It was a foggy miserable afternoon, still exuding a hard drizzling mist as the two tall male strangers disembarked from a yellow cab in the old residential Manhattan neighborhood. A dim yellow street lamp attempted to light the area through the wet as they hesitantly approached the fog bound portal of an aged brownstone. The younger of the two men, clad in tweed and corduroy with a computer case slug over his shoulder, was peering down at a damp yellow steno pad gripped tightly in his fist, translating the scribbled numbers thereon then comparing them to the dull brass figures on the faded green door. His companion, silver haired and clad in leather and denim, looked around uncomfortably.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" The older man asked suspiciously. "It looks like we'd find a mugger here before a museum."
"Well, this is the address Clark gave me." Daniel looked again at the numbers on the door. "He said there'd be someone here to let us in and monitor us."
"Does he really think we need a babysitter?" Jack frowned. "Grown up guys here. I mean, it's not like we'd steal anything." He looked around over his shoulder. "We might be protecting them for him."
The younger man shrugged and laid hands on the impressive black painted green man knocker that hung from the door. "Well, let's see if anyone's home." A great explosion of noise met his efforts.
Only a few moments after the ominous booming faded, the green door creaked open to reveal a young blonde girl clad in a close fitting star be-studded t-shirt and tight short shorts. She smiled at the two men. "Hi. You must be Dr Jackson," she looked at Jack. "And er, friend?"
"O'Neill, Jack O'Neill." He pulled out his genial persona and handed it to her in a warm handshake. He laid it on thick to win her acceptance. "I'm a friend of Daniels, just along for the ride and a history lesson."
"Well, there's certainly a lot of that here." She replied gaily as she turned and led them into the brownstone, long pony tail waiving and locked the door behind her. "I'm Courtney Whitmore. I live here at the brownstone and keep the light burning." She grinned at the two men and led them into the foyer closing the door behind them. "When Clark told me that you were coming, Dr. Jackson, I was very excited to meet you."
"Really?" Daniel looked at her in surprise.
"Are you kidding?" She gushed. "You're the guy the helmet picked. How cool is that!"
He nodded, smiling at her enthusiasm. "Well, it was a surprise, that's for certain." He looked around as the three of them entered the main presentation room. "I certainly never expected to see a golden Helmet and Mace on my desk that morning."
"Seriously?" She looked at him in that vein. "You are a dead ringer for Carter. Well, he had a beard and his voice was like rougher, you know. He had more grey in his hair too. But he had good reasons for sure."
"So I hear." He agreed but then pressed gently. "Clark said the two helmets were locked in a vault."
"Yeah," Courtney nodded. "We never had to keep the helmets locked up before, but with Shiera, Kent and now Carter dead they apparently want to belong to someone again." She shrugged. "Can't blame them really."
Jack was carefully wandering around the displays of equipment, masks and other accoutrements of herodom all displayed in glass cases. He noted the vacancies in the exhibit counting blank spaces. He gazed up at the huge portrait of the old Society Members trying to recall their names and powers from his childhood memories.
"Jack? Something wrong?"
"No, not wrong." He frowned. "I remember most of these guys, but I was just a kid." O'Neill looked at Courtney. "But you say that Carter Hall still looked like this, like Daniel. How is this possible after all those years?"
She shrugged with a little smile. "Maybe he was younger than you remember."
"Or maybe the Helmet had an effect on his aging." Daniel commented. "Perhaps it kept him young, in fighting shape so to speak, as part of the curse."
Jack rolled that over in his mind. "Possible I suppose."
"Maybe they helmets will tell you?" Their young hostess guessed. "Carter's used to kind of communicate to him" she paused. "And Kent's always talked to him, sometimes too much. Sometimes he'd put it in a bowling ball bag and move it into another room. He said that it told him too much and he couldn't always take it."
Kent? " Daniel looked confused. "He was a member too?"
Courtney looked sadly up at the picture. "Kent Nelson was Dr. Fate."
"Sure, I remember him." Jack commented his memory coming to him. He looked at Courtney. "He had this cool helmet too, more like a complete bucket head. Supposedly it could tell him the future, right?" She nodded at his partial correctness
"Not exactly." The young woman corrected him. "Kent said it would show him other people's fates, but never his own. He lost his family because of the legal troubles. It broke his heart and the helmet mostly took over. Carter and he lived here and Carter mostly took care of him on the bad days."
"So, I'm gathering Dr. Fate's helmet was much more powerful than the two Hawk helmets. Daniel commented.
"Oh, yeah." She apparently agreed wholeheartedly on this. "He called it Nabu. Once he told me that his dad died in Mesopotamia after he found the helmet." The blonde closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath. "Poor Kent was so screwed up at the end, I didn't know if what he told me was true or just a story he'd made up. Of course, Carter's story was even weirder, him being a reincarnated Egyptian guy. But he at least sounded realistic, not loony."
