Authors' Note and Disclaimer - As promised, we, bearhow and ZadArchie, have brought our heads together and have decided to create a collaboration piece. In short, we've both grown to really enjoy reading each other's OCs. So, naturally, we decided to have the two meet and created this lovely OC-crossover story, "Born of Fire." However, Archangel and Drake are not the only two OCs you'll find playing big roles in this story. bearhow's Carnus Valogneus will of course make a splash, and ZadArchie has provided his own OC villainess to the mix.
I think we should first explain that in no way is this particular fic contingent with either of our own works regarding our OCs. This is merely an AU where our characters both happen to exist, and both happen to meet. Events and details about the backgrounds and reasons for encountering the Titans have been altered slightly as we wrote this tale.
We hope you enjoy this action-packed adventure as we follow our favorite heroes and their new friends. As always, please review, critique, and what have you as we strive to provide you the best finished product possible. And, of course, neither of us own the Teen Titans. Darn!
From bearhow: On with the show!
Chapter 1: Gone.
Jump City.
"Titans GO!"
The leader of the Teen Titans, Robin, the Boy Wonder, leapt at the blue skinned villain with his Titanium Bow Staff at the ready. Mumbo Jumbo extracted a wand from the breast pocket of his tuxdeo and brandished it at the Titan Leader.
"MUMBO JUMBO!" he shouted in a nasally high-pitched voice.
A stream of sparkling light shot from the white tip of the black wand right at the charging Teen hero. Robin rolled to the left out of the way of the magical beam, unbeknownst to him the beam had hit his second in command.
"ARGH!" The half man, half robot, Cyborg, was hit square in the chest and the sparkling magic began to overshadow him. Robin paused a moment then looked back at his teammate as the odd enchantment washed away. Cyborg had frozen in place his arm straight up like a slot machine and each time his arm was pulled down, on its own, playing cards would spit out of his mouth.
Mumbo Jumbo cackled, then shot another stream of magic towards the Boy Wonder. Having been distracted by the trouble his teammate was in, Robin wasn't aware of the attack that was coming at him until a wall of black magic appeared in front of him, protecting him from the blue magician's attack. Robin looked overhead and found his pale cloaked teammate whizzing by towards Mumbo.
"Thanks Raven!" he shouted to her.
"Uh huh." she muttered.
Her powers encased a few mailboxes and were thrown at Mumbo. He waved his wand again changing the mailboxes into snow white doves that harmlessly flew away. With another wave, four silver rings appeared and wrapped themselves around the demoness. She grunted when the rings placed themselves around her arms and legs then began to panic when her powers seemed to fail her and she plummeted to the ground. A large pair of hairy muscular arms that belonged to a green Silver Back Gorilla grabbed the falling sorceress and landed safely onto the ground. Robin was by their side in a second, a small laser-device ready to cut away the metal rings that bound the dark girl. The green Gorilla changed back into the pointy-eared, fanged, green shape shifter.
"I got this Beast Boy. Go after Mumbo." Robin ordered.
Beast Boy nodded, then changed into a cheetah and ran after the washed up magician. Mumbo sprinted down the sidewalk, but was aware of the green African jungle cat right on his heels. With another flourish of his wand, a guillotine appeared around the cat's neck, the blade set to drop and take the changeling's head right off. He changed back into his human form, letting out a high pitched, albeit girlish, scream, too freaked out to change and get away. In a blast of pure green power, the medieval execution device was shattered into a hundred pieces releasing the changeling before any more harm could come to him.
Starfire flew towards the Magician who had turned to his right down an alleyway, the alien princess hot on his trail. Mumbo spun around facing the floating girl, his wand aimed right at her.
"One more Titan to go. Then I make my GRAND exit." He laughed again, but the thud of someone behind him shut up his laughter switching it to fear. He did a mental count, and he concluded that SHE was the last Titan, then who . . .
Mumbo spun around to be faced with a mountain of fur, scars, and muscle, long horns poking out of his forehead, powerful hind legs on top of hooves stomped the ground in challenge to the villain. The most intimidating about this behemoth in front of him was the cloth wrapped around his eyes cutting off his sight, yet he was looking directly at him like he could see him clearly.
"Make that two, dohi." Mumbo gulped backing away, but backed up into the alien princess.
"Your choice Mister Jumbo; surrender or deal with Archangel, and myself." Starfire smirked, her eyes and hands glowing a bright green. Mumbo looked back at the one called Archangel, the goat-like man cracking his knuckles, embers sparking with each crack.
Mumbo gulped again, but kept his false sense of bravado and aimed his wand at Archangels chest. "Mumbo-"
In half a second Archangel swiped the wand right out of his hand, and broke it into pieces in front of the blue villains long pointed noise. "I guess you will be choosing option two." The last thing Mumbo Jumbo remembered was a hairy fist to his face.
