Ch: 253-257
253 L'amour En Abondance Part Six
"I'm not sure how to handle you flirting with me." I admitted when I was done explaining my personal opinions about the various villains and I had yet to deal with.
Doctor Fate softly laughed, clearly amused. Her tone had that little tremble that made it sound even sexier than it had any right to be. "You are more observant than the usual men I meet to pick up my intentions like that."
I glanced down at her legs and how she had tilted her hips just enough to the side to let me see the curve of her ass and the full length of her thighs. "You try to pick them all up?"
Doctor Fate laughed again. "Oh, no. I only make a pass at the interesting ones." She said and uncrossed her legs, sat up straight, then leaned forward. "And you are very interesting, Clark."
I couldn't stop my eyes from admiring the interesting things her full firm breasts did during that movement. "I sincerely doubt there's anything I could offer..."
"Don't pretend you don't know what your powers could mean in this world." Doctor Fate said. "Your interaction with Faust alone caught my attention, then I checked on those wonderful wards you have on your farm."
I held in my sigh at her possibly wrecking my expansion charms. "Did you leave them intact after examining and copying them?"
Doctor Fate nodded. "It's such a wonderful way to manipulate space to provide enough room for your needs. I will be applying it to my Tower as soon as I return to it."
Her tower? I thought and then had another thought right afterwards. Is this Nabu I'm talking to or someone else? When did she become the current Lord of Order?
"I can feel your hesitation and doubt, Clark." Doctor Fate said and reached up and lifted the golden helm from her head.
I was shocked when she revealed a 25 year old face and a cascade of golden blonde wavy hair flowed down her back. She shook her head several times to let her hair spread out and it was almost like a cape. Magic was definitely involved to have that much hair hidden inside such a small helm.
Doctor Fate laughed at the expression on my face. "I assure you, this is all me." She said and the helm dissolved into motes of golden light. "Everyone expects to see the expressionless helm, so I wear it to maintain both my reputation and my privacy."
I understood right away. "You can take it off and no one recognizes you."
"Exactly." Doctor Fate said. "Now ask the question you really want answered."
"When did you become Doctor Fate and is there a voice in your head telling you what to do?" I asked and she smiled knowingly.
"It's an interesting tale, Clark. Do you want to hear it?" Doctor Fate asked.
"Please." I urged and she smiled as if she was getting exactly what she wanted. It was just as sexy and welcoming as I thought it would be after hearing her voice.
She told me all about her quest centuries ago as she searched for the power to save the world from itself and from extra-dimensional threats. She eventually tracked down an ancient temple, drawn by both the feeling and the need to find it. When she did, she found the helm inside and instantly knew there was a controlling influence, as an unnatural spirit, residing inside the item.
She believed it was cursed, and rightly so, and she performed many cleansing magics upon it and it didn't remove the taint. Or so she believed. Since she was unwilling to give up, she continued her studies of the mystical arts for several years and eventually discovered how Nabu had been imbued inside the helm.
Using her own prodigious skill with magic, she devised a specific spell to deal with him. Rather than fight the being on his own terms by putting on the helm and having a mental battle, she transferred his consciousness into a pig and slaughtered him. The helm was easily cleaned after that, leaving the magical knowledge and the task of bringing Order to those that needed it.
I was again shocked, because it told me exactly what the helm was. It was a horcrux. She had dealt with him the same way I had dealt with Voldemort when I was in Harry Potter, only I used a sheep and let a pack of Griffons hunt him and tear him apart. The similarities were not lost on me, so I relayed the story to her and explained it away as one of my many reincarnations that I remembered.
Not surprisingly, she had her spell checking me for lies and nothing showed up, because as far as I was concerned, it really was a previous life and I had lived it. I also died a few times since then as well.
"You are much more interesting that I assumed you were at first." Doctor Fate said and slowly stood. Her hero costume dissolved into motes of light and left her completely naked, showing me it wasn't just her face that looked like she was only 25.
"I'm on vacation with a girl and we might end up together afterwards." I said immediately.
Doctor Fate waved her hand at my chair and it changed into a comfy bed. "We both know you're not going to commit to her if she doesn't commit to you first, and she's not going to."
"How do you know that?" I asked, a little surprised at that observation.
"You disappointed her. Even though it happened while she was drunk, she's not going to forget it." Doctor Fate said and floated over to me. "You also plan on seducing Wonder Woman and possibly Captain Marvel to get them both pregnant."
I opened my mouth to deny it and couldn't. My thoughts had been on Wonder Woman for a while now and I had missed helping Carol Danvers by a few years. That made me wonder how SHIELD had covered that whole thing up.
"How did I not hear about that whole thing with the Kree?" I asked Doctor Fate.
"I helped conceal things, of course. The world was not ready for alien incursions that would destroy the people's perceptions, and in fact, they still are not ready." Doctor Fate said and gave me a searching look. "I think you could associate what I did as a giant notice-me-not spell."
"Ah, that would do it." I said and she motioned to my costume. I stored it to leave myself naked and she gazed down at my body and her eyes focused on my erection.
"Perfection." Doctor Fate whispered, then she floated down and sat right on top of it. She let out a sexy moan as I slid into her tight opening. She sat there without moving for about a minute, giving herself shivers as she adjusted to the intrusion. "We are going to have so much fun, Clark."
I somehow knew she was implying a lot more than just this once. "Future booty calls?"
"Many many future booty calls." Doctor Fate said with a sexy smile and laid down on top of me to kiss me passionately.
*
When I finally made it back to the hotel room and woke Lisa up to eat, Doctor Fate's prediction came true. Lisa looked both disgruntled and disappointed and it wasn't because she was hung over. A quick touch of telepathy confirmed that she didn't remember much about us having sex, just that she was left disappointed and quite unfulfilled.
I held in my sigh at the look and we changed to go down to the hotel's restaurant for supper. Lisa wasn't giving me the cold shoulder, thankfully. She still chatted like we were old friends that were catching up and that gave everyone around us the impression that we were a couple and having a good time. That was what Lisa was aiming for, because as soon as we went back to the room, she stopped being so friendly.
I knew better than to ask her why she was acting that way towards me, since I was sure she would deny that anything was wrong or that I had done anything to make her act that way. For the first time in a long time, the old saying, 'it's not you, it's me', could be said by her and she would actually mean it. It wasn't my fault that she didn't feel sexually satisfied while she was drunk and that convinced her to be less accepting of my affection.
We spent the evening watching television and then went to bed. We didn't have sex, because she claimed she had a headache when I tried to approach her. I knew what that meant and backed off, so she wouldn't feel pressured into doing anything she didn't want to do.
When she fell asleep, I ensured she would stay that way and walked into the bathroom, changed into my hero persona, and stepped from there to appear at the next secret Hydra base on my new list. It was the place Armin Zola had stored his AI consciousness and I created a giant magnet and erased him without ever activating him.
A few punches and kicks destroyed all of the equipment and I used a fingertip and Black Hole for a moment to clear the debris out. Another step brought me to the terrorist camp in the middle east where Tony would be kidnapped and I chuckled at the sight, because most of them had been involved in the slave trade and there were only a few lower rung members left and they were scrambling to rebuild themselves.
I didn't let them. They and their friends and associates soon became new residents on the moon. Oh, and that was a thing, too. Inside another crater was the home city of the Inhumans and I flew by their cloaked and domed city to wave at the inhabitants. It was kind of funny seeing them run around like ants in a kicked hive.
It didn't take long for someone with a giant teleporting bulldog to appear and they waved at me from the other side of the dome. I flew down and landed in front of them at the edge of the dome and we exchanged hand signals, which told me they were allowing me temporary entrance. I agreed and the dog was suddenly beside me.
"Thanks, Lockjaw." I said and held onto his collar.
"Woof." Lockjaw responded and I was beside the young man that had arrived with the dog.
"Welcome, stranger." Karnak said as soon as I appeared.
"Well met, Karnak. My name is Atlas." I said and hid my disappointment that it was the television version I was meeting, which meant all of them were going to be a little weird and out of character.
"You know my name?" Karnak asked, surprised.
"I know everyone's names." I said and smiled as I patted Lockjaw's head. "Are we walking to give the royal guard time to mobilize or should we use the best dog in the world to arrive in style?"