"I've found that more often than not what people believe and tell you is the truth, as least as much as they understand it." Daniel said softly. "Don't disbelieve just because it sounds fantastic."
"Oh, I know that." She laughed. "Fantastic is normal around here. So," she indicated the large round table emblazoned with the Justice Society's emblem. "Make yourself at home. Do you need anything else besides the helmets?"
"Well," Daniel pulled his laptop out of its carrying case. "I need an electrical outlet and uh, is there anywhere I can get a cup of coffee around here?"
She laughed. "I think there's some in the kitchen. I'll put the percolator on."
Jack stopped in his tracks and turned to stare at her. "A percolator? You have a percolator?" At her nod, he shook his head and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "I'm calling a cab to take me to the nearest Starbucks. I'll bring us back some coffee and snacks."
Daniel nodded absentmindedly and proceeded to set up his computer on the desk. "Thanks Jack."
"No problem." He looked at their hostess. "Coffee or hot chocolate?"
She dimpled at him. "Hot chocolate and a blueberry turnover maybe?"
"I'll be back." He replied stenoriously and headed out into the rainy street again.
An hour later, Jack returned with his stash of flavorful smelling goodies. He let himself back into the brownstone and carried the cardboard tray and white paper bag into the main room where Daniel was busily at work. He had managed to find an antique brass Green Glass Shade Bankers Lamp and with his laptop open, the two helmets were sitting on either side of it and was scribbling hieroglyphs and words on the steno pad. There was a third full face helmet sitting alone on another table, its eyeholes seemingly watching the man at his labors. When Jack deposited the Grande coffee and one of a half dozen blueberry turnovers, his friend looked up at him and nodded his thanks.
"She's studying for a midterm." He answered Jack's unasked question. "I think her room's upstairs."
Without comment the General carried her share of the food up to a long stairwell to a hallway of doors that ostensibly led to bedrooms. "Courtney. Snacks." He called out.
Her blonde head popped out of one of the doors and she waved him in. "Oh, cool. You're a lifesaver." She opened the door for him to enter a room that was decorated in classic 60s style complete with pink unicorns and rainbows.
"You live here all by yourself?" Jack asked concerned as he entered and sat the food down on a desk next to her bed that was festooned with books, laptop and scribbled notes. He pulled out the delicate accompanying chair and sat down opening the bag of food he'd carried up. Handing the girl the food he looked around at her surroundings.
"Well, people are always coming and going. The Society's families and even a few of the heroes still come over for lunch when they're in town."She replied through the blueberries. "And Clark, Lois, Oliver and the rest of the new guys come to visit too. It's cool."
"It just seems that you're awfully young to be on your own."
"I'm a sophomore at Manhattan College several blocks over." She shrugged as she bit into a turnover. "I live here for free. It saves me money and the brownstone is really very secure. Carter has it rigged ten ways from Sunday with all kinds of booby traps and alarms." Courtney then pointed to a metal and crystal staff that leaned up against the wall. "That's Starman's staff. It's my inheritance so to speak, and my protection. Pat Dugan, who was his sidekick Stripy, is my stepdad. I used to put on his old costume and tease him." She shrugged. "This is my life. I want it. I'm good at it and I'm learning more all the time."
Jack finished his own pastry and took another swallow of his coffee. "I didn't mean you couldn't take care of yourself….:"
"But I'm a girl and all." She grinned at his protectiveness. "It's okay. But, believe me, I'm safe here." Courtney looked around the room. "My friends are here. You just can't see them all the time."
"Okay, okay." Jack laughed and got up from the chair he'd been sitting in. "Speaking of friends I'm gonna go bother Daniel."
"Yeah, he's probably needs a break. He seems rather focused."
"He is that." Jack agreed with a laugh. "I'll let you know if we leave."
She nodded and returned to her school work. "Yell when you need something." She said over her shoulder as she turned back to her books.
"Yes ma'am." He left the room
Jack reentered the room where Daniel was still working on the helmets. "Hey," he said. "Your coffee is getting cold."
"Oh, oh okay." Daniel put his pencil down and leaned back into the chair. "This is interesting." He looked up at Jack. "These two helmets are apparently the originals."
"Originals as?"
"As in over three thousand years old." The younger man explained. "I can't tell for sure because obviously it would take carbon dating and I don't think they'd let me do that."
"Probably not." Jack agreed.
"But the metal, while gold colored, is not made out of gold but some amalgam. The male helmet doesn't have any major marks or scars on it, proving it's a lot stronger than gold. The female helmet has this crack in the brow which may be related to the death of its wearer."
"So why is the other relatively unmarked?" Jack settled back and considered the object of their discussion. "Looks brand new."