Archangel shook his head at the very odd individuals that he came to call his friends and new family. Usually after a battle with one of their adversaries they enjoyed a disk-shaped breaded concoction with red goop, and Earth cheese. It was rather tasty, but the merry, meat-loving, machine man would often argue with the green shape changer about the benefits of meat over Earth vegetables to place as "toppings" and the Earth delicacy. This usual argument would often cause the Azarathian sorceress to simply shake her head in annoyance. The single human of the group and the alien princess would often ignore the arguing only listening in when something was said that the Tameranean did not yet understand.
This was his life, and he loved every second of his time with the curious humans.
Once the argument had died down and the six friends dug in, they began reminiscing about the battle.
"Dude I wish I could have seen Mumbo's face when you stood over him and said 'I guess you chose option two'." He cracked his knuckles as he mimicked the goat-man's deeper voice.
"Yes it was most humorous, but probably not so much for the Mumbo, and definitely not when Archie punched his lightbulbs out."
"It's just 'lights' Starfire. Not 'lightbulbs'." Raven said dryly as she nibbled on her plain cheese pizza. Starfire made an "O" with her mouth and continued chit-chatting. "By the way, what does 'dohi' mean?"
"It is our word for one who practices magic, though what you call magic on this world is much more fascinating than anything I've heard of. Anyway, I thank you. You all flatter me, but truth be told I was expecting your Earth. . . how you say . . . villains to be more of a challenge, at least the way Starfire described them to me."
"Well to be honest since you've been here you've gone up against a lot of lightweights. I mean Fang, Kitten, Mumbo Jumbo aren't exactly in your weight class," Cyborg mentioned.
Archangel shrugged. "I guess I was expecting more of a . . . demanding workout when it came to your 'villains'."
Beast Boy made a quiet "hmph" noise. "Then should have been here about a year ago." He mumbled the comment under his breath, but Archangel still caught it with his elongated ears.
"I'm sorry, what happened a year ago?" he asked curiously. Though he could not see it, he could feel his other teammates glaring at Beast Boy with heavy tension, and Cyborg went as far as to elbow the changeling in the ribs. "Did . . . I miss something?"
"No you didn't," Robin stated looking away from Beast Boy, "it's just something we don't like to talk about."
"Well if Archie is to stay with us should he at least know? Will he not found out eventually?" Starfire asked her team innocently. They each exchanged looks of worry and concern, but then looked to Raven as if asking for permission.
"I don't care." She stood up with her drink, muttering something about a refill and walked back into the pizza parlor since they were seated outside. Feeling as if he had offended her somehow, Beast Boy followed.
"I do not understand. Is something wrong with Raven?" Archangel asked.
"Raven's cool," Cyborg started. "You've only been here a few months so you weren't around when the Titans, and Honorary Titans were going through a pretty tough time." Cyborg took a deep breath looking to Robin for permission to continue. He gave his alien girlfriend's hand a squeeze, knowing she was likely to get emotional, and nodded. "About a year ago some . . . thing killed a bunch of our friends."
Archie furrowed his brow under the cloth in confusion. "Like . . . in combat? Isn't it honorable to die in battle?"
"Zadkiel, my friends did not die in battle." Starfire never used his real name unless it was serious.
"Our friends were killed by a psychopath called Carnus Valogneus," Robin said with a sad and slightly angered tone.
Archangel still seemed confused. "Why? Did they slight him in some way?"
"I understand your confusion my friend," Archangel could hear the sadness creeping into Starfire's tone. "I too struggled with understanding why someone would kill such good people for . . . 'fun', but our friends didn't die with honor, they died at the hands of a creature from Earth's Underworld. I do not know what your word is for it, or if you even have an afterlife, but here it is called a Demon. I guess it is like a dark spirit, but he killed them merely for entertainment."
Archangel still didn't quite grasp the idea. He and Starfire were warriors from warrior planets, and the only way someone died was from old age or in battle, never for someone's "entertainment", sure you'd hear stories of warlords taking pleasure in torturing captives, but it was for information usually. Then there were the stories of revenge, or behind someone's back like being poisoned, or stabbed, but still that was it.
"May I ask what happened to this Carnus?"
The table was quiet. "Your guess is as good as ours."
It took Archangel a moment to figure out the Earth saying. "So he is still . . . 'at large'?"
"That's one way of putting it," Cyborg answered.
Archie nodded. "What does this have to do with Raven."
Once again the table fell silent and uncomfortable, before Robin answered, his tone still heavy with anger. "She would have been Carnus's next victim."
Archangel felt the air leave his lungs. "Oh . . . my . . . " Was all his mouth could say. Thinking quickly we followed up with, "Well you saved her obviously."
They nodded lightly, not that he could see. "If it wasn't for the help of our friend Drake, we would have lost Raven," Starfire said, a bit of cheer coming back to her voice.
"Drake?" Archangel raised a brow.