"Woof!" Lockjaw said, giving his positive opinion on such an important matter.
Karnak blinked his eyes at me and then wiped at them, blinked again, rubbed them, then stared at me.
"You're outvoted anyway, Karnak." I said and grabbed his arm and grabbed onto Lockjaw's collar. "Back to the throne room, my enormous friend."
"Woof." Lockjaw said smugly and we appeared in the middle of the room near where a small group of people were gathered. I let his collar go and the giant bulldog woofed again and leapt at a young woman with yellow hair that had black stripes through it. He licked her face and made her laugh.
"Lockjaw, you've only been gone a couple of minutes. Did you really miss me that much?" Crystal asked and hugged his neck.
"Woof." Lockjaw said, affectionately.
"Was the rumored flying man not there, Karnak?" The tall redheaded woman asked as she turned away from the group, only to freeze when she saw me. Her hair seemed dead and not alive like it was supposed to be, which was disappointing. It was almost like she was ashamed of it.
"My... my apologies, Queen Medusa. I was too stunned by his presence to properly announce him when we arrived." Karnak said and bowed. "Royal family, advisors, I would like to introduce you to Atlas, the stranger flying around our home."
"Why were you stunned by him?" Gorgon asked, his eyes narrowed. He was the head of the Royal Guard and was supposed to be suspicious of new people.
Karnak glanced at me and back to him. "I shouldn't give my opinion while in public."
I smiled warmly at knowing what he was going to say, because I was sure his power to 'see the fault in all things' was seeing nothing at all when he looked at my restored divine body. "I don't mind. You can tell them."
The whole group turned to look at me now, even the king of the inhumans, Blackbolt. He wasn't mute like some people thought. He kept his mouth shut because his voice was so powerful that even a whisper could destroy mountains. It was like Black Canary's battle cry turned up to 11 and without any controls to use it properly.
"He's perfect... flawless... incorruptible... and divinely gifted." Karnak stammered.
"I am happily married and fully devoted to my husband of many years." Medusa suddenly said when her hair started to move towards me. She had to pull it back and whispered hissing words at it, then warned it to behave.
"I'm not married." Crystal said with an inviting smile.
"Woof." Lockjaw encouraged her, clearly approving of me.
"Your step-brother and King says you are too young to be involved like that." Medusa said after seeing Blackbolt's frantic hand signals.
"I believe he said I was to be kept as far away from taking her purity as possible." I clarified and everyone gave me surprised looks, especially Medusa. "I can understand any language, written or spoken. Hand signals and sign language count."
Blackbolt made several more signs and I nodded.
"I was just passing by after dropping a bunch of bodies in the large crater that's four over from your settlement and one up from the equator. I remembered you were here and stopped by to say hello." I told them.
"You aren't here to invade us or perhaps kill us all?" A thin and mousy bearded man asked.
"No, Maximus. I am not here to capture the royal family like you plan to do in a couple of decades after you've subverted enough of the staff and the discontents under Blackbolt's rule." I responded and his face drained of color.
"M-Max? Is that true?" Medusa asked and her voice was a little shaky. Her long red hair formed two claws on the ends, intending to grab him.
"N-no, I... I wasn't... planning..." Max stopped talking and tried to run.
Medusa's hair darted out and caught his ankles. The claws wrapped around him and pulled him back over to the group and lifted him to hang by his ankles in front of his brother, the king.
"Why?" Medusa asked after Blackbolt signed the same thing.
"It doesn't matter now." Maximus said and glared at me, which looked funny while he was upside down, because his frown had been turned upside down and looked like he was smiling. "Stranger! You will pay for..."
I waved my hand at his face and transfigured his forehead into a penis. "From this point forward, you will be known as Dickhead. Any time you have an impure thought, like dethroning your brother, your erection will let everyone know your plans."
Medusa gasped and blushed at the sight, because the flaccid penis rose and became hard. Crystal gave it an appraising look and shook her head, not liking the lack of size. The various men turned away from seeing the embarrassment Maximus had for showing an erection in public.
"Guards!" Medusa exclaimed and her hair held the captured Maximus out towards them when they ran into the throne room. "Take him to the private cells. Blackbolt will visit him later to pronounce his sentence."
The guards saluted her and relieved her hair of its burden. Surprisingly, the hair didn't try to touch or caress the erection, so it had some standards. Blackbolt made several hand signs and I nodded.
"I agree, King Blackbolt. Now is not the time for a social visit." I said and looked over at Crystal. "Would you mind Lockjaw giving me a ride back to Earth?"
"I'd love to!" Crystal said, answering wrongly on purpose as she grabbed her dog's collar. Both she and Lockjaw disappeared and then reappeared beside me and she hugged me with one arm.
"Crystal!" Medusa gasped.
"Bye, sis! I'll be back later!" Crystal said happily and we disappeared.
254 L'amour En Abondance Conclusion
Blackbolt's proclamation, to keep me as far away from Crystal's purity as possible, was a couple of years off. She was the daughter of the previous queen and had snuck out in disguise to see how the common people lived. She had met one of the commoners and had a quick liaison with the young man, both knowing it was just a fling, and she had been left thinking it was always like that until you were married.
Not surprisingly, we ended up at my mansion in the main bedroom and I spent several hours showing her how I treated my own liaisons, while Lockjaw had a grand old time with a giant rubber ball and an enlarged roast that was almost as big as him. He kept the bone to chew on later.
A very happy dog and a very happy princess teleported back to the moon just before sunrise and I stepped from my mansion into the hotel bathroom. I changed into my normal look and went to bed. I needed a few hours of sleep after being awake and active for so long, just to refresh myself mentally.
As I dozed off, my thoughts of only having a sole woman to call my own in this world, floated away. It might still happen later, so I wasn't going to lose hope. Then again, Lisa rejecting me had opened me up to not having any lasting commitments, and look how that turned out after only a single day. I had both an Avatar of Order and the princess of an entire people, without even trying.
Maybe not being tied down wasn't going to be so bad this time. In fact, I thought that it was about time I started having fun with this life and I wouldn't worry too much about messing things up with Lisa. We hadn't made any commitments and would talk about things after the trip, as agreed. Until then, I was a free agent and not beholden to anyone.
*
Lisa wasn't sure why she wasn't as into Clark as she was at the start of their vacation. Was it his constant attempts to see to her needs that was annoying her? She didn't know. It was both sweet and kind of off-putting, as if he was more concerned about what she thought of him and he didn't care how other people saw that.
During the latest tour of the vineyards, her eyes caught the look on the daughter's face when she saw Clark was actually helping her father tend to the grape crops and knew what he was doing. She was hungry for him and that was annoying, because the young woman knew he was there with her and she was giving him that look anyway.
Although, she did notice that Clark wasn't trying to encourage her, even if he did smile at the girl's attempts to flirt with him. Why wasn't he fully shutting her down? Did he like the fact she was a farm girl and shared his own passion for growing things? Lisa herself had no interest in that at all. Maybe that was the problem she kept having with him? Their worldly experiences were too far apart?
Lisa refrained from drinking too much this time, mostly because she had joined Clark on touring the fields and there was little chance to enjoy the various vintages the vineyard produced. It also let her see what exactly Clark was doing and who he was doing it with. It was boring and she didn't enjoy it, just as Clark had warned her she wouldn't, even if she did get to see him sweating in a white t-shirt.
Unfortunately, the little farm harlot also saw him in that state and she definitely wanted a taste of him. Clark had laughed her offer off as a joke and even her father seemed amused at the girl's attempts to seduce one of the guests. It wasn't reassuring at all that the girl had tried it only once before with someone else, whom also didn't take her up on the offer.
Lisa relaxed as they drove away from the farm and she glanced over at Clark as he drove confidently. She noticed he wasn't slouching or trying to hide his height, which she knew he had tried to do douring the tour. That let her know he was actually trying to make himself less appealing, only all it did was make him seem more humble than he already was.
Does everything he try come out in his favor? Lisa asked herself, not realizing he had done her as well and that hadn't turned out in his favor at all.