"Well, I believe that possibly the helmets actually would heal themselves as their owners continued to live. Since Shiera died, the helmet had nothing to use to repair the crack." He picked up the Hawkman helmet. "This one has damage too, but it's not as severe. Courtney said that Hawkman took a blast meant to hit Clark's fiancé which damaged his wings. He couldn't fly so they fell several stories." He indicated a slightly scraped area on the back of the helmet along the flaring metal wing. "It was much worse when I first saw the helmet, but it's apparently been able to repair itself somewhat, possibly because I finally put it on.
Jack frowned. "Carolyn put the other on." He pointed out.
"But not nearly long enough to do any good." He sat the male down. "It probably won't repair itself until someone claims it as their own again."
"You don't get to wear that again." Jack stated flatly.
"I don't expect to, Jack. Don't worry." Daniel smiled at him reassuringly. He finished eating his snack, took another sip of coffee and turned back to his notes.
"So what about the third helmet?" Jack asked curiously walking over to the bucket shaped object. "Is that Dr. Fate's helmet?"
Daniel looked up at him curiously. "Yes it is. And to tell you the truth, I think that one is much more dangerous than the Hawk helmets."
"Really?" Jack looked at it curiously.
"Yes," Daniel started off in his professorial tone. "The helmet of Nabu is a different kettle of fish entirely."
Jack gave him a doubtful look. "Why?"
"Well, I looked up Kent Nelson." Daniel put his notebook down on the table and turned to face the object of his thoughts. "His father, Sven Nelson, was a relatively successful American archaeologist in the forties. He did most of his work in Mesopotamia in the valley of Ur." Daniel frowned. "He opened the tomb of a Royal Wizard, Nabu, and died soon afterwards. Kent, his son, disappears for several years until he reemerges in Egypt where he meets and marries Inza Cramer. He is touted as a magician of some note and apparently joins the Society at this point. During the legal troubles, she leaves him and he joins completely with the helmet." He looked at the helmet sadly. "Evidently the helmet began to take over and when he was incarcerated and separated from it, he went a little crazy. Hall and he moved back here when they were released and he basically took care of his friend for all these years."
"So this Dr. Fate was loony tunes because of this helmet of Nabu." Jack summed it up as he looked at the metal shape sitting on the table.
"Nabu was a great Magician." Daniel nodded in agreement. "His persona probably overwhelmed the lesser personality of Nelson."
"Like Merlin did to you?"
"Exactly." Daniel frowned at his friend. "Or when you were taken over by the Ancient's database."
"He wasn't a Goa'uld was he?" The General winced at the word of their old enemies.
"No, no parasite. Just the power of the personality that the helmet has taken on." He took a sip of his coffee. "It's the most dangerous of the three. It can apparently take a person over of its own will by seducing a person to pick it up and then it will put itself on its victim."
"But it is cool." Jack stated with a smile.
Daniel stood up and looked at him warningly. "I'm going to the bathroom. Don't touch anything while I'm gone."
Jack just grinned.
Daniel walked away shaking his head.
He was gone only a few moments. He knew it had been a mistake. He should never have done it. When Daniel Jackson returned to his study room, Jack O'Neill was wearing the Helmet of Nabu.
Daniel stopped at the doorway and looked at his friend. The helmet completely covered the familiar face and rested upon the shoulders of the tall man. "Jack." He called out. "Jack what are you doing?"
"I just wanted to see what it was like." The familiar voice sounded deeper, louder. "You can't have all the fun, you know."
"Jack, what you're doing is dangerous." Daniel moved forward toward him. "We just talked about how strong the helmet's influence can be to someone…."
"Like me?" There was a mocking laugh in the answering voice. "Someone who has been overrun before?"
"And like me." Daniel replied steadily. "By Merlin. You know we have to be careful, especially in your position. You can't afford to be compromised as the Head of Home World Security."
"Been there done that." Jack replied in a singsong voice."
Daniel became aware of a presence behind him. He glanced back to see Courtney was standing silently in the doorway watching the unfolding scene.
Daniel took a deep breath and spoke directly to the helmet. "Nabu, can you hear me?"
"Yes, Hawkman. I hear you plainly."
"Nabu, you must release Jack. He is not for you."
"I will not take him from you, Hawkman."
"I'm not Hawkman." Daniel replied firmly. ""I am Daniel Jackson, an Archaeologist. He is my friend."
"He is a General. A Warrior. I do not seek one such as him." The helmet replied. "You are more my requirement, but the Hawk Helmet claimed you first."
"I reject the Helmet." He told the golden helm. "I have a life of my own. It was merely seeking a connection as you are."
"I am without a conduit to this world. Kent Nelson was a good man and a great magician. I gave him his wisdom. He gave me his life."
