Chương 94: Tower of Fate

Thursday 19th August 2010, 20:20.

Massachusetts,

Salem.

The ride on the Bio-Ship to where the Tower of Fate was supposedly located had been done in relative silence, though of course there had been Wally being his usual self. He even bragged about his love for magic, making sure all could hear him, Esau once again reminded him that if he spent half as much time training as he did talking then he could very well be the most powerful member on their team.

Though considering Wally had managed to recreate Flash's experiment that gave him access to what Esau learned was called the Speed Force, he was incredibly smart. Whereas usually people with such an intellect would be ostracised and abnormal, it was a good thing Wally was like that because he was the most normal of all of them if not a little over the top at times. Though when considering every one of the heroes that made up their team was abnormal and unusual, it made Wally who was normal the abnormal one.

Turning away from Wally, Esau instead turned to look out the window, his eyes catching Barbara rolling her eyes along with Artemis. Despite having gotten off to a rough start in the beginning for reasons unknown to him, the two had recently started to get along quite well. In fact, most of the team seemed to have gotten closer, with there being little cliques in the wider group.

There was the three girls, Barbara, Artemis and M'gann.

The three girls were often in one another's company often spending their time off engaged in deep conversation that they often kept to themselves. But they also spent a great deal of time training together, Barbara and Artemis usually being one another's sparring partners, and being the ones to encourage and help M'gann as best as they could in her own training.

Then there was Wally and Dick.

The pair seemed to feed off one another, Dick making Wally a little more mature in some cases and leading the speedster to show his intelligence when they talked about science. On the downside, Wally would also make Dick more immature which was a strange thing to see considering Esau was used to the mature young hero side that was Robin, not an immature fourteen-year-old.

Finally, there was him, Kaldur and Superboy.

Superboy had originally just been an outlier of the entire team, only ever really interacting with grunts and just ignoring everyone around him. That all changed after the Amazo incident and had started training more often with them all, taking his position on the team much more seriously. When considering Kaldur and Esau were the only ones that could at least spar with him and make the clone work for a victory, it had led to the three developing a close bond.

It was one Kaldur and Esau had developed a bond the moment the two met.

Both had a more mature outlook on their position that most due to their upbringings and environments, but they also shared a similar work ethic. When considering that outside of Barbara and Dick who trained at the beginning, they there the only other two to do, their friendship had been unsurprising.

Even so, as Esau looked upon Barbara who was smiling at something Artemis said, he knew there were still some strains between the team on many different fronts.

One of which was his and Barbara's relationship.

They had always been close and while their friendship had suffered a great deal over the course of his tenure as Black Hood, they were slowly starting to make headway again. It was taking time bridges had been burnt on both sides and while they were nowhere near as close as they had been when they were younger, they were getting there slowly.

However, there were moments when things did become a little awkward between the two of them, like today for instance.

It had all started when Esau learned Barbara was staying at the Cave instead of going out on patrol with Robin and Batman a few days ago. He had of course asked why and Barbara had explained she wanted to spend the day in the Cave with everyone else. This had led to him, perhaps wrongfully stating she should have gone with them, which in turn led Barbara to believe he wanted rid of her.

Things like this moment of miscommunication led to a few tense and awkward moments between the two.

"So, Wally?" Artemis spoke up, breaking him from his train of thought. "When did you realise your honest affinity for sorcery." But while his and Barbara's relationship had problems, it had nothing on the relationship between Wally and Artemis. The two had constantly been at each other's throats, using sarcasm and other biting remarks to get a rise out of the other.

It had led to a few complications and altercations here and there.

Nothing serious for the time being, but how long that would remain the case was unknown.

"Well, I, I don't like to brag." The deadpan look he received from a number of looks spoke more than words ever could. "But before I became Kid Flash, I seriously considered becoming a wizard myself."

The looks he shot M'gann, hoping to see if she was paying attention to him was pathetic, something the others also thought as they looked away. Superboy, on the other hand, had kept his eyes shut throughout the entire thing, no doubt trying not to pay attention and ignore the entire thing.

Thankfully, before Wally could open his mouth again, they had arrived. "We've reached Tornados coordinates, but -"

"Nothing's there." Superboy finished M'gann's sentence, opening his eyes for the first time since getting on the Bio-Ship.

