Chapter 33: The Disappearance of Doctor Fate

(Aden's P.O.V)

I got back late. My mind was occupied by the conversation I had just had with the Devil and the new developments waiting for me in the horizon. I sighed as I removed my clothes and stepped into the shower. Galiel's office coupled with the disgusting underground fighting ring had left me feeling filthy and unclean.

I scrubbed my body until I was satisfied and then stepped out. My eyes ran over the bundle of items I had hidden inside my hoodie and walked over after drying my hair. I settled down on my bed and separated the items into four different piles. First there was jewelry that looked very expensive. Second, a stack of bills that added upto 26K. Then the Meta-trigger contained in a whiskey bottle and lastly, a client list.

The list was of a few high profile people like politicians that Galiel had bribed, blackmailed or been in business with. The commissioner of the L.A.P.D was also on his payroll, which is how he'd gone so long without being found out. For a demon, Galiel kept a well detailed list of not only his assets but his contacts as well.

Which is how I came upon the most interesting name on the list for me. There wasn't much information about it and it was filed under, Special Consultant. That name was Noah Kuttler or otherwise known to all DC fans as the Calculator. The name sent alarm bells ringing inside my head. Was this the same Batman villain who had a genius intellect and was an informer for Supervillains?

The fact that Lucifer existed in this world showed that there was more I still didn't know. More wrenches to derail my plans if I half assed this. Fortunately, the good side to all this was that if The Calculator actually did exist, then it meant most of my problems about finding some interesting people I had in mind were now non-existent. I could just hire him for that.

I filed that away and neatly arranged all the folders into one bundle. I could anonymously give this to the League and watch as they dismantled Galiel's operations and took down all the corrupt officials of the government or…I could save this for a rainy day. A sort of leverage for when I wanted things to truly go my way.

The only problem with that was, I would compromise my own ideals by letting these people continue to walk free after the things they'd been involved in. Tax evasion, fraud, abduction, torture, r*pe, murder…let's just say that Galiel knew how to keep an interesting group.

I chuckled. This would probably be the make or break moment of a hero if this was a comic book. Had I decided to selfishly keep the docket of information, I would have spiralled down into more and more selfish and greedy situations until finally I fell and became a Supervillain. Or something like that. Fortunately, the real world is much more complex. One mistake or oversight doesn't spell out the direction you life is going to take. That was a narrow-minded perspective on what life truly is.

The capacity for good or bad is equal in all of us. Some are just too jaded and selfish to listen to their inner selves.

I packed everything up and placed it into a bag I'd bought, when I had gone for clothes shopping with Connor a while back. Then I put the bag under my bed. Speaking of which, I'd need to find a secure place to stash my things. The stack of bills were also inside that same bag which left only the expensive jewelry and the Meta-trigger essence on the table next to my guitar.

The jewelry went into a sachet that I kept separate from the funds. I was going to see if I could exchange the jewelry for some cash and then hire someone probably The Calculator to open up an untraceable bank account for my activities.

The Jewelry could be safely exchanged the next time I went to Metropolis. The economy and overall better living standard of the City of tomorrow would ensure less suspicion than Happy Harbor which was so close to Mount Justice. I knew there was probably no chance that Batman would find out about the Jewelry but taking extra precautions never hurt anyone.

Lastly, I stared at the Meta-trigger in the whiskey bottle. Lucifer hadn't looked particularly thrilled to give it to me. It hadn't been obvious and would probably be arrogance to say I understood him but from his tone and the cold eyes, I knew that the essence in my possession was not a popular item to the Lord Of Hell.

I wonder what would happen if I actually used it. What sort of power would I get? Would it add to my current mastery in the bending styles or have a different effect on my body? Based on the fact that it was essence refined from meta-humans then it would mean that I could develop a metagene.

I contemplated on using it at that moment. Just opening the stopper and drinking it down. What stopped me was a thought. If Galiel could use it to create Metas in the form of Dumb and Dumber and also the one who had built those meta-gene scanning devices, couldn't I also do the same? But by drinking the Meta-trigger right now, I would lose that option. It wasn't a secret that I was going to branch out on my own in the future. And instead of recruiting other superheroes to join my cause, what if I created my own?

Decision made, I placed the Meta-trigger right next to the last vial of Kobra-venom I had kept from the bust at the Santa Prisca factory. I really needed a place I could hide these things. It would be a disappointment if Robin just happened to snoop around and come across the Kobra-venom. All my efforts in building trust with the team would all be for naught.

The next morning I woke up early and proceeded to the training room as usual. My brief altercation with Maze and by extension Lucifer had surprisingly shed some light on what I needed to work on. My fighting style was heavily reliant on Chi blocking or bending. Which was a solid combination both for crowd control, one on one battles and even when I'm outnumbered. In other worlds, I had some good offensive options.

Therein lies the problem. It wasn't a matter of being bad at defense but instead not having a way to escape a battle I couldn't win. If Lucifer had been at all serious about harming me, I doubt I could have defeated him let alone flee. That meant before I got to the level I was confident I could take on Darkseid himself and win, I had to approach every fight as if I was at a disadvantage and have a strategy for escaping in case things went sideways.

So I stayed the entire morning, refining my sonic scream to a sufficiently dangerous level. The air rippled and pushed the wave of ocean water away. I was on the beach, having decided that practicing Sonic scream inside the cave was a bad idea. For several reasons actually not just because I could risk a cave in if I wasn't careful, but also because Connor's ears were very sensitive.

I've always prided myself in being good at empathizing so here I am, breathing in the cold air and fighting with the ocean. An hour in and I started making it into a game. I tried shaping my Sonic blasts narrower for a harder concussive effect and then upping the intensity and spreading out the attack evenly from the point of contact.

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A shower of ocean water would rise up at that moment and fall down in a spectacle that caused a rainbow once the sun's first rays hit it. It was beautiful. From there I begun trying to emit sonic attacks from the rest of my body, particularly my hands.

That didn't work though so I changed tactics and started meditating to get a sense of the vibrations propagating in the air whenever an object passed through it. My auditory awareness spread out fully. I could hear the gentle push and pull of the waves as they hit the beach, birds chirping almost 200 meters away, the slight hum of the sand as sunlight shone on the grains and heated them up and...a whooshing sound approaching me.

I opened my eyes just as Red Tornado touched down on the ground before me.

"Good morning Tornado."

"Good morning to you too Maelstrom."

His robotic voice was as blunt as ever. I cracked my neck and rose up while stretching.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?"

I finally asked, killing the brief silence that had befallen us.

"I have reviewed your mission accomplishments. Coupled with your strict discipline in training and learning more about being a hero, I believe you can help me."

A confused expression appeared on my face.

"What do you mean? Are you saying you need my help in a mission or something?"

"Precisely. I need you to help me find someone. An old friend of mine."

Realization dawned on me. He was talking about Kent! The previous host of Nabu, a lord of order. His hero name was Dr. Fate. I remember this event happening in the animation. The mission went from a simple missing person investigation to a fight with Klarion the Witchboy, a lord of chaos.

And Red Tornado was personally requesting for my help instead of presenting the mission to the team. Something isn't right here.

"Ok. I'm listening."

"His name is Kent. And he's been missing for close to two weeks now."

"Not to sound rude, Tornado but why ask me? The league would have a better chance at finding him than I ever could."

Red Tornado was silent for a while before saying something that completely shocked me.

"Kent is mostly known by his other self, the hero . I approached you because the helmet of fate shares almost the same flavor of energy as yours. The origin of your powers seem to be similar to that of a Lord of Order."

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