"He stayed with us a while. He was a good guy, but he took off a year ago, and haven't seen him since." Archangel could tell there was a slight bitterness to Cyborg's tone.
"Why did he leave?"
"Dunno. Just up and left." Cyborg face was straight and uncaring, but Archangel heard differently.
"Perhaps he is chasing down this Carnus?" Archangel suggested, but the table just shrugged.
On que the pale and green Titans returned, an awkward silence hanging over the table. However Archangel stood up and wrapped his arms around Raven causing everyone to look at him with their jaws on the ground, and Raven's eyes as wide as dinner plates. "I am glad you are all right," he said into her ear, then as if nothing happened returned to his seat and finished his food. Even Starfire was surprised by this. In all the time she had known him, she knew that Archangel was not an outright affectionate person. His people did not often show loved ones how they cared. He had made a few rare exceptions for her when they had been betrothed, but not much. Then again, she had emphasized to Archangel how Earth would understand him better, at least better than his own people. Maybe he was trying to adapt, just like her.
After the Pizza place the Titans headed for home, looking forward to the rest of the day to relax. Cyborg, who was in Archangel's arms hanging by his shoulders, turned to the green shape shifter, who was in the form of a hawk.
"Yo, BB! You up for some Game Station when we get back?!" Cyborg shouted.
The hawk turned his head then changed mid-air into his human form. "Dude you know it!" He was about to fall to the ocean below when a disk of black energy caught him mid-fall. The demoness floated vertically to the changeling, arms folded, brows knit together in a scowl, a look that was losing its effectiveness on the green irritant. "Awe Raven, you do care." She rolled her eyes, making the disk vanish and letting Beast Boy continue his journey to the unforgiving sea below. That would have to wait though as he changed into a hummingbird and began fluttering around her.
Cyborg laughed as the dark girl tried to swat away the hummingbird. "Man, when are those two gonna just let it happen?" he said to himself, but the sharp ears of his ride caught his musings.
"May I ask, let what happen?"
Cyborg thought a moment, trying to word it better. "Ya know, they obviously have feelings for each other-"
"Ah! I see what you're saying. They must allow their feelings to take root and bloom?"
" . . . yeah something like that. . . " With the tower in view Cyborg decided to hold off on the conversation till later.
Starfire and Robin were talking amongst themselves as the alien princess held him by his arms. "So you will teach me how to cook properly the Chicken of Noodle soup?"
Robin chuckled at his girlfriend. "Yeah Star, we'll make sure everyone loves it." They smiled to each other, Starfire gently placing the Boy Wonder on top of the tower. The others landed on the roof in pairs.
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Raven said as she tried to wave away the green hummingbird still flittering about her head, "Cyborg will you please take him inside and play video games with him?"
Cyborg laughed at his little sister. "Alright. Hey BB-" Before he could scold the green boy, he shifted back to his human form in a crouching position. The hair on the back of his neck standing up, his lips curled in a snarl, fangs glistening in the sunlight. His eyes were locked on the entrance to the tower, his body ready to shoot off and attack if he had to. "BB? You a'ight?"
"I do not believe he is?" Cyborg and the others turned to Archangel. "My senses are picking up something in the tower." Looking at the alien warrior they could see his hair standing on end, his fingers twitching as if preparing for battle.
Robin looked over his shoulder to Raven. She reached out her senses into the tower. "Beast Boy and Archangel are right. Some . . . thing is in the tower. It's a dark energy . . . and kind of . . . familiar . . . " She reached out more of her power into- " . . . Oh god!"
Archangel and Beast Boy were still tense once they entered the tower, however, Beast Boy was calming down slightly when he too sensed that the presence was familiar. They entered the common room and sure enough they were met by a familiar face, whether or not they were happy to see him was yet to be seen.
"May I ask who is in our home?" Archangel asked, still slightly twitchy.
Robin looked over the tall dark and handsome man standing with his arms crossed and leaning on the couch, his dark eyes scanning the Titans. "Hello darlings," he greeted in a smooth English accent, his lips curling into a smile that could light up a barn, "miss me?"
"Like a fungus," Raven answered in her signature monotone.
"Oh Raven," the man approached her, sweeping her figure with his dark eyes as he usually did, "such a tease."
Starfire however beamed brightly. "I love fungus, and it is nice to see you again friend Landon." She bounced slightly with her hands clasped under her chin.
"As usual it is an absolute pleasure to see you again, your highness." The one called Landon took her hand and giving it a quick kiss causing her to giggle and blush. Landon then turned to Robin who was slightly glaring. "Word around the water cooler is that you two are an item now?" he motioned to the princess and the Boy Wonder. "Well don't worry Robin, you still have a wonderful personality." He patted him on his shoulder while Cyborg and Beast Boy snickered to each other. Landon was about to greet them when he spotted the newest member of the Titans.
