The Protagonist System

257 Incumbent Incursion

The giant flaming head illusion had finally faded and revealed a torn up throne, parts of the walls destroyed, and two figures partially bent over and panting heavily. They were both still standing, technically, and their auras were still clashing because they were so close to each other.

“You were right, Atlas. The fight did end in a draw.” Clea told the handsome magic user. She had spent a short time actually talking to him and he was both knowledgeable and ignorant, which was quite endearing to her. She also couldn't stop herself from feeling attracted to him, not that she tried too hard to not be.

Doctor Fate looked a little worse off, just because she had part of her top torn off and revealed more skin than Dormammu. She also had two dents in her helm and Clea smiled at winning her bet.

“Only one breast! The other nipple doesn't count! I win!” The colorful demon shouted and cheered.

“Dammit, he's right. It's not her full chest.” Atlas said and handed over the gold.

Clea held her hand out and Atlas gave her twenty gold coins because Dormammu had lost his coat, looked a little charred, and had dented Doctor Fate's helm. The other demons surged forward and gold and notes were exchanged, everyone having another great time settling up as both Doctor Fate and Dormammu glared at them.

“This fight has been a long time coming and we weren't going to interfere in a battle between Lords of Magic.” Atlas said and the two figures exchanged looks, then reluctantly nodded. Only an idiot would have tried to get between them. “You also split the pot from the people who chose sides to win.”

Doctor Fate and Dormammu were shocked when they were handed a bag full of gold coins and a handful of promissory notes for minor contracts. Atlas waved a hand over them and their outfits were repaired, they were cleaned up, and their magic reserves started regenerating.

“Yes, you are definitely handy to have around.” Doctor Fate commented as Atlas gave her back her cape and the Eye of Agamotto. He hadn't tried to use it or stole it to give her a fake back, which surprised her. She secretly promised herself to have a little more fun with him as a reward.

“Now that you have had your fun, perhaps we can get to the reason you were brought here.” Clea said.

Dormammu gave his destroyed throne and look and it reformed into its former glory. He strode over to it and sat on it like a king. “As you no doubt have seen, this is not my home dimension.”

“That was why I attacked.” Doctor Fate said. “You are not supposed to be here.”

Clea stepped over to stand beside the throne and the rest of the demon creatures spread out and lined the walls and ceiling. “My uncle had already conquered his dimension and it was invaded by an ursurper that shunted us out and put himself into place.”

“That is one of the problems of being a dictator. One dissident can remove you and take over, if they have the power and the backing to do so.” Doctor Fate said.

Dormammu frowned and didn't yell at her, to Clea's surprise. Perhaps their fight had earned the Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension his respect.

“The upstart named Trigon must be ejected and sent back to his own dimension to restore the balance.” Clea said instead of what she was thinking. “His sons as well.”

“He's already started his campaign to take over everything?” Atlas asked in response and everyone looked at him. “The prophecy I know of said he has to wait for a daughter to be born and the pure half of her soul was to be sacrificed to allow him to leave the hell dimension he was trapped in.”

Clea blushed and looked away from him. “That may be... my fault.”

“Niece.” Dormammu said and his voice was full of warning.

“It's all right, uncle. I made the mistake of bringing Belial home to meet you after scouting their dimension and... my dalliance with him there... allowed him to anchor his energy and his family was able to follow his demonic energy signature and transfer into our dimension.”

“Huh.” Atlas said and looked thoughtful. “That's how he keeps sneaking onto Earth to have more kids? He sends a partially tethered son to bed a virgin and can slip through and follow him.”

“I usually find him and send him back.” Doctor Fate said, resigned. “It's not an easy time.”

“It was not.” Dormammu said and rubbed part of his chest. “His fighting style was quite difficult to counter.”

“Trigon ambushed us with all of his sons when we weren't expecting it. Belial apologized as he helped them overwhelm us with numbers and I cursed off his genitals.” Clea said, vindictively.

“Did you gain power for sacrificing your virginity, at least?” Atlas asked.

Clea turned her head away again and blushed. “He took it all in the heat of passion.”

“Hey, Constantine.” Atlas said and the man nodded. “Remind me to kick Belial in the balls if he grew them back.”

John Constantine chuckled and saluted.

“Should we actually do what they're suggesting?” Zatanna asked and the humanoids looked at her. “Are we really going to help a demon lord fight another and take over an entire dimension?”

“It is only setting things into their proper place.” Doctor Fate said and looked at Dormammu. “However, there will be concessions.”

Dormammu nodded and didn't argue and neither did Zatanna. They both knew a golden opportunity when it was presented to them.