They stopped at several shops and Clark paid for several very nice outfits fo her, his excuse being she needed them for her upcoming attempts to start her acting career and shouldn't show up at her interviews wearing jeans.
There was nothing wrong with jeans, was there? Lisa asked herself. Everyone wears them.
They went back to the hotel to change into better clothes and then went to the in-house restaurant and enjoyed another great meal. The all-inclusive package really had been the best deal for the trip and she was grateful that she hadn't needed any money.
It wasn't until after she had showered and was in bed that she realized Clark hadn't tried to proposition her or joined her in the shower. He even stayed on his side of the bed and hadn't woken her in the middle of the night to have some fun. Who was this guy, anyway? Why wasn't he taking advantage of her? She was right there in bed beside him and he wasn't making any moves on her.
Didn't he know that when a girl says no, she only meant that one time and not always? Why wasn't he trying again? Was something wrong? Was it her? Did her one rejection make him think she never wanted him to try again? Why would he think that? A girl had the right to change her mind, dammit!
Lisa went to sleep feeling frustrated and wasn't sure how to handle things. How was she supposed to figure things out if he didn't even try to talk to her about it?
*
I cast a sleep spell on Lisa to stop her runaway thoughts. I hadn't meant to listen in, except her body was tensed up and I wondered what was wrong, only to have my own thoughts stumble over her back and forth circular reasoning.
That was a conversation I was not stupid enough to initiate, mostly because I would be seen as ignorant if I asked her about what she thinks I should ask her about and didn't know the answer already. Yeah, I wasn't opening that can of worms anytime soon.
I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom, changed into my Atlas persona, and closed my eyes to check on something. I had an errant thought after meeting with the Inhumans. If they existed and it was the television versions, perhaps there was more out there than I thought there was.
I let my concentration focus down onto whom had the worst experience in the Marvel television series, Jessica Jones. I had no idea how old she was when Kilgrave kidnapped her, so getting a head start on that whole thing was a good idea, in my opinion. What I hadn't expected was to find a 14 year old girl riding in the backseat of a car and her last name wasn't Jones, it was Campbell.
Since I was watching her and could sense the area around them, my danger sense blared at me. I immediately stepped from where I was into the street in front of the car, caught the front bumper, and let myself be pushed as I slowed the car down without causing the passengers and especially Jessica any harm.
Behind me, the screech of tires sounded and a large military vehicle zoomed right through where the car was going to be.
"Excuse me for a moment." I said and disappeared from there and did the same thing to the runaway transport that was full of radioactive chemicals.
A quick check with my x-ray vision showed a mechanical failure to the brakes and I melted the tires with my heat vision to stop the vehicle from moving. Two soldiers hopped out of the cab and gave me shocked looks, one because of my outfit and the other because I had melted the tires.
"I suggest you call this in to your commanding officer." I said and turned my head to look at how close we were to the civilians, only to see a young Matt Murdock and his father standing on a nearby corner. Son of a bitch! I just stopped the creation of both Daredevil and Jewel.
"S-sir, I'm going to have to ask you to step away from the military asset you just damaged." One of the solders said as the other used his radio to call the incident in. Not surprisingly, they left out the transport being out of control and only reported my intervention and damage of government property.
Well, I wasn't going to stand for that defamation without proving it was true. I picked the thing up like it weighed nothing and flew up into the air. I created a portal out of sight from the road and then threw the transport over the closest building and through the portal to the sun. No one was going to use those chemicals to create anything else, like Luke Cage, Cloak, or Dagger.
I flew back down to the soldiers and they just stared at me. "Thanks for the idea on how to deal with that."
They stared at me as their radio squawked at them to report on what I just said. I chuckled as I walked back over to the car where I had left the family I just saved. Jessica and her parents were out on the road and hugging each other tightly.
"Thank you, whoever you are." The father said.
"You saved our lives." The mother said and kissed her daughter's forehead.
"Actually, I was only trying to save young Jessica from years of pain and heartache if she lost you." I corrected her and they looked surprised.
"You know my name?" Jessica asked, surprised.
"Of course I do." I said and smiled at her.
"What's yours?" Jessica demanded and looked quite cute doing so.
"You can call me Atlas." I said and walked over to pat her on the shoulder to give her the basic upgrade package. "You might see me around or on the news." I told her and then chuckled. "Don't believe everything they say, all right?"
Jessica beamed a smile at me and nodded.
I floated up into the air and waved to her, nodded at her parents, and flew off. I didn't go far, just to the top of the next building and out of sight, and used my clairvoyance power to look at Wilson Fisk. He was already working on his Kingpin persona and building his influence in the underworld.
A step brought me to his room and I had him sell me everything he owned and then transferred all that money back into my offshore account. Getting free stuff from villains and criminals was the best feeling in the world.
I started his disintegration by using a black energy blade, then realized I shouldn't be leaving bodies on the moon for others to find and experiment on, like aspects of life and death or something, so I stepped to the moon and set about dissolving everything and then used a touch of Black Hole to clean up, just in case.
I stepped back to Earth and let my mind go over the next big thing to happen, and suddenly felt a spike of mental pain. It wasn't mine, it was sent psychically, and I concentrated on it and stepped forward. A teenage Jean Grey knelt beside her best friend that had just been run over by a car.
"No! Don't go! DON'T DIE!" Jean yelled, both out loud and with her powerful mind.
"It's all right, Jean." I said out loud as I felt her mentally link herself with her dying friend. I'm here now. I sent to her mind.Everything will be fine.
Jean gasped and looked up at me, her eyes wide and her mind was completely open.
I knelt beside her and touched the dying girl and healed her with Panacea's power. I also gave her a limited telepathic power and connected it back to Jean along her own signal, essentially using the trauma as a reason to bring the two friends closer together.
She's going to need your help to handle things from now on. I sent to her. You know why.
Jean looked from my face to her friend's and saw her eyes flutter open. "Sarah?"
"Jean?" JEAN? Sarah said softly and yelled in her mind at the same time.
Jean winced and tried to whisper both out loud and in her mind. It wasn't quite working and I realized this was the first time she had used her powers, as this triggered her mutant powers to activate.
Allow me to show you how to do that. I thought to both of them and they both stared at me, then they shivered as I sent them the information they needed to use their telepathy without harming themselves or others. I also gave them mental dials to increase or decrease the gain, so they could control how much they could see and hear of other people's thoughts.
A crowd of people rushed over to us, including the parents of both Jean and Sarah, and they were hugged and grateful thanks were given to me for appearing out of nowhere and saving them.
The driver! Jean sent to me and gave me a mental picture of both the drunk man and the car.
He won't get far. I sent back and floated up into the air. He'll confess as well and will find it quite difficult to get drunk from now on.
Thank you. Jean thought and smiled at the thought the man would get violently ill every time he took a drink. Thank you very much for saving my best friend!
Sarah blushed as Jean hugged her and they both looked up at me with adoration and awe on their faces. Will we ever see you again?
I nodded and tapped my temple, telling them how they could contact me, and I flew off and out of sight to handle the drunk driver. I also had a few more places to visit to finish off my lists and I looked forward to completing my tasks.
*
The rest of the vacation went by without a hitch, or in my case, meeting any more women or setting up future meetings. It was a little disappointing, since I had hoped the last delivery of rescued women would have earned at least a lunch date with Wonder Woman. Oh, well. Ten years wasn't that long to wait to see if she wanted to date, was it?
Pietro Maximoff was having a grand old time with SHIELD and learning how to fight, use explosives, and being an all-around soldier. He intended to save his people from oppression and Nick Fury was fully onboard with helping him achieve that. He was also in contact with the Themyscrian Embassy and both Pietro and Wanda had regular contact.
Wanda was also having a great time with the Amazons, as was Natasha and the other future assassins. Learning how to make themselves stronger, how to repel mental influences, and how to fight, made them all extremely happy. Their gratitude towards me for setting them onto that path, grew every day.
Lisa's attitude didn't change, so after we arrived back in Smallville, we had that discussion and she politely declined the offer to live with me. I went with her to negotiate a better rental rate at the motel, considering she would be staying for a bit longer to make enough money to survive in Metropolis.
