CHAPTER 6: ESCAPE FROM THE MAGICAL MAW
The air in the Himalayan cavern still crackled with the lingering residue of Vandal Savage's dark magic, heavy and oppressive, like a blanket woven from fear and defeat. Dust motes, disturbed by the recent onslaught, danced in the faint, flickering torchlight, illuminating the shattered fragments of the Legends' morale. Adam lay sprawled against the cold, damp rock, every muscle screaming in protest, a throbbing ache blooming in his chest where Savage's magical blast had slammed into him. His regeneration, usually a lightning-fast miracle, was sluggish, pushing back against an unseen magical impediment. The wound had closed, but the pain persisted, a dull, insistent throb that served as a stark, unwanted reminder of his newfound vulnerability.
'Well, that was… humbling. One minute I'm the unkillable, sarcastic anomaly, the next I'm getting my ass handed to me by an immortal trying to play Gandalf with a dark orb. Note to self: magic is officially on the 'things to avoid' list, right after sentient toaster ovens and conversations about my feelings. This wasn't in the brochure. The brochure clearly stated 'time travel, minor historical disruptions, witty banter.' Not 'get curb-stomped by an ancient evil with a glowy death ball.' '
He pushed himself up, gritting his teeth against a fresh wave of nausea. Around him, the team was stirring, groaning, a symphony of battered heroism. Rip Hunter, looking utterly defeated, was leaning against a jagged rock, his head bowed, the Chronos blaster clutched loosely in his hand. Sara Lance, ever the resilient one, was already helping Mick Rory to his feet, her face grim. Ray Palmer was checking his Atom suit, its systems flickering ominously, while Professor Stein and Jax, unmerged, were huddled together, Jax wincing as Stein ran a diagnostic scan on their Firestorm matrix.
"Everyone… status report," Rip finally managed, his voice hollow.
"My suit's primary energy conduit is damaged," Ray reported, his usual optimism utterly absent. "I can move, but full Atom powers are offline."
"Firestorm matrix… destabilized," Stein confirmed, his voice tight with concern. "Jax is stable, but a full merge is impossible for now. The magical residue… it interferes with the molecular cohesion."
Mick just grunted, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip. "Lost my appetite for a good fire. That orb… made my skin crawl."
Sara, always practical, surveyed the rockfall blocking their exit. "It's too much for me to clear alone. And we're deep in the mountain. Gideon, can you get a signal through this rock?"
["NEGATIVE, CAPTAIN. THE QUANTUM INTERFERENCE FROM THE RITUAL, COMBINED WITH THE DENSE GEOLOGY, IS BLOCKING ALL EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS AND BEAM-OUT CAPABILITIES. WE ARE ISOLATED."]
A wave of despair seemed to wash over the team. Rip finally looked up, his eyes meeting Adam's, a desperate, almost pleading look in them. "Stiels? What about you? Can your… unique abilities… assist us in clearing this egress?"
Adam slowly pushed himself upright, his chest still aching. 'Well, this is my moment to shine, isn't it? The guy who can't die and can move things with his mind. Except the 'can't die' part just got a serious asterisk added to it, and the 'move things with his mind' part feels a little weak compared to Savage's death-magic. Still, gotta try. For the team. For the timeline. And because sitting here and waiting for Savage to come back and turn us all into dust bunnies sounds like a really un-fun way to spend my Tuesday.'
He walked over to the rockfall, surveying the massive boulders that blocked their path. They were huge, easily several tons each. His telekinesis was growing, but this was a significant leap from breaking a small Nth Metal device or throwing a few bricks. And he was still feeling the effects of Savage's magical attack.
"Alright, Rip, just so we're clear," Adam began, trying to inject some of his usual bravado into his voice, though it came out a little strained. "My powers aren't exactly 'mountain-moving' tier yet. I can nudge things. I can throw things. I can make things vibrate uncomfortably. But this? This is less 'subtle manipulation' and more 'Hercules with a really bad attitude.' "
He placed his hands on the largest boulder, closing his eyes, focusing all his energy. He pushed, mentally, picturing the rock shifting, sliding, moving aside. He strained, a faint blue aura flickering around his hands, but the boulder remained stubbornly in place. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his muscles trembled with the effort.
"It's… heavy," he grunted, opening his eyes, slightly winded. "Really, really heavy. And the residual magic in the air feels like it's fighting me. Like trying to swim through treacle. Magical, angry treacle."
"So, what? We're stuck?" Mick grumbled, kicking a small pebble.
"No," Sara said, her voice firm, cutting through the defeatist atmosphere. "We're not stuck. We figure this out. We always do. Adam, can you create any openings? Even small ones?"
Adam concentrated again, this time focusing on a weaker point in the rockfall, a crack between two smaller boulders. He pushed, a low hum emanating from him. Slowly, painstakingly, the crack widened, a trickle of dust falling. He pushed harder, willing the rocks to shift. A groaning sound echoed through the cavern, not from him, but from the very rock itself.
"I can… loosen them," he gasped, "make them unstable. But I can't move them entirely. We need… a catalyst. Something with more brute force."
Rip, seemingly snapping out of his stupor, looked around. His eyes landed on a large, jagged stalagmite, almost like a natural spear, pointing down from the cavern ceiling. "Mick! That stalagmite. Can you…?"