What followed was a careful negotiation of both resources and accessibility, mostly restricting Dormammu from being active on Earth and Doctor Fate agreed to not be active in his dimension, either. However, Dormammu's hell dimension produced some highly magical materials and Doctor Fate was quite willing to negotiate favorable trade deals for them.

Not surprisingly, Zatanna's father was one of the assets bargained for by Zatanna and Dormammu had no problem with handing over a minor soul in trade for a copy of her Demonology tome. Getting more information of the other people and creatures in the various hell dimensions scattered about would help him immensely in the future.

When the material deal was completed, then the planning for the invasion and reclamation of Dormammu's home dimension began. Both Clea and Atlas were going to be linchpins, since only Clea's dimensional travel ability was known by the enemy. She would bring the main force to present an actual battlefront for the defenders to face, while Atlas brought a smaller group in to flank from behind.

It was a classic pincer move and one that they wouldn't expect, because they thought only Clea and Dormammu knew about them and their location. With Doctor Fate, Atlas, Zatanna, her father Giovanni, and John Constantine, there was a very high chance that the operation would go off without a hitch.

Things went wrong right at the first. Clea opened a portal and sent through a legion of demons to fight, only to be met by an equal size army on the other side. When Atlas brought the others into the throne room, they were immediately attacked by Trigon's sons, Belial, Ruskcoff, and Suge.

Another host of demons attacked as well and they didn't hold anything back as they attacked with all their might, because their only job was to soften them up for their demon lord, Trigon.

“I've already ursurped your power for my own, weakling!” Trigon shouted and leapt from the throne and pounced on Dormammu, his fists flew and their magic clashed in an explosion, sending debris all over the room.

In the middle of the fight that everyone seemed to be struggling with, a demonic squeal came from one of the fighters and Belial keeled over and clutched at his family jewels. His whine was music to the attacker's ears and the tide of battle started to turn.

“You are too late, weakling! What you had is now mine! All of it!” Trigon taunted and pounded his fists into Dormammu's face, pulping it. His super strength and magical might was really working over the previously all-powerful demonic lord. “Even your daughter's power was claimed by my son!”

“She's my niece, you moronic brute!” Dormammu said and kicked up with his feet to hit Trigon in the gut and knocked him several feet back, then a bright blast of hellflame scorched the demon's face and made him wipe at the damage to let his minor regeneration fix it.

The keen whining was suddenly cut off and Belial's head rolled over to land at Trigon's feet. The tall demon's multiple eyes were healing and he stared down at the slowly disintegrating head of his eldest son.

“Who dares...” Trigon started to say and the heads of his other two sons rolled over and stopped on either side of Belial's. The three of them had looks of surprise on their immobilized and quite dead faces.

“I'm apparently not supposed to kill you, since you are a Lord of Chaos and are needed to keep your home dimension stabilized to stop any incursions from destroying it.” Atlas said from right behind him as a black sword sliced off the giant demon's arms. “That doesn't mean I can't hurt you.”

Trigon yelled as his legs were lopped off and he was suddenly gone before his limbless torso could fall to the floor.

“He really does have a recall function in his magic.” Atlas said and let the sword disappear as the limbs he cut off also finished dissolving, now that the main body wasn't there to keep them intact by feeding them magic.

“You let him go!” Dormammu exclaimed.

“Like I said, I had to.” Atlas said and held a hand down to him in a clear offer to help. “He didn't escape with what he stole, though.”

“Atlas, no!” Doctor Fate gasped.

Dormammu knew what the hero meant and grasped the offered hand. As he was lifted to his feet, his injuries faded away and he felt his dimension's magic surge through his body as his old connections reestablished themselves inside of him. His power was no longer diminished and he felt whole once more.

“I had to honor the agreement we made.” Atlas said, his voice implying more than just what was written in the contract.

Doctor Fate sighed and nodded. She knew the spirit of the agreement to reinstall Dormammu meant more than just the wording. Atlas had to put him back into power or they could be found at fault for not completing the deal as agreed.

Dormammu smiled knowingly and clicked his fingers with a snap and the demons in the throne room disappeared. He turned to his side and waved his hand to open a viewing window. “Clea, my dear. You can stop fighting.”

“Uncle...” Clea said and motioned behind her.@@novelbin@@

“That's just polite rivalry. You can let your minions fight until they've had their fun and then take them home with you.” Dormammu said, magnanimously.

Clea looked shocked. “Uncle? I thought... father...”

“He's going to be punished for a few decades for allowing you to bring a boy here.” Dormammu said and Clea blushed. “However, your actions precipitated the acquisition of another dimension that you helped claim, then you helped reclaim our own. That deserves a reward for fixing your mistake.”