When I offered to give her a loan for however much she needed, she refused and claimed she didn't want to owe anyone. I made her promise to stay in touch and to call if she was ever stuck anywhere, needed money, or a place to stay. I would be there to help if she needed it and there would be no strings attached.
She didn't believe that last part, unfortunately, and she thought I was just desperate to keep her in my life. All I could do was tell her I hoped she had a great life and didn't try to kiss her goodbye. She looked sad that I hadn't and I shrugged it off. I had better things to do, now that I had so much experience and knowledge on how to properly care for my crops.
So, that's what I did. I went back to my farm, after delivering a few souvenirs to my parents, and went right to work. The sooner I had the grapes stable and growing, the sooner I could start digging up the basement for the house.
255 If You Build It
With a full size working tractor, it was surprisingly easy for me to case out the basement and dig down into the ground. A full basement was kind of rare in these parts, mostly because no one put in more effort for that than making a fruit cellar to store the vegetables they kept for their own use in a cool dark place.
Since I wasn't cheaping out, my basement was huge, as would the house be. It was the best way to explain the extra concrete I needed and the extra supports. A quick notice-me-not charm covered one particular part that would become the start of a tunnel that would lead underneath my farm to my future factory.
I was tempted to go all the way to the road with it, just for the cool factor of driving through it, and the above driveway would be just for show and for visitors. It made me laugh thinking about copying Batman's setup for my own and decided a long tunnel was exactly what I needed.
I could have used magic and transfiguration for it, except that after meeting Doctor Fate, I knew what I did was making magical beacons for others to track down and investigate. That made me think of hiding everything and not just the extra construction. Even my expansion charms were kind of out in the open, since I hadn't felt the need to conceal them before.
Once I had the main hole dug for the basement, I started building the framework to fill in with concrete. When I had to start copying materials to keep working, I realized I may have gone a little overboard with the sheer size of the thing. It was too late to change it and hide it now, since both my mother and sister had just shown up to visit and watch me work.
"What the hell, Clark?" Martha asked and waved at the huge hole and wooden frame that took up a significant portion of the back of the land.
Emma giggled at her cussing and Martha hushed her.
"I may have read the distance wrong on the plans I made." I lied and she gave me that look, the one all mothers used when they knew you were lying. "All right." I said with a sigh. "I didn't realize how big it was going to be when I planned it and now it's built and I can't change it."
Martha sighed as well. "Your father's going to freak out that you're wasting time and resources."
"But, I'm not." I said and smiled at her, remembering a certain artifact I needed to reclaim from under the family's barn. "I can use the extra space to store my... stuff." I said, suggestively.
Martha's eyes widened slightly when she understood and she nodded, not wanting to say anything about it around Emma.
"It won't take me long to set the rebar into place and to mix up the cement. I'll have the thing filled up before you know it and I'll let it cure for a couple of days." I said, a little proudly. I was quite good at building things, even without the use of magic, which reminded me that I needed to work on creating the ward changes to hide the magic I used here.
I finished building the last section just before lunch and brought Martha and Emma to the trailer and served them some food. "How has the slow cooker been working for you?"
"IT'S GREAT!" Emma yelled and started enthusiastically eating her chicken nuggets.
Martha softly laughed. "Someone highly prefers the slow roasted chicken that just falls off the bone to make it easier to eat."
"Those wrap things you make are AWESOME!" Emma shouted.
"They really are." Martha said and smiled at me, since I was the one that gave her the recipes. "How did you come up with them? They are so easy to make and you can have a healthy meal in the palm of your hand."
"I have lots of ideas like that." I told her. "Maybe I'll sell a few to a fast food chain like Big Belly Burger."
"You'll be making money hand over fist if you only license it." Martha responded.
I shook my head. "As soon as I approach them with an idea, they can rework it and steal it, so it's better to outright sell it to them and they can be the ones that have to worry about other restaurants stealing the idea."
Martha let out a little laugh. "I guess that explains why they have big-priced lawyers on retainer."
I nodded and we talked about my trip and how much I learned. Emma ignored us as she ate, as kids were prone to do when adults around them talked about something they weren't interested in. I told my mom about how Lisa reacted and she nodded several times, as if she expected that reaction.
"I think your own expectations about what might happen and how you acted after she rejected you, also influenced her choice to not accept your help." Martha said when I was done explaining. "You missed the fact that she only meant for that one time and not for the rest of the trip."
"Mom, I didn't want to push her." I said in my defense.
"I know, Clark. That doesn't meant she didn't want you to push." Mom countered.
I sighed, because I didn't want to be that guy. I wanted to share my time with someone, not have to badger them into accepting me into their lives and them grudgingly letting me be with them. That was not the kind of relationship I wanted to have.
"I'm sure you'll find someone you can click with someday." Martha said.
I did not tell her I had banged the Sorcerer Supreme or a Princess of the Moon People, because I didn't want her to declare me crazy and try to have me committed. No normal person was going to accept me saying something like that without calling me insane, even if it was completely true.
"I'm sure I will, too." I said and she smiled. "Are you sticking around to watch me mix cement?"
"NO!" Emma yelled and finished off her french fries.
"I think someone might object to being bored for the next few hours." Martha said and helped Emma over to the sink and washed their hands.
I washed my own, showing my little sister that even big boys kept themselves clean. I walked them out to the truck and waved to them as Martha drove away. Once they were out of sight, I locked up the trailer and went back over to the worksite. I had a lot of cement to mix and pour, using my endless water flask instead of carrying buckets of water or digging a well.
Once I had some of it made, it was easy to duplicate and I doubled it inside the mould. I would have done more, only I needed to use up a lot of the things I bought to show that I wasn't wasting anything. It was also proof of where I was spending my money, too.
With stacks and stacks of supplies like wood, bags of concrete mix, metal rebar, and a few other things, it let anyone looking at the worksite see where the money was going. I was still going to use cheats and tricks once I had the walls up and the wards fixed, though. I wasn't stupid. I needed things built fast and the only people available to do it was me, myself, and I.
*
A nearly 16 year old Bruce Wayne looked upon his too sexy for words mother and tried to fight down the erotic thoughts he was having. It just wasn't fair that his mother was more beautiful than any of the girls at his high school. He was sure that if he asked some of the girls for their opinion, they would agree with him. His mother being so sexy was not fair at all.
"You know I can see you, Bruce." Martha said with amusement as she paused her yoga stretches to lift her head from the floor and she smiled knowingly at him.
"It... it's just not fair." Bruce said before he could get this unfair thoughts under control. Plus, he was getting a very nice view of his mother's cleavage that had distracted him. I shouldn't be looking at her like this!
"Believe me, I know." Thomas Wayne said from behind him.
Bruce tried to not flinch and turned to look at his father, only to see the same knowing smile on his face that was on his mother's. "Father, I... I was..."
"...admiring your beautiful mother." Thomas interrupted him and Bruce's face went red from embarrassment about being caught, only for his father to pat his shoulder. "I said I know, son."
"But..." Bruce said and wanted to defend himself.
"You'll find your Martha some day, Bruce. I guarantee it." Thomas said. "You are a Wayne, after all."
Bruce realized then that defending his actions wasn't necessary, since both of his parents understood his problem. "How am I supposed to..." He stopped talking and motioned to his mother, whom had moved from her 'downward dog' position into 'upward dog'.
"The easiest way is to accept the apprentice position under Lucius that he generously offered. It will get you out of the house in the evenings and on the weekends and you'll appreciate spending time with your friends more." Thomas informed him.
"Why would I..." Bruce's voice trailed off as he thought about it. "I'll only see them at school and I'll be too busy for anything more than casual meetings."
"You'll treasure them more and they'll know that, assuming you don't close yourself off and don't share your experiences with them." Martha told him.
Bruce thought about that. "Jennifer did ask me about what new things Wayne Enterprises was going to come out with next year."
Thomas smiled and walked by him and into the room, then assumed the same pose as his wife. "Let Alfred know if you want to start going to work. He'll handle the arrangements for you."
"I won't be going into work with you?" Bruce asked, a little surprised.
Thomas gave him a huge smile. "Do you really want to be seen as a daddy's boy on your first day at work?"
"Good god, no!" Bruce exclaimed.
Martha lost her pose as she laughed and couldn't hold herself up anymore.
