Chương 95: Defences of the Tower

"Eh, where'd the door go?" Superboy voiced, all of them looking around to try and find the door in question, only to find a brick wall surrounding them on all sides. There was no exit, no pathway leading to a deeper part of the tower, they were just trapped on all four sides almost as if they were in a prison cell.

Though, they weren't left wondering for long, distracted by the sight of Kent Nelson appearing before them.

Yet there was some strange about him, not only did he have a golden glow surrounding his entire body, but he was quite obviously not material.

"Greetings, you've entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognise you." The image of Kent Nelson spoke, not looking at any of them in particular. "Please state your purpose and intent." Things shifted at that moment, the image of Kent Nelson focusing on Esau intently, eyes glowing suddenly and before any of them could react, the blonde found himself frozen in place, arms locked in place down by his sides.

"W-what that, I ca..." Before Esau could finish, his head suddenly slumped forwards, unconscious and unresponsive.

Immediately, the rest of the team acted, many standing protectively around him, almost waiting for something to come at them, Kaldur and Artemis arming themselves as they directed their gaze towards Kent Nelson. Though, despite having an arrow and blade of solidified water pointed at him, he didn't so much as blink or even register their actions as being a threat to him, almost completely unaware of their current mood.

"Esau?" Barbara called out, only to receive no response, a tinge of panic filling her voice. "Esau?"

"What's the meaning of this?" Kaldur demanded as his eyes narrowed and grip on his blade tightened, fighting with himself to keep things civil

"The Tower has restrained him, a security measure put in place for all those entering the Tower with demonic blood flowing through their veins," Kent explained. "State your purpose and intent?" The image repeated once more, his tone of voice never once changing.

"We were..."

Wally chose this moment to step forwards, confident in his ability to solve the situation by simply answering the question they had been presented with. Though concerned about what had happened to Esau, suddenly having someone get restrained by some unseen force and be knocked unconscious in less than a second was worrying. Yet the image of Kent Nelson had made clear that the actions taken against Esau were done purely because of sensing 'demonic blood' within him, something they clearly didn't have or else they would be in the same position as him.

Now was a good chance to solve this situation quickly and get some browny points with M'gann at the same time.

"We are true believers, here to find Doctor Fate!" He exclaimed piously, though his voice cracked towards the end, not able to keep a straight face as he threatened to burst into laughter.

Yet his words for the first time earned a change in the spectral image's appearance, disappointment clear to see on its face as it looked upon Wally. Then the image disappeared leaving Wally standing there awkwardly with his arms outstretched before a stone wall, silence filling the room they were all in. A tense moment followed, everyone waiting for something to happen as they surveyed their surroundings, wondering what had happened and whether they were about to be let go.

They got their answer not long after that.

The sound of cracking and a sense of foreboding filling them before the ground beneath opened up.

Perhaps, for just a single fleeting moment, Wally felt a measure of regret fill him as a blast of heat coming off the lava at the bottom struck him as they plummeted towards the ground. 'I should have kept my mouth shut.' He bemoaned, all of them letting out a momentary cry of shock as what was happening fully registered in their minds.

Though, despite the momentary feeling of weightlessness followed by the terror of falling, Barbara quickly recovered when she saw the still-unconscious Esau fall past her. The restraining spell seemed to have been lifted, his arms and legs flailing in the air as he like the rest of them were dragged down by gravity, yet unlike them, was unable to assume a position that would slow himself down.

Realising this, Barbara brought her arms down to her side, making herself more streamlined as she angled her body down towards Esau. This allowed her to cut through the air much quicker, meeting with less resistance as she approached Esau and as she got closer, outstretched both hands and grabbed hold of Esau's wrists, one in each hand. Then pulled herself towards him, inadvertently bringing Esau towards her as well so that she might then wrap both legs around his waist, one arm going under his armpit, her free hand fumbling in her utility belt.

She always carried one with her for situations just like this and Barbara was thankful for that.

So, just like Batman taught her, she pulled out her grappling gun and took aim, tensing her body and tightening her grip upon Esau just before she fired. It missed the opening of the pit having fallen too far down for the cable to reach, but the hook did manage to securely embed itself into some rock so that when the line became taut, it remained firmly where it was under hers and Esau's combined weight.