"Good God, what is that thing?"
Archangel crossed his arms over his chest. "Landon that is rude." Starfire floated in between them. "This is my dearest friend, Zadkiel, but here well call him Archangel."
Landon looked past her looking Archangel up and down. "Aren't you supposed to blind fold YOURSELF before you hit the piñata? Not the piñata himself."
Archangel snorted. "I do not know what a Mexican tradition of hitting a paper mache object until sweets comes out has to do with me?"
Landon snickered. "It talks too. What other tricks does he know?"
"Are you here for a reason Landon or are you just here to annoy us?" Raven snapped, done with his insults.
"Oh I've got a million of 'em, but your right darling, I am here on business." Landon walked back to the living room with the Titans following behind.
Archangel grabbed Starfire by her arm. "Koriand'r what . . . is he? He sounds human, but he feels and smells . . . unnatural."
"It may be best for him to explain." She took him by the hand and led him to the rest of her teammates.
Robin stood with crossed arms and a hard glare. "So why are you here?"
Landon was pacing back and forth, since he showed no emotion it was hard to get a read on him, but something about his movement's made him seem unsettled.
"I'll cut to the chase then. Since the very first king of Hell there have been special places designated on Earth to act as a storage units for some of the more . . . exciting Demonic Artifacts. All over the world there are Crypts and in each of them lies a treasure trove of different demonic items that are either too powerful for normal use, or we have no idea what they do. So we lock them away . . . until . . . "
"I'm not liking that 'until' part," said Beast Boy.
"You shouldn't. A few months ago one of these crypts was broken in to, and something was taken," Landon took a deep breath, "the Ring of Solomon."
The Titans, even Raven looked at each other with blank looks. "Is that supposed to mean something?" Raven asked.
Landon looked puzzled, but then realized. "Ah yes you're not that familiar with Abrahamic Demon lore, just Azarathian lore. Well to put it simply, it's a special ring that was given to Solomon by the Archangel Michael. Now this Ring has the power to control Demons. All the wearer has to do is touch you with it, and they own you."
Now that Titans look worried. "That's bad right?"
Landon chuckled. "Oh, cabbage patch, I can always count on you can't I? If someone has this ring they can control ANY Demon to do their bidding. Imagine someone were to control me. Now I have grown to . . . tolerate you lot and if someone made me kill you all I would have no choice in the matter. Or worse, what if someone got to Carnus with that ring? We'd ALL be mashed like peas, and that's if he is being generous."
Silence hung over the Titans again as their minds raced with possibilities, each as unpleasant as the next. "Question, why don't you ask Drake to help you. You two are BFF's after all?" Cyborg asked.
Landon shuffled his shoulders looking down as he paced. "That brings me to another topic of some urgency. I haven't seen Daniels in four months."
"What he leave you too, without a good-bye?" Raven asked.
"I do not know why Drake left, and that's the honest truth. He never told me, and when he said he needed space, I gave him space, but now I have no idea where he is."
"So what are you, your Dragon's keeper?" Beast Boy snickered.
"I'll let you have that one, you little green insect since you're not funny by any stretch of the imagination," Landon was starting to get irritated, "Drake, and I have a complicated past, but one thing that isn't complicated is that I promised his mother and father I'd look after the little pinhead, now I can't do that IF I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE IS!" His outburst was directed at Beast Boy who shrunk away. Landon took a few moments to compose himself before turning to Robin.
"If anyone can find anything out about anything, it's you. True he may have left in a hurry, but you OWE him for saving your asses." He turned to Raven. "Your's included." Landon fixed his hair and straightened his suit. "So, mull that over while I look for the missing ring. We'll be in touch." And just like that he vanished in a puff of black smoke just as coolly as he had arrived, leaving the team stunned with this outpouring of information.
Cyborg was the first to break the silence. "So, what now?"
If Robin felt any sort of emotional reaction to all this news, he did not show it. "What he said: we have to find Drake."
Beast Boy flopped on the couch. "Well, what makes everyone think he wants to be found? I mean, the dude left without so much as a 'goodbye.' He obviously thought he didn't need us."
"He is still our friend," Starfire said meekly. "True, he was not acting like one when he left, but that does not make him any less our friend."
No one had the heart to correct her. They had known him for such a short amount of time before he left so suddenly. Robin and Raven had had very little time to really decide if he was worth trusting with the team, let alone having time to consider him a "friend." Heck, they were still trying to figure out Archangel, but at least he was here where they could keep an eye on him.
"BB's right," Cyborg piped up. "Drake knew we might have other problems here with demons, and he just left us. Last time I checked, he was supposed to be helping."
"And that's why we need him, even if he thinks he doesn't need us," Raven said suddenly. "We know from experience that demons are a bigger problem than we can handle. We need all the help we can get, and he knew his stuff."
Archangel shrugged. "I did not know this person before I came to Earth. I can offer no assessment of what our course of action should be."