"Then run off and tell him you're ready to start taking on some of the family business." Thomas said and his words were both heavy and full of double meanings.
Bruce nodded and turned around, then turned back. "Thanks, dad." He said and gave his mother a look and then smiled. "Thanks, mom."
Both parents gave him warm smiles and watched him walk off with a determined gait that would lead him into a future full of tech gadgets and learning under one of the best British spies to ever retire outside of Britain.
*
John Constantine stood in the living room of the Shadowcrest Manor and gave the teenager wearing fishnet stockings a leering look, because she actually had the legs to pull the look off. "You can't be serious, sweet cheeks."
Zatanna Zatara glared at him. "I am and I'm also offering..."
"I don't care if you were handing over the secrets of El Dorado itself. There's no way I'm volunteering to go into hell for you." John said.
"I already told you it's not for me!" Zatanna almost shouted.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's to save someone." John said and made air quotes with his fingers, then he pulled the half-smoked cigarette out of his mouth and flicked the end to toss the ashes onto the expensive carpet.
"Taochcnert otno hsinab." Zatanna spat instantly and the ashes zoomed from near the floor and splattered across the hem of John's coat.
"Hey! Easy there, Gams. This coat means more to me than you do." John said and wiped at the ash with his hand, only to spread it out, and he sighed. He muttered a spell in old Latin and the ash and the coat glowed, then the ash floated off, even the smear on his fingers, and formed into a ball.
"Don't. You. Dare." Zatanna spat and glared at him.
John gave her a blank look and flicked his hand towards the large fireplace. "There, happy?"
Zatanna couldn't stop the frustration from showing on her face. "I need your help and you're supposed to be the expert."
"Yes, I am. I am also not an idiot." John said. "No one in their right minds wants to travel into the hell dimension to correct their mistake."
"My mistake sent my innocent father into Lleh." Zatanna reminded him.
"Yeah, about that." John said and took a long drag off of his cigarette. "You know innocent souls would be automatically shunted into Purgatory to wait to be judged, right?"
Zatanna opened her mouth to argue, then sighed.
"Yeah, your pop's not as innocent as you always thought he was." John said and flicked his ashes through the air and they landed inside the fireplace. "Any idea why?"
Zatanna didn't want to answer, only she knew if she didn't, he would find out anyway. He was a supernatural detective and that was why she wanted to hire him in the first place. If anyone was going to help her find her father, it was John Constantine.
"Follow me." Zatanna said and gave his cigarette a pointed look and then the fireplace.
"Fine." John said and took one last puff and flicked the remainder of his cigarette into the fireplace.
Zatanna nodded and led him through the mansion to the library.
The Egyptian mummy on guard duty gave her a dry look.
"He's only allowed entry for today." Zatanna told the mummy and it closed its eyes.
"That's not unnerving at all." John commented as he passed the mummy.
"Hassan's devotion to his job of protecting the library is what he was created for. I wouldn't test him on that, if I were you." Zatanna warned him.
"I wouldn't dream of it." John said, fully believing her. His minor detection spell revealed the mummy was animated by her magic and he knew it would be a difficult fight against something that wasn't truly alive.
Zatanna smiled at him for a moment and then they reached a bare space of wall.
"Damn, girl. Did you have to be so obvious about where the secret vault was?" John asked.
Zatanna looked surprised. "What do you mean? How did you know it was a secret vault? I haven't even opened it yet."
John pointed to the other small walls where there weren't bookshelves and there were smatterings of paintings and things hung on the wall, like candelabras and sconces. "Out of the entire library, this one stretch of wall is completely bare."
Zatanna blinked her eyes at him and looked back at the wall and saw what he meant. "How did I never notice that before? It's so obvious!"
John chuckled. "Because sometimes you need a different perspective to understand what you're looking at."
Zatanna knew he was implying something else and chose to ignore it. She spoke the password and used her magic to activate the magical mechanism, then the wall split and folded away to reveal a pedestal with a thick book resting on it.
"The Darkhold!" John gasped and took a step back, crossing himself with his hand and whispering a prayer of protection. "Jesus Christ in Heaven! What the bloody hell are you doing with the biggest source of evil magic inside your magical home?"
"I'm protecting it from ever being abused." Zatanna said and John glared at her. "It's been the responsibility of my family to reclaim and keep safe various magical artifacts over the centuries. My father found this..."
"You don't just find things like that, you ignorant girl." John said. "It finds its way to those it knows will use it, even if they know how stupid it is to do so."
Zatanna blushed and looked away from him.
John let out several curse words that should never be spoken in front of a lady. "You used it."
"I've been trying for years to get my father back and this is the best way for me to find him, with your help." Zatanna said.
John glared at her and then at the book. "All right, you've convinced me you're too insane to let this go."
Zatanna tried to not let the insult get to her.
"I'll help you as long as you let me deal with that book." John said.
"You can't have it. My father promised to..." Zatanna started to say.
"I'm not keeping the thing, you idiot. I'm going to dispose of it." John said and the cover opened slightly and the whisper of a laugh was carried through the air to his ears. "Somehow. Someway."
Zatanna looked from the book to his face, and nodded. "Help me get my father back, and you can have your chance to try, just like so many others."
John nodded and Zatanna picked up the book. He did not miss how she tucked it under her arm, as if she had done it many times before. He hid his fear about that and it's corrupting influence the more it was used and he wondered how much his attempt to destroy the thing would be mitigated or interfered with because of her own magic protecting the thing.
When they passed out through the library's doors to start discussing plans, the mummy's eyes opened and watched the book and not John to see if he had stolen anything, which he had, just because he had been warned not to. He hated it when people told him he couldn't do something and he loved proving them wrong.
256 They Will Come
I had just returned to my trailer for some much needed rest after updating the wards on my property when a swirling golden portal appeared on the living room wall and Doctor Fate floated out.
"I can tell this is a serious matter already." I said and she paused her floating to tilt her head at me. "You didn't introduce yourself flamboyantly and the golden parts of your costume aren't glittering or glowing like usual to draw attention."
Doctor Fate landed and nodded. "I detected someone using a source book of evil to access one of the closer hell dimensions. They did it through one of the ley line connections you told me about that exists in New York."
I stood up straight at that statement. "What escaped?"
"I handled several demonic spirits and imps that fled through the surprisingly large opening when it appeared. They were small fry, as the saying goes, and easily dealt with. However, I was too late to stop the two people that stepped through and closed it behind them." Doctor Fate said.
"You saw them or know who did it by their magical signature?" I asked.
"Yes, and this world is in trouble if the Agent of Chaos I detected manages to release something else from that dimension while near that infernal book." Doctor Fate answered, her voice angry.
"Klarion the Witch Boy?" I asked and she shook her head.
"He is a Lord of Chaos, not just an agent. He is also a pain in the ass and so childish that I have no patience for his antics." Doctor Fate said, matter of factly, and I nodded. He really was quite annoying.
"Then who?" I asked.
"John Constantine." Doctor Fate said and her voice was resigned.
"Oh." I said and crossed my arms. "That... changes a few things."
Doctor Fate nodded and walked over to me to place her hands on my chest. "I normally wouldn't ask for help, since it has always been my sole duty to protect this world from demonic threats..."
I had to smile at that. "My stories about your counterpart let you see how important it is to have someone around to have your back when you need it."
"She was still the leader and also had disciples to share the load with." Doctor Fate agreed. "I won't ask you to become my agent or disciple; but, I know you are knowledgeable and can handle yourself. With you along, I won't have to worry too much about anything sneaking up on me and taking advantage of whatever John and his client are doing."
"Who is his client?" I asked, just so I wasn't left ignorant.
"You met her briefly only recently, Zatanna Zatara." Doctor Fate answered.
I huffed. "She's going after her father, even though she knows he deserves to be there after making a pact with one of the major demons and then entered their realm, accident or not."
"I didn't realize she could be that foolish, even after all her time training at Magik University and all the warnings she has been given by the faculty and the headmasters." Doctor Fate commented and nodded slightly. "That explains how John found and gained access to the Darkhold, if the Zatara Family has been guarding it."