"Take us down." Aqualad ordered, M'gann placing the ship down in an abandoned car park.

As the team got up out of their seats, making their way out, Esau moved forwards stopping Wally from leaving. "Hey man, what's the big deal?" He asked hotly, glaring up at Esau who had stopped him from staring at M'gann's, Barbara's and even Artemis's arse as they made their way off the ship.

"Wally, I don't care about whether you believe in magic or not. But right now, just for the remainder of this trip, stop with the bullshit. You can continue to spout off all your beliefs in magic all you want after we're done, but I and many others are getting tired of hearing your crap. So, stop. That's an order." The speedster looked ready to argue, as he always did when Esau gave him an order outside of a mission.

But decided against it when he saw the others looking their way.

With a frown and a grunt of displeasure, Wally walked past Esau, making sure to knock shoulders with him in order to further show his annoyance.

"Everything alright?" Kaldur asked as Esau came down the stairs, the Bio-Ship closing up behind them into a ball as his gaze turned from Esau to the sulking Wally.

"It's fine, just had a few words with Wally and it went about as well as you can expect." Kaldur nodded his head, seeing Wally's irritation clearly, as did everyone else. "So what'd you think of this?" Esau asked, indicating to the open area in front of them, a frown on his face.

"This is the location Tornado gave us, I do not believe he would send us to the wrong place."

"So, what then?" Superboy asked, coming up to them with his arms crossed over his chest.

Kaldur remained silent for a few moments, his mind playing over all possible scenarios, one coming to mind. "It's highly possible that the Tower of Fate is covered in an illusion or barrier of some kind that hides it from our senses. There are many enchantments like that in Atlantis."

"Would you be able to tell if there was?" Esau asked, having recognised the unsure tone in which Kaldur shared his theory.

Kaldur shook his head. "No, my skills in magic are limited as I focused mostly on my martial skills and offensive magic in order to enhance my fighting capabilities. We were only taught the basics of illusions and how to break them. That would not be applicable here."

"If it's under an illusion, shouldn't we be able to touch it if it's right there?"

"Possibly." Kaldur agreed with a nod of his head, though a frown still remained firmly on his face. "But even then, I am not too sure. Doctor Fate is a master of the mystic arts. Even Queen Mera, the most powerful and gifted sorceress in Atlantis is no match for his skills. It may very well be that it will not work."

Superboy shrugged. "Worth a shot." He said, directing it to Esau in particular who agreed.

"Wally, run around the area and see if you can find the Tower, we believe it might be under some kind of mystic barrier or illusion. If it is, we might be able to find it still." As Wally shot off, Esau released a sigh. "Let's just hope this works, I don't like it out here. And that he runs into it.

Superboy's lips twisted into a little smirk, before slipping away. "What'd you mean?" He asked, unsure as to why Esau seemed on edge because while not as powerful as their mentors, each member was a skilled and powerful person that could give anyone but the most powerful pause for thought. It'd take more than a simple group of thugs to be a threat to them, especially with how many improvements they had made recently.

So why did Esau seem so on edge?

"Don't you feel like something is watching us?" Esau asked, his gaze scanning their surroundings, catching sight of a ginger cat disappearing into an alleyway but dismissing it straight away. Superboy did the same, watching and looking for the sign of anyone spying on them, but found nothing, even with his superhuman sight.

"It's just your imagination." He dismissed and while still unnerved, Esau nodded his head, shaking it off as simple paranoia when Wally arrived with a skid.

"Nothing, this isn't simple camouflage." He informed, Artemis answering straight after.

"So, what do you think? Adaptive Microelectronics combined with phase shifting?" She posed, the phrase and meaning of what she said going directly over his head.

By the shrug Superboy gave when Esau looked at him questioningly, he too was in a similar situation.

Wally, however, seemed to understand. "Absolutelyyyy" But as soon as he noticed M'gann and Barbara walking up towards them, the former having been using her Telekinesis to try and find the Tower, with Barbara accompanying her, he quickly changed his tune. "Not! Clearly mystic powers are at work here." The deadpan way in which he finished his sentence told them all that he did not believe a thing he just said.