All eyes turned to Robin for an answer. "We have to find him," was all he said. The other Titans nodded in agreement.
"So, where do we start?" Cyborg said.
"When Drake first worked with us, we gave him a communicator. When he touched it, he provided a bio-signature sample, which was immediately sent to the Titan database," Robin began, his mind already whirling a mile a minute.
Beast Boy felt unsure about all that. "Um, you been spying on us, dude? That's kinda big-brothery."
"It's to help us be better able to find Titans who are kidnapped," Robin answered, hardly turning to face him, but he paused before adding the next part, "or who go rogue."
"Oh, so you started this system after Terra," Beast Boy said flatly.
Robin tried to avoid the subject. "Cyborg, you access all Titan cameras around the world. You built a bio-identity reader setting into them. Check them for Drake's bio-signature." Cyborg clunked off to his bedroom, straight to his main computer. "Beast Boy and Starfire, you make calls to all the honorary Titans. See if anyone has seen him recently."
Beast Boy gave a small salute. "Aye, aye!"
"Raven, you come with me. I want to start looking for leads on this Ring of Solomon. If we don't find Drake, I don't want us to be totally in the dark."
Robin started to lead her away. Archangel was the only one left behind, with no task to accomplish. He sighed, and headed outside. The Titans had been kind enough to give him his own patch of dirt, just outside the tower to garden as he pleased. He had been tending to a flower sample he had brought with him from the Great Garden, a lush paradise that housed plants and animals from all over the galaxy. It was a flower, a special flower, he knew. It was one of Starfire's favorites. Right now, it had only grown into a small bud.
Archangel let out a frustrated snort as he picked away at some weeds. He tried telling himself that his dislike of Robin was only out of jealousy, and therefore unfounded. But that did not take away the feeling of being left out just now. He knew he was still trying to adjust to the Titans, as a group, and that they already had established social dynamics before he came along. "Archie, are you upset?" he heard Starfire say from behind. "Robin did not mean to not give you a task. It is just difficult when you do not know the other Titans around the world, and we are still learning all you are capable of."
"I understand, and I do not bear any ill feelings for it," Archangel lied.
She said nothing for quite a while, and he felt as though she was looking over his shoulder. But he knew Starfire; she could not take silence for long. "Archie, you never finished telling me. Why did you come to Earth? I have missed you, certainly, but I did not know you had any interest in finding Earth."
Archangel had been trying to avoid these questions for some time. There was just so much he would have to admit, stuff he was not ready to talk about, even if it was not his fault, or at least most of his fault. He supposed he could have always done something to stop it, but had not. Looking up to the sky, as if hoping that the answers were there, took a deep breath, and finally spoke. "Starfire, I guess I should start at the beginning. Listen, when the Gordanians attacked Tamaran…"
He heard Starfire take in a sharp breath. "Please, let us not talk of such things."
"Starfire, if I am to explain, I must be honest. The only reason the Gordanians knew to…"
"Then I am not ready to speak of such things," she said, finalizing the conversation. "If this is all connected to your reasons, then perhaps we should wait until we are both ready to speak."
He only nodded, knowing this was not going to be easy. How could he even begin to tell her that his family had given away Tamaranean military secrets to the Gordanians in an effort to get revenge on her father? What would she think of him if she knew that his people were the reason her home, her family were gone? He was glad she had decided to drop the matter before it got too far, but he knew she would not leave it be forever.
"Hey, there you two are!" Cyborg called from the door that led back inside. "We found something!"
"So, how did you find him again?" Beast Boy asked over the headset he wore as flew off in the T-Ship. After drawing straws Archangel squeezed into the shape shifters pod while the rest of the Titans sat comfortably in their own pods. Beast Boy sighed in frustration, all because Robin doesn't want Starfire sharing a pod with this guy, I HAVE TO, I know those straws were rigged somehow.
"Well, after you finished talking Red Star, we knew he had been at Titans North headquarters briefly. So, I started checking for him around the area. The hard part was finding where he had been most recently. His bio-signature had trace elements still near Titans North, but I need somewhere he had been within the past few days. Anyway…" Beast Boy tuned out Cyborg's technical ramble. He tried sneaking a peek at Raven, who was reading in the comfortable safety of her own pod, it looked like an old book written in a different language. He had been worried about her ever since Landon's visit. Raven had continued to claim she was fine, but he could sense everything was not "fine". He wished she would tell them what was going on. He knew there was still a lingering trauma with what happened with Carnus, but he couldn't help feeling like there was more.
Raven, still engrossed in Cyborg's talking, suddenly looked up. "Wait, why was Drake at the Titan's North?"
Beast Boy spoke up. "Dunno, Red Star said he stopped by, said something about chasing down a lead on Carnus and needed a place to crash for the night. Then bailed before they even woke up the next morning."