I hid my surprise that was the book she meant, because it was supposed to become Wanda Maximoff's tome of chaos magic. Oh. That might explain why she was more than a little unhinged later in life, if she learned from an infernal tome. The corrupting magic would have twisted her thinking from the very first moment she started reading from it and would have built up to full insanity after a few years.
"What do you want to do?" I asked. "You're the expert here."
Doctor Fate patted my chest. "I'll use one of the forbidden spells to create a dimensional breach, fight off anything that tries to surge through, then we will enter that realm to hunt down and bring back those two morons."
I chuckled and shook my head. "I don't think we need to go to that extreme, especially if something is waiting over there for you to do exactly that."
"Then what would you suggest?" Doctor Fate asked with intrigue in her voice.
"Give me a few minutes." I said and closed my eyes. I felt her move her hands along my chest and she caressed my sides. "No distractions, please."
Doctor Fate let out a little laugh and let me go.
I concentrated on Zatanna, since I knew her magical signature, and let my clairvoyance power search her out. When I found her, I chuckled.
"What is it?" Doctor Fate asked.
"What's your view on letting Zatanna suffer for a few minutes under the care of a dimensional barrier tentacle monster? Constantine's having no luck stopping the thing from molesting her."
Doctor Fate chuckled, too. "As long as the thing doesn't violate her, a little pawing might discourage the stupid girl from repeating her mistakes in the future."
"That's a good point." I said and then smiled. "Do you want to watch as well?"
"Why not? I haven't had a good laugh since the last time we talked." Doctor Fate said and slipped off her glove and rested her hand on the side of my neck.
We both watched for about ten minutes while Zatanna was completely mauled, drooled over, and given a few experimental pokes on her clothing in certain spots that made her moan and groan. We softly chuckled the entire time because Constantine kept failing to free her, no matter what he tried.
"Her magical clothing is holding up quite well to such an assault." Doctor Fate commented. "The ectoplasmic slime should have weakened the enchantments after such rough handling."
"Constantine's coat is doing good as well. His shirt and pants? Not so much." I joked and she chuckled at seeing John holding his trenchcoat closed over his nearly naked form with one hand and trying to cast spells with the other. "Is that long enough for them to suffer, do you think?"
"Yes, her fishnets are starting to tear. She doesn't have much time or dignity left before things go too far." Doctor Fate said.
"Then prepare yourself for insertion." I said suggestively and she softly laughed.
"I'd say behave, except I don't want you to." Doctor Fate said and held onto me. "I have a Light beam spell ready to cast and scare off the creature."
"It'll be exactly where we can see it when I step." I cautioned her and changed myself into my Atlas persona.
"I can aim and start casting first? You really are handy to have around." Doctor Fate said and started chanting.
I felt the spell build up and I stepped into the vision as soon as the magic reached the point where it had to be released. Doctor Fate held her palm out and a giant Ankh formed in front of us and a bright beam of Light energy seared across the reddish hellscape and covered Constantine, Zatanna, and the entirety of the tentacle monster.
"IRRRREEEEEEE!" The creature screamed as its large multiple eyes were blinded. It released its hostage and it squeezed through a dimensional tear and fled. The beam of light seared away anything else from escaping before the tear closed and disappeared.
When the light faded, Doctor Fate and I walked over to where John Constantine had caught Zatanna in his arms when she had been thrown. I would have done that if I thought she might have been hurt by the fall.
"Foolish children stumbling in the dark." Doctor Fate said and tried to reach for the book on the ground, only for it to cover itself in a layer of reddish-black energy and she hissed and pulled her hand back. "Don't be finicky, you stupid book. We both know I cannot destroy you without consequences."
The glow didn't fade and Doctor Fate sighed.
"I need the book to find my father!" Zatanna exclaimed and tried to push Constantine away and lunged for the book.
Just as the reddish-black glow faded to allow her to pick it up, I moved instantly and picked it up myself. I felt the evil energy try to flow over and into me, which it couldn't do, thanks to my various powers, magic affinities, and my perk Mind Blank.
"Doctor Fate is the only one not allowed to do anything to you." I told the book and pulled it into my inventory.
Doctor Fate, Zatanna, and Constantine gasped when the book, and the background evil feeling it was emitting, disappeared. I enjoyed their shocked faces as the world greyed out and I read the popup that appeared.
A Dimensional Anchor, the Darkhold Tome, has been acquired. Please choose what you would like to do with it.
Absorb its magical energies and combine them with your own. Warning: Mind blank only blocks mental influences and won't stop evil or caustic energies from altering your physical body.
Attempt to absorb just the knowledge. Warning: Willingly acquired corrupted knowledge can bypass Mind Blank and alter your perceptions of right and wrong.
Sell the Anchor to the System (200,000 Karma Points).
Sacrifice the Anchor and alter an aspect of the Karma Points system.
Definitely the last one! I mentally shouted. Yes, yes, yes! Remove the automatic absorption of Karmic Debt from the people I kill and make it a choice instead!
Dimensional Anchor sacrificed. The power of 'The Protagonist's Choice' has been returned to you.
I sighed with relief as the book disappeared from my inventory and the world's color returned.
"What did you do to MY BOOK?!?" Zatanna yelled.
"What book?" I asked, cheekily.
"Atlas." Doctor Fate said, her voice stern.
"Did you know it was a Dimensional Anchor?" I asked her and she nodded. I created a copy of the book, blank of course, and took it out of my inventory. "Well, it's not one anymore."
Surprisingly, all three of them tried to snatch the book from my hands at the same time and they knocked it to the ground. It flopped open and showed off the old withered parchment pages that were completely blank.
Zatanna gasped and dropped to her knees as she caressed the book. "No no no."
"It's gone?" John Constantine asked, shocked. He mumbled something and the book didn't glow or react at all. "It's really gone."
Doctor Fate gave me a very pointed look, as if she knew what I just produced was a fake, and I nodded. I would explain what happened after we were back on Earth and away from this place. There was suddenly a rumbling sound, as if there was an earthquake, and then the ground trembled slightly.
"What's going on?" Constantine asked and looked around, not seeing anything.
"They're coming." Doctor Fate said and took a fighting stance and two ritual circles formed around her wrists.
I recognized it as her spell-slinging fight style and knew we were in trouble, even if my danger sense wasn't tingling more than it had when we first stepped in. I glanced around and didn't see anything, then huffed at the obvious. I waved a hand and cast a powerful dispel spell and the surrounding area's background faded away.
"We are so fucked." Constantine said and didn't bother trying to call up a spell and lit a cigarette instead. He took a long slow pull on it and blew the smoke out casually.
As far as the eye could see, were demons of all shapes and sizes. The earthquake was their stampede towards us and now we were surrounded. The sky was almost blacked out with all the various flying creatures there, too.
One of the ground ones seemed to stand up on their hind legs and walked over to us with an unnatural grace. When they were close enough, their visage deformed and changed to reveal a woman that looked surprisingly familiar. Her long blonde hair was almost white and she gave me a very pointed look before she turned her attention to Doctor Fate.
"You will follow." Clea, the niece of Dormammu and a sorceress from the Dark Dimension, ordered.
What the hell was she doing here? I asked myself and ignored the unintended pun as I glanced at Doctor Fate, whom nodded. I nodded back and waved a hand over Constantine and then Zatanna to clean them up and fixed their clothing.
Clea looked pleased for a moment, blanked her face, and turned around. The demons parted for her like the red sea did for Moses and Doctor Fate motioned for us to follow her and led the way. That explained why my danger sense wasn't blaring at me, at least. They weren't there to wipe out the invaders and kill us... yet, anyway. I just hoped it stayed that way.
*
Clea tried to keep her surging emotions in check. She didn't know why she was reacting so much to the strange man wearing the white costume and she fought hard to not look back to see if he walked as sexily as she though he would. His costume left little to the imagination and she was imagining a lot of different things that could be done if he wasn't wearing it.
Stop that, Clea! You need Doctor Fate's help. She berated herself and shook those thoughts off. Lusting after a magic user wasn't part of the plan to return to her own dimension and reclaim what her family had lost. Why was he giving off just as much magic as Doctor Fate, though? Wasn't she supposed to be the supreme magic user on Earth? Who was this man that intrigued her so much?
