MY JSA - pt. 8

"I still had a hold on one of his arms. I gave it a tug, sending his chin sprawling into the ground between us.  I pushed my other arm up through the topsoil and clutched for the headband.  I got a hold of his hair.  He grabbed me back, and tried to pin me underground.  The dirt and rock was caving in all around, and he might have had the leverage to hold me there until I drowned in dirt -- if the power of Zeus didn’t give me the ability to fly.  I took off like a rocket, holding Magnificus and about 100 pounds of packed earth with us into the air.

I flung Magnificus to the ground from about 40 feet up, counting on his great strength to protect

him.  He hit the ground hard at an angle and slid until he’d dug a ditch in the ground.  He looked bruised, but was already pulling himself up.  With the speed of Mercury I swooped down at him, caught his headband in my hands, yanked it off his head, and crushed it flat.  He suddenly looked like he was waking from a nap.

“’Capt. Marvel...?” he said, confused. ‘What’s going on?’

“’You were helping your father, and it...went to your head.’

Capt. Marvel’s smile beamed at the room like a Cheshire cat.  Batman and Hawkman groaned, while Ibis and Skyman just shook their heads.

“Cap,” the Flash said, “you’ve got the sense of humor of a little kid.”

Everyone smiled at that, though Scotty didn’t get the joke.

“Don’t you tell me you guys don’t joke and banter with your adversaries,” Capt Marvel said, still smiling.  “You have to.  It’s how you stay sane while you’re facing down so much evil in the world.”

“We know,” Superman agreed.  “But what did you do next with the Sivanas?”

“I was willing to bet that Beautia hadn’t got around to calling the police like I’d asked her to, so I wasn’t all that surprised when we went back to the secret basement and found both her and her father had flown the coop.  ‘That wasn’t very bright,’ I said outloud. ‘It shouldn’t take me long to track them down wherever they went.’  

“But Magnificus laid a hand on my shoulder. ‘Don’t make me fight you again,’ he said.’

“’You know you’d lose,’ I warned.

“’I know.  But you’d have to beat me to a pulp to stop me from stopping you.’

 “’Your father killed a man, and has killed before.’

“’And he’s still our father.  Give us some time to try and rehabilitate him, while he’s still recovering.  If his mind is still warped by the time his body heals, then my sister and I will turn him over to you.’

“I know it was wrong, and maybe I should have had my head examined, but I did let them go.  I haven’t heard from the Sivana family yet.  Of course...this was just a month ago..."

“If Captain Marvel is done with his tale,” Ibis the Invincible began, “then listen now to mine.  Or better yet, observe...” Ibis waved his hands over the table and a purple, sparkling mist sprang up from his plate.  The mist rose up, split in two, and then proceeded to float through the air in twin arcs until they had joined at the top of a large circle.  The air within the circle seemed hazy at first, but when it cleared, a scene other than the hotel room was visible through it.  It was a dark city street, and a lone man was walking past some manner of fancy municipal building with a row of statues.  When the man passed the last statue in the row, the statue’s head slowly turned to follow.  Then an evil leer crossed the statues face as it stepped off the platform and descended the wall.

The image in the circle of smoke faded, and Ibis spoke. “It was three months ago in the American city of Philadelphia that the scene you just witnessed took place.  I was there with my beloved, Talia, to see a dealer in Egyptian antiquities.  It did not take me long to sense the presence of a great evil steeped in powerful magic.  Excusing myself to Talia, I set out to search for the source of this evil.

Another image appeared in the circle of smoke.  This time, it showed Ibis levitating over the city, holding his Ibis-Stick aloft before him.  “There were concealing spells in place that would have caused the divinations of a lesser sorcerer to fail, but focusing upon the mighty powers of the

Ibis-Stick, I was able to track the source of the evil as if I were using a modern-day Geiger counter to track radiation.  Soon, I stood before the downtown art museum, bedecked in pillars and statuary like a Roman temple.  The concealing spells made pinpointing the problem difficult, so I decided to bide my time by taking a museum tour.

“My tour guide had curly blonde hair and an accent that was difficult for even me to place, though it sounded vaguely eastern European.  ‘The museum is 80 years old,’ he said, in answer to my question, ‘but many items in our exhibits are far older than that.’

“’Are any parts of the building older than the rest?’ I asked.  Though my questions taxed our guide’s memory, and the patience of my fellow tourists, I felt they were leading me in the right direction.

“’It’s true that the original building has been expanded, but the oldest parts of the museum would be the statues over the main entrance.  They came from a Sumerian temple excavated 25 years ago, but the statues date back nearly 3,000 years.’

“Having heard enough, I departed from the tour, stood outside the main entrance, and looked up at the statuary.  The old stone figures were vaguely abstract, lacking the knowledge of anatomy the Greek masters would later discern.  Still, one could tell that they were carved to appear to be holding up the roof above them, and their faces gave the impression of pain -- save one, which wore a maniacal grin.  I cast a simple levitation spell so that I might rise to the statues’ level. Once I was floating face-to-face with the grinning statue, I lifted the Ibis-Stick and intoned, ‘By the power of the Ibis-Stick I command this spirit of ancient Sumeria to reveal itself.’