"Anyways, I was able to only get a general area of where he had been," Cyborg said, frustrated with having been interrupted. "So, that's when Starfire called Kid Flash and Mas y Menos to search the area."
Robin raised an eyebrow and looked back at his girlfriend in her pod. "But…Mas y Menos speak Spanish. How did you…?"
Starfire shrugged and pretended not to understand, but had a slight smirk on her lips. "Back to what I was saying," Cyborg said, "Mas y Menos noticed some weird stuff by Billings, Montana, some campsite anyway."
"What kind of 'stuff'?" Raven asked suspiciously.
"Um," Cyborg answered, nervously, "locals are talking about bear attacks, but if Drake was in the area I doubt its 'bears', maybe something bigger and badder . . ."
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. He found . . . whatever, went all dragon on their asses, and may or may not be in trouble," Beast Boy finished.
"That's why time is of the essence," Robin added, eyes set towards the horizon.
It was quiet for a beat before Cyborg spoke again. "So, what did you learn about that ring thing?" Cyborg asked.
Robin shrugged. "Raven got some of her books, but we weren't able to find anything more than what Landon told us. Whoever possesses the ring has complete control over any Demon it touches . . . ."
"Why do I feel like there is more to your statement?'" Archangel finally added.
Robin looked back to Raven and they shared a look of despair. "Well . . . we think that any creature with demon blood would be susceptible to the ring's power."
Beast Boy may have been known for being a bit dense, but even he could read between the lines. "So, Raven's at risk?"
Everyone looked from the pod to the demoness. She had closed her book with her eyes closed, she appeared to be in thought, but anyone who had known her for years, like her team of six years, knew she was very troubled by this thought. " . . . Possibly." she said evenly.
Her teammates stared with great apprehension, none harder, and with wider eyes then the changeling. The idea of someone controlling the child of Trigon was NOT a pleasant thought at all.
Cyborg brought the T-ship to a screeching halt, landing it in a nearby field just outside a nearby campground, the glass tops of the pods opening in sync. "Hey, what gives, dude?" Beast Boy shouted.
"I think we found Drake," Cyborg replied.
Everyone, save for Archangel stared in awe, but again, Archangel could smell that something was not right. Screams could be heard in the distance, and they could just barely make out some ashen-colored creatures in the distance running around. That was nothing compared to the gigantic black scaled Dragon buzzing overhead like an angry wasp, blasting small bursts of fire on the campsite. That HAD to be him, from the distance they could just make out its iron-like black scales, razor claws, teeth and horns and teal pieces of armor on its head, back, forearms and chest. But the most convincing piece of evidence was the ruby necklace that dangled around its neck.
Robin leapt out of his pod. "Drake looks like he's in trouble. Okay team, we need to . . ."
There was a buzzing noise that reached him in that instant causing him to jump back with a small shriek. Kid Flash and Mas y Menos were at his side. "Don't forget about us," Kid Flash greeted with a smirk.
"Si," the twins agreed.
Robin gave them a small smile. "Great! From the sounds of it, there are still civilians in the area. You three get those people out and fast. Make sure you get everyone. I don't have to tell you to search everywhere."
The boys gave him a mock salute and dashed off, Mas Y Manos grabbing hands making sure to shout their signature phrase.
"MAS Y MENOS, SI PODEMOS!" In the blink of an eye, they dashed off.
Robin was ready to take his team directly into the fray. Someone, however, held him back. It was Archangel. "Wait, Robin," he pleaded, "something is . . . not right about those . . . t-things in that campsite. I smell death, and lots of it."
"Then we have to get in before there's even more dead."
Archangel shook his head. "You do not understand. It is a very old death, an ancient death."
"Then, it's probably those things," Raven answered glaring at the "unnatural" creatures, "which means they do not belong and we need to get them out of here."
He could tell his friends were determined, but it still felt as though he were going against his better judgement. "Drake is probably overwhelmed just by the sheer number of them, so let's split up and take as many out as fast as we can."
"Let me at 'em," Beast Boy said, transforming into a cheetah.
"Titans, go!"
Beast Boy dashed on ahead of the others, eager to stretch his limbs and kick some butt. He reached the campsite a good thirty seconds before them, and skidded to a terrified stop when he saw the creatures. They were humanoid to an extent, in that they seemed to have a human skeleton, but that was as far as the resemblance went. They were grey, dead-looking creatures, who smelled of decaying flesh. Their skin was stretched taut over their bones, which seemed sharper and more pronounced than a normal person's. It almost looked as though in some spots the bone would rip clean through the skin. They seemed to have no muscle tone, but even Beast Boy knew it was foolish to underestimate the strength of an adversary based on muscle alone. The most defining features were their dark, blank eyes, pointed ears and wide mouths filled with rows of sharp teeth.