Even so, as she slammed back first into the wall, Barbara cried out in pain, her shoulder threatening to burst from its socket as she strained under the pressure. She had no doubts something was wrong in her shoulder and more than likely had a few bruised ribs, possibly a hairline fracture, yet despite that, Barbara kept a tight grip on both the grappling gun and Esau, refusing to let go of either.

"Is everyone alright?" Barbara called out, taking a moment to secure her grip on Esau who had slipped a bit further down her body so that his head was now resting on her chest.

"We're okay, I think?" Artemis replied from where she was holding onto Kaldur as well as the grappling gun.

Even from this distance Barbara could see the strain in her arm and hear the grimace in her voice, it was obvious she would not be able to hold that for long.

"What about everyone else?"

"Having trouble, maintaining altitude." M'gann gasped out over the mental link, Barbara, Artemis and the barely conscious Kaldur looking to see her carrying Wally as they slowly descended to the lava despite her best efforts. Further down, Superboy could be seen clinging to a wall mere inches above the lava. "I'm so hot." She said aloud this time, wiping her head of sweat.

Wally like usual, couldn't tell that this wasn't the time for him to be flirting. "You certainly are."

Wally?!" Artemis cried out disbelievingly.

Kaldur beside her looked up to Barbara and the unconscious Esau. "How is he?" He asked, weakness filling him as a result of his unique physiology, much like M'gann's.

Barbara turned to Esau, taking note of his even breathing also noting the occasional grimace and tensing of his muscles. "Unconscious." She shouted back, looking around to try and find anything they could use, a ledge or something along those lines. "We need to find a way out of this."

At this moment, M'gann seemed to have a moment of realisation. "Hello, Megan. We never truly answered the question." She explained. "Red Tornado sent us, to see if Mr Nelson and the Helmet were safe."

Silence except for the bubbling lava below was all the answer they got and for a few tense moments, they wondered if this was still wrong.

However, they each breathed a sigh of relief when two doors slid over the vat of lava, providing them with a safe landing spot. Each of them came down with some measure of relief and urgency, Superboy himself moving over to help lower Esau down onto the platform as Barbara lowered down, she hunching over as she clutched her ribs, her other arm cradled tentatively against her side.

"This platform, it should be red hot?" Kaldur noted, crunching down to place both hands on it. "But, it's cool to the touch."

However, he was interrupted from his musings by Artemis's outraged cry of, "Enough!" The archer shoving Wally away from Megan. "Your little impress Megan at all costs nearly got us all barbecued."

"When did this become my fault?" Wally shot back.

"The moment you lied to that, whatever it was and called yourself a true believer." She mocked, Wally looking like he swallowed a particularly sour lemon at the reminder of the mess he caused.

She wasn't the only one who had something to say, Superboy himself stepped forward, his larger frame making Wally look even smaller. "Especially when Esau told you to stop lying. Actually, I think he ordered you to stop." This got a reaction from everyone, all looking at Wally with narrowed eyes and no small amount of disbelief and anger.

"How did..." Wally stopped when he realised who exactly he was talking to.

"And you still continued on with it?" Artemis scoffed, her anger only growing bigger by the second. "What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Wally, you need to get your head out of your ass." Barbara snapped, pushing past Artemis and getting right up in Wally's face. "This world doesn't revolve around you as much as you'd like to think that. And as much as you like to think your god's gift to earth, guess what, that makes you no better than those jocks you complain about. Actually, I think at this moment, it makes you worse considering they didn't nearly get us killed because of your pathetic attempts to get laid."

There was a moment of silence, everyone was seemingly shocked by Barbara's rant, and even the girl herself seemed a little surprised. However, instead of apologising or saying anything more she instead spun on her heel and returned to check up on Esau's condition, only to freeze, eyes widening. This didn't go unnoticed and everyone turned, all having the same reaction as they saw the claws protruding from his fingers.

None dared move or make a sound, just staring at the unconscious Esau.

All waiting and hoping that nothing happened.