"We have returned, Uncle." Clea said when she entered the ruined castle they had taken over from the local demon lord named Mephisto and disposed of him. How dare he challenge the rightful ruler of the Dark Dimension?
"Welcome back, niece." A giant floating head made of flaming hellfire said.
Clea opened her mouth to tell him to drop the theatrics and changed her mind. She knew the people she brought with her would see through the illusion easily and turned to face them. "May I present to you, Lord Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension."
"Atlas, hold my cape." Doctor Fate said flung it at the handsome man, then she lunged through the giant flaming head and disappeared.
Spellfire and explosions started up and no one moved or spoke. The guests and the many demons and underlings under Dormammu's current rule exchanged looks and shrugged. None of them were dumb enough to try and stop the fight that was hidden by the now shimmering illusion.
"I bet ten gold coins it ends a draw." Atlas said into the silence.
"I want twenty on at least one breast being exposed!" A brightly colored demon shouted from across the throne room.
Atlas chuckled, knowing how much Doctor Fate enjoyed both fighting and having sex. "I'll cover the bets and put another ten on both being out. She has great breasts."
Clea was shocked when nearly everyone started shouting bets, even Constantine, and most of the demons offered contracts in lieu of gold. It was insane... and she wasn't going to pass up such easy money. "I bet ten that my uncle's coat is burned off, undershirt optional, and another ten he dents her helm at least once."
The betting on the outcome of the fight was furious and continued on for quite some time.
257 Incumbent Incursion
The giant flaming head illusion had finally faded and revealed a torn up throne, parts of the walls destroyed, and two figures partially bent over and panting heavily. They were both still standing, technically, and their auras were still clashing because they were so close to each other.
"You were right, Atlas. The fight did end in a draw." Clea told the handsome magic user. She had spent a short time actually talking to him and he was both knowledgeable and ignorant, which was quite endearing to her. She also couldn't stop herself from feeling attracted to him, not that she tried too hard not to be.
Doctor Fate looked a little worse off, just because she had part of her top torn off and revealed more skin than Dormammu. She also had two dents in her helm and Clea smiled at winning her bet. Like she had thought, it was easy money.
"Only one breast! The other nipple doesn't count! I win!" The colorful demon shouted and cheered.
"Dammit, he's right. It's not her full chest." Atlas said and handed over the gold.
Clea held her hand out and Atlas gave her twenty gold coins because Dormammu had lost his coat, looked a little charred, and had dented Doctor Fate's helm. The other demons surged forward and gold and notes were exchanged, everyone having another great time settling up as both Doctor Fate and Dormammu glared at them.
"This fight has been a long time coming and we weren't going to interfere in a battle between Lords of Magic." Atlas said and the two figures exchanged looks, then reluctantly nodded. Only an idiot would have tried to get between them. "You also split the pot from the people who chose sides to win."
Doctor Fate and Dormammu were shocked when they were handed a bag full of gold coins and a handful of promissory notes for minor contracts. Atlas waved a hand over them and their outfits were repaired, they were cleaned up, and their magic reserves started regenerating.
"Yes, you are definitely handy to have around." Doctor Fate commented as Atlas gave her back her cape and the Eye of Agamotto. He hadn't tried to use it or stole it to give her a fake back, which surprised her. She secretly promised herself to have a little more fun with him as a reward.
"Now that you have had your fun, perhaps we can get to the reason you were brought here." Clea said.
Dormammu gave his destroyed throne and look and it reformed into its former glory. He strode over to it and sat on it like a king. "As you no doubt have seen, this is not my home dimension."
"That was why I attacked." Doctor Fate said. "You are not supposed to be here."
Clea stepped over to stand beside the throne and the rest of the demon creatures spread out and lined the walls and ceiling. "My uncle had already conquered his dimension and it was invaded by an ursurper that shunted us out and put himself into place."
"That is one of the problems of being a dictator. One dissident can remove you and take over, if they have the power and the backing to do so." Doctor Fate said.
Dormammu frowned and didn't yell at her, to Clea's surprise. Perhaps their fight had earned the Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension his respect.
"The upstart named Trigon must be ejected and sent back to his own dimension to restore the balance." Clea said instead of what she was thinking. "His sons as well."
"He's already started his campaign to take over everything?" Atlas asked in response and everyone looked at him. "The prophecy I know of said he has to wait for a daughter to be born and the pure half of her soul was to be sacrificed to allow him to leave the hell dimension he was trapped in."
Clea blushed and looked away from him. "That may be... my fault."
"Niece." Dormammu said and his voice was full of warning.
"It's all right, uncle. I made the mistake of bringing Belial home to meet you after scouting their dimension and... my dalliance with him there... allowed him to anchor his energy and his family was able to follow his demonic energy signature and transfer into our dimension."
"Huh." Atlas said and looked thoughtful. "That's how he keeps sneaking onto Earth to have more kids? He sends a partially tethered son to bed a virgin and can slip through and follow him."
"I usually find him and send him back." Doctor Fate said, resigned. "It's not an easy time."
"It was not." Dormammu said and rubbed part of his chest. "His fighting style was quite difficult to counter."
"Trigon ambushed us with all of his sons when we weren't expecting it. Belial apologized as he helped them overwhelm us with numbers and I cursed off his genitals." Clea said, vindictively.
"Did you gain power for sacrificing your virginity, at least?" Atlas asked.
Clea turned her head away again and blushed. "He took it all in the heat of passion."
"Hey, Constantine." Atlas said and the man nodded. "Remind me to kick Belial in the balls if he grew them back."
John Constantine chuckled and saluted.
"Should we actually do what they're suggesting?" Zatanna asked and the humanoids looked at her. "Are we really going to help a demon lord fight another and take over an entire dimension?"
"It is only setting things into their proper place." Doctor Fate said and looked at Dormammu. "However, there will be concessions."
Dormammu nodded and didn't argue and neither did Zatanna. They both knew a golden opportunity when it was presented to them.
What followed was a careful negotiation of both resources and accessibility, mostly restricting Dormammu from being active on Earth and Doctor Fate agreed to not be active in his dimension, either. However, Dormammu's hell dimension produced some highly magical materials and Doctor Fate was quite willing to negotiate favorable trade deals for them.
Not surprisingly, Zatanna's father was one of the assets bargained for by Zatanna and Dormammu had no problem with handing over a minor soul in trade for a copy of her Demonology tome. Getting more information of the other people and creatures in the various hell dimensions scattered about would help him immensely in the future.
When the material deal was completed, then the planning for the invasion and reclamation of Dormammu's home dimension began. Both Clea and Atlas were going to be linchpins, since only Clea's dimensional travel ability was known by the enemy. She would bring the main force to present an actual battlefront for the defenders to face, while Atlas brought a smaller group in to flank from behind.
It was a classic pincer move and one that they wouldn't expect, because they thought only Clea and Dormammu knew about them and their location. With Doctor Fate, Atlas, Zatanna, her father Giovanni, and John Constantine, there was a very high chance that the operation would go off without a hitch.
Things went wrong right at the first. Clea opened a portal and sent through a legion of demons to fight, only to be met by an equal size army on the other side. When Atlas brought the others into the throne room, they were immediately attacked by Trigon's sons, Belial, Ruskcoff, and Suge.
Another host of demons attacked as well and they didn't hold anything back as they attacked with all their might, because their only job was to soften them up for their demon lord, Trigon.
"I've already ursurped your power for my own, weakling!" Trigon shouted and leapt from the throne and pounced on Dormammu, his fists flew and their magic clashed in an explosion, sending debris all over the room.
In the middle of the fight that everyone seemed to be struggling with, a demonic squeal came from one of the fighters and Belial keeled over and clutched at his family jewels. His whine was music to the attacker's ears and the tide of battle started to turn.
"You are too late, weakling! What you had is now mine! All of it!" Trigon taunted and pounded his fists into Dormammu's face, pulping it. His super strength and magical might was really working over the previously all-powerful demonic lord. "Even your daughter's power was claimed by my son!"
"She's my niece, you moronic brute!" Dormammu said and kicked up with his feet to hit Trigon in the gut and knocked him several feet back, then a bright blast of hellflame scorched the demon's face and made him wipe at the damage to let his minor regeneration fix it.