Beast Boy saw two of them running about the camp. One of them turned, spotted him, and let out something which was a cross between a roar and a shriek, alerting its partner to Beast Boy's presence. Beast Boy roared in fear, and bolted. Turns out those things were faster than he thought. They did not shuffle run like the mindless zombies in his favorite movies. Once he got ahead of them, he turned on his heels and shifted into a mammoth. He charged at the two creatures, and used his tusks to buck them into the air, where they slammed into nearby trees with a sickening crack. Beast Boy was rather pleased with himself, but he did not get to enjoy this victory for long. The two stood back up, ready for another round. Surely, that should've incapacitated them, or at least stung a bit.
The creatures howled once more, and five more came around the corners crawling from the trees like cockroaches, and joined in the hunt. They swarmed Beast Boy, biting into his massive frame with ease. He let out a trumpet of pain and tried to shake them off. He did not dare turn back into a human, for fear they would cause serious blood loss. His one godsend was the shower of starbolts from above. While it seemed to do the creatures no harm, it did stun them, causing them to release with green lunch. Strange, if starbolts could not harm them, what would? Once he became human, albeit a bloody one, he gave Starfire a thumbs up to indicate to her, he was okay.
Suddenly a dark shadow came looming towards them from above, and before they could register what it was, blasts of red hot fire rained down on them, almost turning them into ash, and all he succeeded in doing was scaring off the . . . things. "Hey, dude, watch it!" Beast Boy yelled at the sky. "We're helping you save your butt. The least you could do would be to be careful."
The black shadow turned, and with a roar, sent another wave of flames at Starfire and Beast Boy. Thinking fast, Starfire swooped in and grabbed Beast Boy zipping away from the line of fire. What had gotten into him, it was like he was TRYING to hit them? Despite how jealous it made him, he had always thought that Drake had control of his beast form. What was wrong? But watching the flying predator, Beast Boy realized, "Star," Beast Boy called out, "he's not trying to stop these things . . . Wait, what are these things?"
"We must wonder about that later!" Starfire's frightened voice rang out. Their eyes back to the sky saw the dragon coming towards them, his belly and neck glowing with orange red fire.
A camper, surrounded in a black aura flew at the dragon hitting him dead on, and knocked him in the ground. Drake struggled in the debris long enough for Raven to fly beside her teammates. "I believe they are Windigos," she answered, "monstrous creatures that were once human and are native to this area. They eat and devour all living things in sight because they have insatiable appetites. . . . although, I don't believe they hunt in packs."
Cyborg ran around a corner, coming up underneath them, blasting back as many Windigos as he could with his sonic cannon. They were slowly gaining on him. "I don't need a dictionary definition. How do we stop these things?"
"Uh . . . " Raven wasn't well schooled with monsters, since Azarath didn't have any, but when Drake was living with them he gave her a book about them, sort of a beginners guide. She searched the files of her memories trying to remember the Windigo. "The only way I can think of . . . is with fire."
"Archie can help us with this task!" Starfire realized.
"Great." Cyborg said. There sound of a crash, and pieces of a trailer went sailing past them. Drake, in his dragon-form, had emerged from the wreckage and was now staring them down. He got to all fours, his wings slightly extended to make his already frightening appearance more intimidating, and began prowling around them like a jungle cat stalking it's pray, a loud hiss emitting from his throat that sounded like a king cobra that echoed through the forest. Cyborg aimed his canon, not liking the hungry look in the dragon's eyes. "Now, why's dragon-boy after us too? He possessed or something?"
Raven shook her head, throwing some more objects at the Windigos surrounding them. "No, he can't be possessed. I don't know what's causing him to act like this."
Starfire stepped forward towards Drake. "Drake it is us? Your friends?"
Drake swung his horse-like head from one Titan to the other, but Beast Boy knew for a fact that there was NO human intelligence at the wheel in his mind. It was in his eyes. There was no humanity, only the monster . . . that was fast. In half a second Drake released a stream of fire at the Titans, catching them off guard and not giving them enough time to react.
"NO!"
The next thing the Titans saw, was a black shield appear around them protecting them from the blaze, but in Raven's haste, she didn't notice the thick tail of the Dragon ram into her side knocking her into the air, and with his jaws open and still breathing fire let out a stream towards the demoness severely burning the left side of her body.
"Raven!" Beast Boy screamed.
He turned into a pterodactyl and swooped in to catch her. He misjudged his placement a little, and Raven struck his back in the wrong way, and they both fell, threatening to land on top of someone, and Beast Boy was sure he would crush them. When he landed, he felt like he hit something hard. Turning back into a human and rolling over, he saw that the person he hit had turned themselves into a crystal, balled-up person-statue. "Kole?" he asked in disbelief.
Robin meanwhile was running into his own problem with the Windigos. He was going through the tools in his belt at a rapid pace, and nothing seemed to be affecting them. He was in the middle of trying to come up with a plan when he heard a female scream. He turned to see a civilian woman quaking at the site of three Windigos surrounding her.
