red dots. He aimed his fingers and fired. The dots hammered the shield until the barrier cracked and shattered. Fate rolled and flew upward to dodge the next volley.
Klarion grinned and raised a hand. Red columns erupted from the floor. Fate dodged three, but the fourth struck him and knocked him to the ground while the helmet clanged against the stone. "You're out of practice, Nabu, and that pathetic host body." Klarion clicked his nails together, and they sounded metallic. "Zero affinity for the mystic arts." Thunder cracked as a red storm spiraled overhead and lightning rained down.
Ghostfreak refused to stay on the sidelines. He swooped down from the perimeter and phased through the red magical lightning. He solidified directly behind Klarion and raked his claws against the Chaos Lord's magical aura. Sparks flew as claws met chaos energy.
"Get off!" Klarion spun around and fired a chaotic blast.
Ghostfreak became intangible, so the blast passed harmlessly through his chest. He solidified instantly and tackled Klarion mid-air. The impact sent them both tumbling across the roof.
Nabu seized the opportunity. He stood up and chanted in a low resonance. Golden light flared around his body.
Klarion shoved Ghostfreak away with a burst of telekinetic force. "Enough!" He scrambled to his feet and looked between the two opponents. "You're both cheating."
Fate raised a barrier, and the energy glimmered with rainbow colors rather than gold or red.
"Ooo, rainbow power." Klarion taunted.
Teekl meowed, so Klarion snapped back. "I am paying attention, you stupid cat."
Teekl mewed again as her hackles rose and her body arched.
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm winning," Klarion emphasized.
Fate's eyes narrowed after golden light exploded from his chest. A ring of yellow fire pushed Klarion back, and Fate stood in the center of the blaze while his cape billowed behind him.
"It was difficult for a Lord of Order or Chaos to maintain a presence on the physical plane."
Klarion's face twisted as he shed any resemblance to a normal human. Red fire erupted around him, and he screeched as he launched flames.
"I was bound to the helmet and used a human host." Fate dodged every attack and threw a counterattack, but Klarion blocked it with debris. "But that wasn't your way."
Klarion dropped the shield while his eyes burned red. "You're babbling, Nabu." Red flame gathered in his palms.
"Am I?" Fate asked.
He pointed a gloved finger at the floating Ectonurite. "Ghostfreak. Secure the familiar."
Ghostfreak blinked his single eye. "The cat?"
"Now."
Ghostfreak shrugged and swooped down. He snatched Teekl by the scruff of the neck before the animal could react.
"Hey!" Klarion stopped his attack and stomped his foot. "Hands off the merchandise! Teekl, go big!"
"HISS!" The cat in Ghostfreak's grip shimmered with red energy. Her small frame expanded rapidly as bones cracked and reformed. Within seconds, Teekl transformed into a massive Saber-Tooth Tiger with glowing red eyes and fangs the size of daggers.
Ghostfreak's hand slipped from the scruff as the tiger's neck thickened. The beast twisted mid-air and swiped at him with claws extended.
Ben reacted on instinct. He phased through the swipe and teleported behind the tiger's head. His clawed hand shot forward and grabbed the scruff again, this time adjusted for the larger size. The tiger thrashed and tried to shake him off, but Ghostfreak's grip held firm.
"Nice try." Ghostfreak raised his free hand and reached between the tiger's shoulder and neck. He pinched the pressure point with precise force.
Teekl went limp instantly. The massive tiger's body sagged in his grip, and her legs dangled uselessly. Her eyes remained open, but she couldn't move.
Klarion's jaw dropped at his paralyzed familiar in disbelief. "Teekl... Seriously?"
"Meow…"
Ghostfreak held the limp tiger out at arm's length. "The Hephaestan Neuro Grip, useful in taking down all manner of prey."
"That creature is your anchor to this plane." Nabu marched forward while golden energy swirled around his fists. "Without it, you have no foothold here." Nabu raised a glowing hand toward Ghostfreak. "Destroy it."
"Give her back!" Klarion screamed.
He abandoned his posturing and lunged at the alien. Ghostfreak held the limp tiger against his chest and floated backward to dodge the Witch Boy's grasp.
"Whoa," Ghostfreak said. "I'm not killing an animal."
"It is an agent of chaos," Nabu stated coldly. "Eliminate it."
Klarion clawed at the air and unleashed a wave of red energy. Ghostfreak turned intangible while he held the familiar. The red energy passed harmlessly through them.
"I won't kill the cat." Ghostfreak solidified ten feet away. "But I can't say the same about Doctor Fate."
The limp tiger in his arms shifted slightly. Teekl's feline pupils dilated wide. Then her ears flattened against her skull. Those big eyes locked onto his, and they begged, 'Please don't give me to the golden man.'
Ghostfreak sighed. "Great. Now I feel bad."