Clea nodded and bowed. “Thank you, uncle. I won't disappoint you again.”

“Be sure that you don't.” Dormammu said and closed the viewing window and turned back to the heroes. He clicked his fingers again and a small pile of ores, refined metals, crystals, and a few gems appeared on the floor in front of Doctor Fate. “I declare our aggression pact complete and this is the first of the material transfers to be exchanged for our trade agreement.”

Doctor Fate stepped forward and took a nice purse out of somewhere and waved a hand at the items. They floated up and into the bag that was much too small to hold it all and it didn't bulge or look any heavier.

“Interesting.” Dormammu said, eyeing the clearly mystical bag.

“Yes, it is.” Doctor Fate said. “Shall I include how it was made when I deliver my part of the first shipment?”

“Minus a 10% fee, I assume?” Dormammu asked.

“New magic is costly to research.” Doctor Fate said and put the bag away.

“Agreed.” Dormammu said and looked at Giovanni, Zatanna, and then John Constantine. “I do not want to see you in my realms again.”

“I didn't want to come here or there in the first place.” Constantine said and puffed on his cigarette. “Only an idiot willingly goes into a hell dimension without being coerced.”

Zatanna blushed and couldn't argue, because she really hadn't been prepared for what it actually meant to storm into Lleh with a wish and a prayer to get her father back.

Dormammu looked at Atlas and smiled. “I know you'll probably attack me if I offered you a few demonic slaves as thanks...”

“As long as they're not succubi.” Atlas interrupted and that surprised the people he arrived with. “I'd prefer female, just because they are more goal oriented than their male brethren who only like to fight.”

“Atlas, you can't be serious!” Zatanna almost shouted. “You helped take down Queen Bee and...”

“Those are two very different circumstances.” Atlas cut her off and looked back at Dormammu. “I assume you have a few malcontents that you wouldn't mind volunteering to get out of either of your dimensions?”

Dormammu laughed, which surprised everyone. “I can do you one better.” He said and clicked his fingers. A silver portal opened up and a teenage girl fell out of it with a silver sword clutched in a silver gauntlet-covered hand. “A sub-dimension under Belial is now part of my domain and this child does not belong there.”

“Illyana?” Atlas asked, surprised.

“Do I know you?” The blonde asked and glared at him, then at Dormammu. “Send me back home!”

Dormammu waved a hand at her and she was flung at Atlas, whom easily caught her. “She's your problem now, Atlas.”

“Let me go!” Illyana shouted and struggled. “I'll kill him and free myself!”

Dormammu shook his head at the girl and turned to wave a hand at the wall, which split and several bird cages and cells rose up from the floor and were pulled into the throne room. The females inside ranged from humanoid-looking to near monstrous and they were all covered in chains.

A quick magic ritual transferred their ownership to Atlas and all ten of the prisoners were shocked when they were released and handed over to someone that wasn't a high class demon and wouldn't be torturing them.

Dormammu's smile disappeared as he gave them all a glare, Illyana included. “You will be sacrificed and your souls consumed if you ever appear within my sight or in any of my dimensions ever again.”

“You can't cut me off from my power!” Illyana exclaimed. “I earned it and it's MINE!”

Dormammu looked to Atlas. “Remove them from my sight before my patience wears thin.”

“Lord Dormammu.” Atlas said and motioned with his hand. All of the demon prisoners, Doctor Fate, Zatanna, Giovanni, and John Constantine were pulled towards him and then they all disappeared.

Dormammu sighed with relief and walked over to the throne. A wave of his hand and a pulse of magic returned it to his glory and he sat upon it. “It's good to be home.”

*

When I arrived home after dropping the others off, I brought the ten demon slaves into my trailer and then had to spend several hours adding expansion enchantments to make enough room for them all. Needless to say, them having actual beds and access to showers, had most of them crying and thanking me for being so nice to their lowly demon selves.

I had to let that go for now, because I knew they had to be slowly weaned out of thinking that way. When I finally had them all settled into their temporary rooms, because I hadn't built the factory for them to work in yet, I went to my own bedroom and climbed into bed.

As I lay there and went over everything I discovered, I realized something important. This composite world was the same thing as the temporal incursions caused by multiversal beings that tried to merge two worlds together. They usually exploded and erased several universes, including their own and sometimes the ones on either side.

This one, though? It was successful and combined a Marvel world and a DC world. It was probably because they had agents running around to keep things stable, like Doctor Fate... and now me. My efforts to cull both the villains and to help the heroes before they became heroes, reduced the amount of conflicts and let the world flow on unimpeded.

Apparently, I was much more important to this world than I assumed I was going to be.