She was sure she was a goner when two birdarangs and a grappling hook struck the Windigos, not harming them, but distracting them. He grabbed the woman around the waist and ran her to safety. While not as fast as the speedster heroes helping them, Robin got her a good distance away from the campsite. "You okay?" he asked her.
The blonde girl brushed some debris off her shoulder. "Yes, thank you."
Robin was about to ask more. If he could learn more about where these things came from, maybe he would know how to defeat them. However, he heard a cry, and saw Raven fall from the sky. He ran to the action.
He came just in time to see Beast Boy and…Kole? They were both looking over an unconscious and baddly burned Raven. Archangel running to their side, while Cyborg and Starfire blasted the dragon. Drake roared at the onslaught of attacks and took to the sky, while the Windigos, angry at losing their prey were heading to the only source of living "meat" nearby: them.
"You got any ideas?" Cyborg asked.
"Raven said that fire would destroy these demonic beings," Starfire said, "but there are just so many of them. How would we…"
Archangel's head tilted towards the sky. "I have one idea."
Starfire caught on. "You lead, I will follow."
Robin and Cyborg had only seen them do this once. Archangel and Starfire flew as high as they could go, or rather as high as Archangel could go, encircling each other with every few feet they rose. The higher they got, the tighter that circle became. When they reached their highest point, they joined hands. They turned their direction so that they were headed straight down. As they freefell, their powers combined, forming a radioactive, green flame jet. Starfire controlled the direction of the fire, and the two burned the Windigos to ashes all the way down. Starfire turned them and controlled the flight, just before they hit the ground, turning them sideways, and burning more Windigos in their wake. The remaining few, soon learned to get the hell out of dodge and ran from the two. They landed just outside of the camp, watching them run. "Nice work!" Cyborg said. "But uh, how do we deal with Drake next?"
But just as he had said it, Drake landed in front of them on all fours again, snorted streams of smoke from his nostrils, the glow of his fire breath in his open mouth. The Team were ready to attack when the Dragon tilted his head to the sky, as if he had heard something in the air. With a few beats of its massive wings he took to the air in the opposite direction, heading towards the mountains. Cyborg was ready to go after him, but Robin held him back. "Not yet," he said. "Something's wrong, and I want to know what before we go chasing after him. Someone caused him to do this."
"How do you know it was someone else?" Cyborg accused. "He could've gone rogue on his own."
Robin shook his head. "No, there's something bigger at work here," his gaze landed on the random pinkette. "Kole? What are you doing here?"
"Um, excuse me," a voice said behind them, before Kole could respond.
It was the woman Robin had saved. She was running up to them, dressed in khaki pants, and a tight fitting, low cut long sleeved shirt, her blonde hair glistening in the sunlight as she ran to them. "I just wanted to properly thank you for saving my life," she said with a dazzling smile. "My name is Beatrice Dawson. I'm a reporter for the Billings' Gazette. You're the Teen Titans, aren't you?"
Beast Boy was still fretting over Raven, attempting to dress her burns. "Um, we're kinda busy here," he said shortly.
"Oh, I won't take long," she said, ignoring the unconscious Raven near her. "I had heard about the strange activity going on here, and I just had to see it for myself. Who would've thought that the Teen Titans would get involved?"
"Yeah, well, we're kind of in the middle of solving this mystery," Robin added.
"Oh, I see," she said, sounding a little disheartened slightly pouting. "Well, perhaps when your team has regrouped, I might be able to schedule an interview? I'd be very interested to hear your side of things, just as I'm sure you'd like to see what information I've got."
Robin's eyebrows raised. "You have information?"
"Ah, ah, ah," she teased, looking over the boy wonder with beautiful green eyes. "Interview first."
Damn press, Robin groaned to himself. "Fine, but later."
Beast Boy gingerly picked up Raven bridal style and the team carried her somewhere away from all the burnt chaos around them, while Beatrice began to take pictures with her camera phone. She tilted her head to the side when she heard a loud flapping noise and the rustling of something large landing in the woods. A wide smile spread across her face, and lightly skipped into the forest were none other then the Drake in his dragon form was waiting patiently for her. Her hips swayed side to side seductively, the young women giggling lightly. Drake leaned his head forward submissively, but she put her hands under his jaw to lift his black slitted eyes to meet her own. Just as Beast Boy said, there was no evidence of humanity in them.
"Oh Drake," she cooed, petting his snout as if he was nothing more then a house pet, "the plans I have for you." She tapped his nose playfully as her green eyes flashed a pale white.
So ends the first chapter. Just who is Beatrice, and what has she done to Drake? Will Raven survive? Why is Kole here? And where the hell is Carnus? You'll just have to wait for the next chapter. Again, reviews and comments, good or bad, are not required, but welcome to help fuel our creativity.