Mick looked at it, a flicker of his old fire in his eyes. "Yeah. But I need a clear shot. Don't want to bring the whole damn mountain down on us."
"Ray," Sara ordered, "can you use your suit's repulsors to create a focused concussive blast? Aim for the base of that stalagmite, disrupt its anchor."
"I can try," Ray said, already adjusting his suit's gauntlets. "It'll drain my power reserves, but it might destabilize it enough."
"Jax, Professor," Rip added, "get ready. If Mick and Ray can dislodge it, we'll need a Firestorm blast to shatter the rockfall."
Adam watched, his mind racing. This was teamwork. This was what they did. He still felt a lingering weakness from the magic, but the adrenaline was pushing him. 'Okay, Anomaly, time to earn your ridiculous superhero nickname. You can't just be the guy who gets stabbed. You have to be the guy who helps get everyone out of this literal rock and a hard place.'
He held his hands out, focusing on the two largest boulders, picturing them vibrating, weakening. "I'll try to destabilize the largest sections," he grunted, straining. "Make your blasts count! I can only hold this for so long!"
Ray fired a focused, blue energy beam at the base of the stalagmite. A loud crack echoed through the cave, and the massive stone structure groaned, wobbling precariously.
"Now, Mick!" Rip yelled.
Mick, with a guttural roar, unleashed a focused blast of fire from his heat gun, targeting the newly created crack. The rock glowed red hot, then began to split, steam hissing as the heat met the cold. The stalagmite groaned louder, tearing itself free from the ceiling.
It began to fall, a massive, pointed spear of rock, directly towards the rockfall.
"Firestorm! Now!" Sara screamed.
Jax and Stein, their hands clasped, focused their combined energy. A powerful, fiery blast erupted from their merged form, slamming into the falling stalagmite just as it hit the weakened rockfall.
The impact was deafening. The cave shook violently, dust and debris raining down. The combined force of the fall, Mick's heat, Adam's telekinetic destabilization, Ray's repulsor blast, and Firestorm's power was immense. The rockfall exploded outwards, sending a shower of smaller boulders and pebbles flying, revealing a gaping, albeit still rough, exit to the outside.
Adam stumbled back, coughing from the dust, his telekinetic effort leaving him drained. His head swam, and his chest still ached, but relief flooded him. They had done it. They had actually done it.
"Go! Go! Go!" Rip yelled, pushing them forward.
They scrambled through the newly opened passage, emerging back into the thin, freezing Himalayan air. The sky was still dark, but the stars were impossibly bright, twinkling against the majestic peaks. The Waverider, a beacon of hope, sat waiting for them in the valley below.
The trek back to the ship was agonizing. Every step was a fresh agony for Adam, his regeneration working slower than usual, the magic of Savage's attack still clinging to his energy. He saw the concern in Sara's eyes as she glanced back at him, slowing her pace slightly to ensure he kept up. Mick, to his surprise, actually offered a gruff hand to help him over a particularly treacherous patch of ice, though he mumbled something about "not wanting to carry your useless carcass back."
Finally, they stumbled back into the Waverider. The ramp retracted, the doors hissed shut, and the hum of the ship's engines thrummed to life, signaling their impending departure from this miserable timeline.
Adam collapsed onto a bench in the common room, utterly exhausted. His entire body felt heavy, bruised, and wrung out. His chest still throbbed, a dull, persistent pain that was far more annoying than the fleeting stings of his usual injuries.
Rip, now looking marginally less defeated, but still profoundly weary, addressed the team. "We escaped. Barely. But Savage succeeded. The Orb of Necrosis… its power is now integrated with him. He is more formidable than ever."
"We need to re-evaluate our strategy," Sara stated, her voice firm. "We can't just keep charging in headfirst. We need to find a weakness. A way to counter his magic."
"I concur," Professor Stein added, already heading to the lab. "My priority will be to analyze the residual magical signature left behind and ascertain the true nature of this 'Orb of Necrosis.' There must be a scientific explanation, or at least, a magical countermeasure."
Ray, still checking his suit, nodded. "And I'll see if I can integrate some kind of energy dampener into the Atom suit, or perhaps a localized energy field. Something to protect against those magic blasts."
Snart merely leaned against a console, observing the scene. "So, we got our asses kicked. Happens. What matters is what we do next. We hit him harder, smarter."
Mick grunted in agreement.
Adam just lay there, watching them. His usual urge to crack a joke, to lighten the mood, felt… muted. The defeat, the pain, the lingering sense of powerlessness against magic – it had shaken him more than he let on. He was the unkillable anomaly, but even anomalies had limits, it seemed.
'This is different. This isn't just about fighting goons or preventing a paradox. Savage is a true threat, a force of nature. And my powers… they're not foolproof. I can't just regenerate my way out of everything. Especially not magic. This is going to be harder than I thought. A lot harder. And a lot more painful.'
He closed his eyes for a moment, the throbbing in his chest a constant reminder. The Waverider jumped, the familiar temporal distortion washing over him, pulling them away from the desolate, defeat-tinged mountains. He was safe, for now. But the memory of Savage's glowing eyes, and the pain of his magic, would linger far longer than any physical wound. This was the humbling defeat Rip had warned them about. And Adam was now painfully aware of its taste.