"He gave you his sanity." Daniel replied evenly. "He gave up his family."
"That was the authorities, not me." Nabu was becoming angry. "They stole my family from me. They took him away from us. They put me in a box and locked me in a safe."
"But, we got you back." Courtney said as she stepped into the room. "The Justice Society got you back from the police." She stated softly but firmly. "They spent a lot of money and called in a lot of favors. We got you back and, when Kent was released, you were returned to him."
Jack turned and looked towards her, taking a small step forward as if to approach the young woman. Daniel unconsciously put himself between her and him. But Courtney moved around him and stopped close to the imposing figure with the helmet. Nabu spoke again, sadly this time. "But, they were gone. The wife. The children. Our heritage. Our destiny. Lost to us."
"We're looking for them." Courtney said firmly. "The Society is trying to find Kent Jr. and we will."
"But my mage was so lost and alone." The helmet continued. "He was not capable of successfully defending himself against the evil child. He died uselessly, senselessly."
"He died a hero."
"He died bravely." It admitted.
Daniel felt like he was losing ground in his own mission. "Nabu. Release Jack."
The helmet turned to look at him again. "You rejected the Hawk Helmet. Why?"
"It's not my path. I am not Carter Hall, I am not Hawkman."
"And the female helmet?"
"Also rejected and unclaimed." He answered."The chosen woman is not the one it needed. Shiera is still missing."
"Then Khufu will not return until Chay-era is reborn. It is the way of it."
Daniel hadn't known this but nodded agreeingly. "So you say and you know better than I."
"She was the throne princess. He serves her with his love." The helmet's eyes met his and gazed at him for a long while. "You are correct. You are not the one." It tilted as if looking at him curiously. "You walk through the Chappa'i."
Daniel nodded eagerly accepting success of the accolade. "I have. I opened it a decade ago. I have had my adventures. The Helmet needs a new hero, as do you. Jack, Jack and I, we have lived our lives on the edge of nothingness and now we've returned home."
"As I see." It was silent a moment. "And the false aliens gods?"
"They are dead."
"All?"
"Well, we can't be absolutely sure. But there are no more System Lords." He assured Nabu.
"You did this?"
"We did. Jack and I, and many soldiers of Earth."
"Very well." The helmet intoned. "Though I need a companion to accompany me, this O'Neill is not suitable because of his brave history. I will not use him. Kent Nelson Jr. is out there. He merely needs to be found."
"We will find him, Nabu." Courtney spoke again. "Our new friends are helping us."
O'Neill nodded and almost too quickly to see, the helmet seemingly lost cohesiveness and divested itself of Jack's face and head. Jack staggered as it abandoned him and Daniel leapt forward to grab his friend by the shoulders.
"Jack! Jack can you hear me?" He guided the older man to his desk chair.
"Yeah, I'm okay." O'Neill sat heavily. "Feeling pretty stupid, but okay."
"Could you understand the conversation?" Daniel asked him.
"Yeah, I heard him." He replied groggily. "Bastard. Not good enough for him."
"No, actually I think he had too much respect to use you." The young woman commented. "I don't know who those false gods were, but he sure didn't like them."
"Not nice people at all." Jack managed a grin. "You wouldn't have liked them."
Daniel was looking at his friend with concern. "Jack, I think we need to get you home and in bed."
"Yeah, maybe so. I'm tired."
"Kent was always exhausted after using the helmet." Courtney frowned at the two men. "Why did you put it on anyway? You weren't supposed to do that."
"I didn't put it on, I swear." Jack protested. "I was looking at it and I bent down to look at the eye slits." He explained. "Then all of a sudden it just kind of wrapped itself around my head."
Daniel frowned at him. "Did you talk to it?"
"Not out loud. I was thinking about it, but I didn't expect to get the old brain sucker thing again." He rubbed his head. "I hate it when that happens."
"Yeah, and without the Asgard you could have been really lost this time." Daniel started to close up his computer and close the now full steno pad.
Courtney picked up the cups and napkins of their snack. "So, did you find out anything about the Helmets?"
"Oh yes." Daniel nodded. "I've got most to the hieroglyphics already translated, and I have some theories about how they communicate with the wearers. The Hawk helmets are fairly straightforward." He picked the two of them up to take them back to the vault and watched with concern as the young woman gingerly lifted the Helmet of Nabu to bring it also. "Now that one was a surprise."
She looked at him knowingly. "We are looking for Kent's son. We will find him and reconnect him to the helmet."
"And Khufu and Chay-era will be reborn." Daniel confirmed. "Their stories aren't ended yet."
"Nope, "Courtney smiled her brilliant blondeness at him again. "Our stories are only beginning….and they're gonna be fun."
:
Notes: I took a few liberties with the history of Dr Fate. I think it makes sense but its not truly cannon.