“And so it did.  "The stone statue began to move, as fluidly as if it had been flesh and bone.  And then it spoke, saying, 'Ah, I began to fear there were no wizards left in this world, but at last one has been drawn to my power.  Serve me.  Serve me and live.  Serve me well, and be rewarded.'

"I was eager to put this being in its place immediately, but I needed to know more about its purposes.  So I said, 'How would I serve you?'

"'The world has changed much in the 600 years since I last awakened, and I even find myself with a different hemisphere to conquer this time.  I will need mortals to advise me in what best to ask for tribute from the kingdoms of this age.'

"'Then you will receive no help from me, beast. I am Ibis the Invincible, and there is no corner of this world where I would allow you to hold sway.'

"The statues' eyes grew wide as saucers and its mouth hung agape for a moment before its face recovered its menacing glare and wicked grin.  'I am OOM,' it said, 'and by the time I am through, you will find invincibility is an appellation best bestowed upon ME!'

“The beast gestured with a grasping hand as it whispered words both ancient and lyrical under its breath. I could then feel my own Ibis-Stick shuddering in my hand – Oom was trying to wrench it from my grip!  I countered with words of my own, and for Oom the roof beneath its feet seemed to shake and the world spun out from underneath it. Oom tumbled off the ledge and was falling towards the pavement below when it caught itself with a second spell and began floating back up towards me.

“’You play your hand too soon, mortal, for I see now that you are no novice to be bested with a single spell.  The Mind-Quake is an old-favorite of mine, which I often used to make whole towns flee from imagined earthquakes!’  Though the beast appeared to be speaking to me, I knew that this was but telepathic projection masked by a glamer to appear audible. All the while, the stone-like man-beast was speaking words of power to invoke new spells against me.

“To shake its confidence, I mimicked the same trick. ‘Are you to defeat me with smoke and mirrors?’  I appeared to say, while I weaved my own spells.

“’No – by fire and death!’  Oom raised its arms high, and giant fiery claws appeared in the air above it. As it swung its arms, so too did the flame-wreathed hands mimic the gesture, and came flying at me.  The fingers sought to snatch me between them.  As the fiery claws reached to envelop me, I countered with another spell.  From out of the bottomless well of power my Ibis-stick commands I summoned forth a sphere of breathable water that hung in the air around me. The fiery claws groped at me to no effect other than releasing a great cloud of steam and diminishing the size of the fire hands.

"With Oom invisible to me at the moment from all the steam, I took a moment to cast another spell to protect myself.  Just as I finished, I heard Oom hissing behind my ear.  I swung the Ibis-stick at him and spoke a word of power that charged my rod with the explosive power of dynamite. I smote the beast in the ribs just as it stood posed with its hands held over its head to deliver a crushing blow to me. The force of the blow sent us both hurtling away from each other. Oom was -- impressively -- nearly as quick to recover as I did.

"'I give you this one, final chance to surrender, Oom,' I told him.

"The stony man-beast glared at me hatefully and shouted, 'Now you think ME a novice, magician!  I can see the aura about you, and know it will deflect whatever spell I next cast.  But I also see your weakness, for I can read in you that you are moved by conscience to do good and protect others.'  Then it bellowed a horrible laugh as it began to grow in size.  As it continued to roar, it doubled in size and continued to grow.

"I knew the potency of the foe I faced, and I could spare no effort to remove us farther from the streets of Philadelphia, if I was to prevent destruction and loss of life as our battle continued.  As Oom drew magical energy into itself to increase its mass, I spoke words of enchantment into the air before me, and conjured a great, fiery meteor.  My meteor struck out at astonishing speed, approaching Oom from beneath him. Oom had tripled in size by the time my meteor struck, but it still had the strength to carry Oom farther up into the atmosphere before slowing.

"After quickly strengthening the wards and protections upon my person, mainly to allow me to breathe unaided in the thin upper atmosphere, the Ibis-stick whisked me skyward to re-join my death duel with Oom.  Oom had broken the meteor into fragments and was eating some of them when I arrived.

"'This body of enchanted stone can absorb any magical stone into it,' Oom proudly explained.  'I look forward to plucking the gem from your turban - which I can see is magical - upon the moment of your demise.'

"'That will not happen,' I said, as I waved the Ibis-stick, causing waves of ice to crash down on Oom.  Oom countered with a gesture that caused spears dripping with acid to appear above me and rain down.  I swung and scattered the spears heading straightest for me, but several spears tore and burned my cape and coat.  Oom followed up quickly by summoning a ball of magical energy that floated near me.  I knew the spell to be a trap, meant to explode if I cast a spell near it.  I flew straight over it, and it followed.  Oom was waiting with his fists clenched, waiting to pound me as I drew nearer.

"But just before I reached Oom, I cast a spell of intangibility over myself, and passed right through him.  The ball of energy that pursued me stayed on its course, and struck Oom's outstretched arms as he raised them to protect himself.  There was a terrible explosion that sent Oom flying.  As I pursued him, I could see him looking with shock at the long cracks in his stone arms and hands.

"Oom began to rage with horrible fury.