The keen whining was suddenly cut off and Belial's head rolled over to land at Trigon's feet. The tall demon's multiple eyes were healing and he stared down at the slowly disintegrating head of his eldest son.
"Who dares..." Trigon started to say and the heads of his other two sons rolled over and stopped on either side of Belial's. The three of them had looks of surprise on their immobilized and quite dead faces.
"I'm apparently not supposed to kill you, since you are a Lord of Chaos and are needed to keep your home dimension stabilized to stop any incursions from destroying it." Atlas said from right behind him as a black sword sliced off the giant demon's arms. "That doesn't mean I can't hurt you."
Trigon yelled as his legs were lopped off and he was suddenly gone before his limbless torso could fall to the floor.
"He really does have a recall function in his magic." Atlas said and let the sword disappear as the limbs he cut off also finished dissolving, now that the main body wasn't there to keep them intact by feeding them magic.
"You let him go!" Dormammu exclaimed.
"Like I said, I had to." Atlas said and held a hand down to him in a clear offer to help. "He didn't escape with what he stole, though."
"Atlas, no!" Doctor Fate gasped.
Dormammu knew what the hero meant and grasped the offered hand. As he was lifted to his feet, his injuries faded away and he felt his dimension's magic surge through his body as his old connections reestablished themselves inside of him. His power was no longer diminished and he felt whole once more.
"I had to honor the agreement we made." Atlas said, his voice implying more than just what was written in the contract.
Doctor Fate sighed and nodded. She knew the spirit of the agreement to reinstall Dormammu meant more than just the wording. Atlas had to put him back into power or they could be found at fault for not completing the deal as agreed.
Dormammu smiled knowingly and clicked his fingers with a snap and the demons in the throne room disappeared. He turned to his side and waved his hand to open a viewing window. "Clea, my dear. You can stop fighting."
"Uncle..." Clea said and motioned behind her.
"That's just polite rivalry. You can let your minions fight until they've had their fun and then take them home with you." Dormammu said, magnanimously.
Clea looked shocked. "Uncle? I thought... father..."
"He's going to be punished for a few decades for allowing you to bring a boy here." Dormammu said and Clea blushed. "However, your actions precipitated the acquisition of another dimension that you helped claim, then you helped reclaim our own. That deserves a reward for fixing your mistake."
Clea nodded and bowed. "Thank you, uncle. I won't disappoint you again."
"Be sure that you don't." Dormammu said and closed the viewing window and turned back to the heroes. He clicked his fingers again and a small pile of ores, refined metals, crystals, and a few gems appeared on the floor in front of Doctor Fate. "I declare our aggression pact complete and this is the first of the material transfers to be exchanged for our trade agreement."
Doctor Fate stepped forward and took a nice purse out of somewhere and waved a hand at the items. They floated up and into the bag that was much too small to hold it all and it didn't bulge or look any heavier.
"Interesting." Dormammu said, eyeing the clearly mystical bag.
"Yes, it is." Doctor Fate said. "Shall I include how it was made when I deliver my part of the first shipment?"
"Minus a 10% fee, I assume?" Dormammu asked.
"New magic is costly to research." Doctor Fate said and put the bag away.
"Agreed." Dormammu said and looked at Giovanni, Zatanna, and then John Constantine. "I do not want to see you in my realms again."
"I didn't want to come here or there in the first place." Constantine said and puffed on his cigarette. "Only an idiot willingly goes into a hell dimension without being coerced."
Zatanna blushed and couldn't argue, because she really hadn't been prepared for what it actually meant to storm into Lleh with a wish and a prayer to get her father back.
Dormammu looked at Atlas and smiled. "I know you'll probably attack me if I offered you a few demonic slaves as thanks..."
"As long as they're not succubi." Atlas interrupted and that surprised the people he arrived with. "I'd prefer female, just because they are more goal oriented than their male brethren who only like to fight."
"Atlas, you can't be serious!" Zatanna almost shouted. "You helped take down Queen Bee and..."
"Those are two very different circumstances." Atlas cut her off and looked back at Dormammu. "I assume you have a few malcontents that you wouldn't mind volunteering to get out of either of your dimensions?"
Dormammu laughed, which surprised everyone. "I can do you one better." He said and clicked his fingers. A silver portal opened up and a teenage girl fell out of it with a silver sword clutched in a silver gauntlet-covered hand. "A sub-dimension under Belial is now part of my domain and this child does not belong there."
"Illyana?" Atlas asked, surprised.
"Do I know you?" The blonde asked and glared at him, then at Dormammu. "Send me back home!"
Dormammu waved a hand at her and she was flung at Atlas, whom easily caught her. "She's your problem now, Atlas."
"Let me go!" Illyana shouted and struggled. "I'll kill him and free myself!"
Dormammu shook his head at the girl and turned to wave a hand at the wall, which split and several bird cages and cells rose up from the floor and were pulled into the throne room. The females inside ranged from humanoid-looking to near monstrous and they were all covered in chains.
A quick magic ritual transferred their ownership to Atlas and all ten of the prisoners were shocked when they were released and handed over to someone that wasn't a high class demon and wouldn't be torturing them.
Dormammu's smile disappeared as he gave them all a glare, Illyana included. "You will be sacrificed and your souls consumed if you ever appear within my sight or in any of my dimensions ever again."
"You can't cut me off from my power!" Illyana exclaimed. "I earned it and it's MINE!"
Dormammu looked to Atlas. "Remove them from my sight before my patience wears thin."
"Lord Dormammu." Atlas said and motioned with his hand. All of the demon prisoners, Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Giovanni, and John Constantine were pulled towards him and then they all disappeared.
Dormammu sighed with relief and walked over to the throne. A wave of his hand and a pulse of magic returned it to his glory and he sat upon it. "It's good to be home."
*
Illyana Rasputin wasn't sure what was going to happen to her after being given to a tights-wearing muscle guy. Her protests had been ignored and then she was standing in the living room of a farmhouse in front of a surprisingly pretty older woman.
"Mom, I'll explain more later. This is Illyana Rasputin and she needs to stay here for a few days while I get the farm house finished." Atlas said and then his entire being changed from a larger-than-life hero to strapping farm boy right before her eyes.
"You can't keep me here!" Illyana protested and tried to call upon her mutant power... and nothing happened. "What did you do to me?"
"I suppressed your powers and your magic, so enjoy being normal for a while." Clark said and kissed his mother's cheek. "Have her help give Emma a bath. It should keep the both of them busy."
"That's a wonderful idea." Martha said and Clark turned away as he took a step and disappeared.
"You have to help me!" Illyana exclaimed. "He kidnapped me and took my powers!"
Martha walked over to her and patted her hand. "Don't worry, dear. Clark has your best interests at heart and he'll take good care of you." She said and took her hand and led her over to the stairs and up to the bathroom.
Illyana started to complain, then realized something. Her armored arm was normal and the woman was holding her bare hand. In the flesh. It wasn't living magical armor anymore and she couldn't feel the corruption that cutting herself with the soul sword had infected her with.
Martha glanced back and saw a bright smile on the teenage girl's face and smiled right back.
*
When I arrived home after dropping everyone else off, I brought the ten demon slaves into my trailer and then had to spend several hours adding expansion enchantments to make enough room for them all. Needless to say, them having actual beds and access to showers, had most of them crying and thanking me for being so nice to their lowly demon selves.
I had to let that go for now, because I knew they had to be slowly weaned out of thinking that way. When I finally had them all settled into their temporary rooms, because I hadn't built the factory for them to work in yet, I went to my own bedroom and climbed into bed.
As I lay there and went over everything I discovered, I realized something important. This composite world was the same thing as the temporal incursions caused by multiversal beings that tried to merge two worlds together. They usually exploded and erased several universes, including their own and sometimes the ones on either side.
This one, though? It was successful and combined a Marvel world and a DC world. It was probably because they had agents running around to keep things stable, like Doctor Fate... and now me. My efforts to cull both the villains and to help the heroes before they became heroes, reduced the amount of conflicts and let the world flow on unimpeded.
Apparently, I was much more important to this world than I assumed I was going to be.