| Salem - August 19
The Team—minus Kori and Robin—arrived at Red Tornado's coordinates dressed in civvies, only to find... nothing.
Kori had stayed behind in Washington D.C. to assist Wonder Woman with something, leaving Kaldur in charge.
This wasn't an official mission, but Red Tornado had confided in them about the disappearance of Kent Nelson—a retired hero and former host of Doctor Fate. Kent had also been the guardian of the Helmet of Fate, a powerful magical artifact that should never fall into the wrong hands.
Wally had been skeptical. "All smoke and mirrors," he'd said, dismissing Kent's magic as science with flair—until M'gann showed interest. Then he magically became a believer.
Red Tornado had given them a key to the Tower of Fate, supposedly located in Salem. They flew in using the Bio-Ship, but so far, it had all been a bust.
Joseph hovered slightly above the ground, scanning with his Nova Sense. He brought with him a black balaclava, a habit he had picked up from his days as Flux. It was always good to bring it just in case.
Magic was still a mystery to him. Kori once told him Tamaraneans believed in a goddess named X'Hal. Then there were the Olympians—real, apparently—with Wonder Woman as the daughter of Zeus. But were they magical and divine, or just energy-manipulating entities Earth hadn't fully understood?
The area was quiet, isolated, and blanketed in night. The darkness added to the eeriness of the moment. Then Joseph saw it—only a ginger cat, calmly watching them. Yet strangely enough, his Nova sense didn't detect it.
His Nova Sense could detect energy. The Tower might be hidden behind magical wards. He should try filtering his scan through the frequency of Wotan's magic that he still stored.
Joseph mentally kicked himself for not trying so sooner. But to be fair, psychic and magical energies weren't material so they required conscious effort for him to detect. He focused on Wotan's lightning that he still stored and tried to feel if there was any similar energy source nearby.
There.
He felt it: the Tower—and four distinct magical signatures nearby.
One of them… was the cat.
As he turned, the Tower of Fate phased into view behind him.
Below, Kaldur had inserted the key into what had been an invisible door. It shimmered into visibility. The others stepped inside. Joseph hesitated, debating whether to investigate the nearby signatures or warn the team. He chose the latter—it was better to warn the team first in case there were more people in the Tower.
But the Tower's door slammed shut behind them with a bang, before the door disappeared.
He tried touching the wall to see if the door was still there but hidden—no luck. He blasted the wall with a Nova bolt. Nothing. Not even a scorch mark.
"Magic," Joseph muttered.
He placed his hand on the wall, intending to siphon energy from the Tower, but was then blasted back a dozen feet by a pulse of yellow force after only absorbing a little.
"Okay, that hurt," he groaned, brushing dust off himself.
Joseph turned his attention back to the cat, wondering why it had magic.
'If the internet's knowledge of magic is to be believed, it could be a familiar—an animal bound to a magic entity. Or maybe it's a person turned into a cat.'
Joseph closed his eyes and filtered his Nova Sense through psychic energy. Nope. Just a regular cat—its mental signature was far smaller than a human's.
But one of the other signatures? It made his head throb. A presence so chaotic it scrambled his thoughts. Joseph stopped sensing psychic energy immediately.
He used his anti-gravity field to pull the cat that tried to scamper away towards him. It hissed and flailed helplessly in the air.
Up close, it looked... wrong. Blood-red eyes, tiger-like stripes, an aura that made his skin crawl.
Joseph had killed several aliens just trying to survive. A corrupted familiar? He wouldn't lose sleep over it. Not even Selina would keep this cat. Maybe.
"Let Teekl go!"
A voice rang out from above as a boy in a suit flew out of a red portal toward him—tall, thin-limbed, with a mop of black hair and devil-like horns curling upward from his head. His fists glowed with red, fiery energy—magic since Joseph couldn't detect it with his regular Nova Sense.
Clawed hands of energy lashed out. Red bolts sizzled in the air towards him. Pillars of earth and scarlet magic erupted from beneath Joseph.
Joseph dodged upward, dragging the cat with him. But one of the numerous red bolts fired clipped him.
"Argh!" he yelled, gritting his teeth. He'd absorbed some of the energy—but it burned worse than Wotan's lightning.
The cat—Teekl—suddenly grew into a grotesque, man-sized feline monster, all muscle and malevolence.
'This must be the chaotic presence I sensed. Seems he's tied to the cat since he cares about it so much. Time to cut the cord.'
Joseph's eyes glowed as he fired a twin beam of golden Nova Force straight at the creature's head.
"No!" the boy screamed.
The beam hit. Teekl shrieked as its skull cracked and burned. Its massive body crumpled mid-air.
The boy vanished in a burst of red smoke.