Esau himself, shaking his head in annoyance.

Despite his best efforts, Wally still seemed set in his ways and like most of them, was too stubborn to change.

While the rest of them just stared at Wally in a deadpan fashion, even M'gann seemingly having picked up on his lack of faith, Kaldur was not paying attention. His mind had been focused on trying to figure out how the Tower was hidden as well as how to get around it and it seemed that in this time, he had figured out a possible solution.

"A test of faith." He muttered, turning to Esau. "Pass me the key, I think I might have figured out a way to get in the Tower?"

"How?" Wally scoffed. "We can't even find the Tower."

"Are you sure?" Barbara asked.

"Only one way to find out." Seeing that Kaldur was serious, Esau pulled out the key from his pocket and handed it to Kaldur who inspected it shortly.

Making his way past them, Kaldur approached the open space before them, taking a moment to look up at the night sky before once again looking directly in front of him. Raising his hand, he used the key forwards and before their very eyes, the front part of the key seemed to disappear, the tell-tale sound of it being fitted into a lock sounding in their ears. Then, forming from around the key, an aged wooden door appeared, the image growing and spreading to reveal a large, stone tower.

Twisting the key in place, Kaldur pushed open the door and they all entered inside, the door closing behind them on its own. Yet, suddenly they found themselves in a chamber, no way out in sight and the door they had entered through mysteriously having disappeared.

"Eh, where'd the door go?"

-X-

Thursday 19th August 2010, 20:25.

Location Unknown.

Apostle Base.

Feeling one of its spores fusing with its body, a rush of information filled him and Ignotus slowly rose up from the shadows of the elderly man. "There is news on Esau Jacobson." The elderly man seemed to pay Ignotus no heed, two white-cloaked figures up ahead falling into step behind the man as he moved down the corridor.

However, the tapping of his cane against the floor seemed to grow louder.

"He has entered the Tower of Fate." There was a pause, the elderly man's cane not touching the ground for a few steps. "I am unable to follow due to the protections that surround it. But I know that a Lord of Chaos is nearby, Klarion the Witch-Boy."

"Then it seems Esau and the young heroes he leads are going to face a great deal of trouble." A Lord of Chaos near the Tower of Fate, home of the Lord of Order and now, Esau Jacobson trapped inside with no way for them to intervene. "It seems we will have to watch Nabu closely, he will no doubt discover the truth of Esau should he be reborn."

The elderly man continued moving once more, entering a large atrium where two black-cloaked figures awaited him, the Roman numerals for one and two emblazoned upon them. The Second Apostle was a large man, almost seven feet tall and from the large metal-clad arms that popped out from his cloak, he was muscular and powerful, strong and tall. It was a stark contrast to the First who seemed tiny in comparison to the Second's side, though his presence was far greater.

"What seems to be the problem, Elder?" The First asked, his voice quiet, yet powerful as it resounded throughout the atrium.

"Esau Jacobson has entered the Tower of Fate."

"Do you wish for me to intervene? Second has been itching for a fight for some time now. You know how he gets when he is kept cooped up for too long." Elder ignored his words, instead looking to find half of the Apostles gathered throughout the atrium.

"You called a meeting?"

"Fourth Apostle discovered one of the six relics." The First responded. "We are simply preparing to take it per the goals of the Patriarch."

"Where is the relic?"

"One of the Parliaments possesses it. Eleventh Apostle is preparing a means for us to travel there to retrieve it. Would you like one of your Twins to accompany us? Or are they going to retrieve Esau Jacobson from the Tower of Fate before Nabu learns of what he really is?" Elder ignored him.

"No."

"No?" The First Apostle questioned dubiously. "You do know that if Nabu does learn of Esau, then he will naturally be able to trace it back to us. We have been lucky up until this point thanks to Kent Nelson's retirement. But he will not have forgotten you and you do not wish for us to be exposed for the time being."

"I am aware of what Nabu can do." Elder replied calmly. "But there is little we can do. We cannot afford interference by the Justice League, not now. Retrieve the Relic, but Tenth Apostle, you shall watch over the Tower of Fate. Should Esau not emerge soon, take him." From amongst the gathering of men, a tall man rose to his feet and bowed.