Hey guys welcome to The Second Door, the fic that has been haunting be for months now finally brought to life.
Chapter 1
World dlroW
He paced deliberately across the hard concrete of his office awaiting the results of the latest mission. Though he wouldn't receive the results for six more hours, his calm was already faltering. He sat down heavily at his desk. They had never tried anything so ambitious, stealing a Meta from his execution cell. That would total at least five felonies, Armed invasion of a protected facility, armed assault of an officer, aiding a felon, harboring a Meta and resisting arrest, all of which had a death sentence attached. The moment they had initiated the plan they gave up their lives, the only uncertainties left was, when they would be caught, how they would be executed, and if it would all be worth it in the end.
As he debated again with himself over which wilderness he would be able to hide in best, he was suddenly made aware of pounding feet in the hall. Counting the echoing steps he was able to determine it was four people before the door exploded inward.
"Zeus!"
The man instantly shifted his stance as he saw the people weren't the Titans, but immediately stiffened again at the boy in his group of rebels.
"You brought him here!" The roar was instant, Zeus's blue eye stormed over, "We had a plan! A safe house! And you brought him here!"
He pointed an accusing finger at the boy sheltered by the group. His name was Travis Torres and he was the most powerful Metahuman to be exposed in two years. Teleportation, speed, and minimal time travel. This boy, no, this child was the world's saving grace, practically messiah and instead of being ushered onto a secret jet sent by Lex Luthor himself, he was in an under-guarded warehouse in the center of Dive City.
"Zeus we had no choice," The pink hair girl of the group countered, "The police decided to turn. The called the Titans, Zeus. We knew we couldn't outrun Beast without the planned head start, so we compromised."
Zeus made a sound halfway between a growl and a sigh as he ran his hand through his short white hair.
"Did you at least use a diversion trail for the dogs?"
At this the whole group before him managed to look ashamed.
"We…um…" the smallest boy of the group started, "We went straight to tunnel 7."
Zeus somehow managed to keep his cool and not punch anything, instead he channeled all his anger into his orders.
"Give me your jacket." He ordered Travis, then made quick work of ripping it into thirds. As his passed out the swaths he gave his rebels their orders.
"Mammoth, take route 3 to tunnel 9, Jinx you are going to take tunnel 4 and cross into 7 as often as possible, and Gizmo rub that on every exit you can in tunnels 3 through 10."
The all nodded soberly "Alright Olympians, Stay alive."
With that the three Olympians dispersed.
"You," Zeus called to Travis, "are coming with me."
He tossed the boy a large dark jacket from a chair back as he crossed the room to his weapon locker.
"Where are we going." Travis asked his voice small.
"Out of the city. Somewhere safe." Zeus told the boy as he loaded his tools into various pockets in his black fatigues.
Travis made a small gasp, and Zeus understood why instantly. Unauthorized departures from the city could be punishable by death. And by 'could' he meant always were punished by death, it was a long shot but Zeus knew it wouldn't be any good letting the kid know that. So Zeus crossed the room and crouched in front of the boy.
"I'm going to keep you safe, Travis. I promised your mom and heroes and don't break promises do they?"
The boy shook his head.
Zeus snapped his iconic blue and black mask on stood tall striking his best super hero pose.
With his head held high, chest out and hands on hips he bellowed, "The Titans better watch out, because Zeus is on the loose!"
Travis giggled boyishly at the ridiculous rhyme, and sent Zeus a huge smile that he couldn't help but mimic beneath the slits of his mask. He would protect this child with his life.
Ξ
Grey loved the calming feeling of the daily activity noise drifting through the base, the soft clink and buzz of Stone working in his shop, the subtle click of the dog nails on the floor and the growls and shouts as Beast played with his hounds. Grey looked up from his weapon cleaning, as the sound of dog nails got more prominent.
"Hey bud, what is it." Grey called out to the dog in the hall and soon found himself smiling as he saw the distinctly boxy head of Delta push through the door. Grey didn't normally learn the names of Beast's wolfdogs but Delta was one of Beast's first dogs and she had managed to make a special place in all the team member's hearts.
Delta gave a happy wag of her forest green tail as she stuck her muzzle into Grey's work. Grey laughed at her antics as the wolfdog managed to displace everything on his lap and worktable as she tried to work her way up onto his lap.
"You're not a puppy anymore, Delta, that won't work." He said as he pet the dog's blocky head, then he grimaced at the oily stain he had made in the dog's green fur. Beast would throw a fit, Grey knew Beast spent hours dying his dogs the signature green that was his trademark and that any smudge of dirt would get the boy up in arms and railing. Just as Grey was making a reach for a clean cloth he noticed the perk of Delta's ears a second before the alarm blared.
"What is it now?" Grey asked the dog absently as his mood instantly darkened.
Ξ
The Titans gathered in their main room as they listened to the police commander report over the video com.
Greybird the leader was small but stern, a ponytail kept his longish black hair out of his face and shockingly blue eyes. He wore a short-sleeved slate grey Kevlar padded shirt that exposed the scars of two great birds he carved into the flesh of both hand and arms that served as his sigil.
Stone towered next to Greybird, Scar tissue flowed and pooled like water over his exposed mocha skin. His clothes were simple and light, which was a contrast greatly with the massive amount of tech and guns strapped to the man, along with his signature homemade sonic cannon.
Beast, the final member of the group, was surrounded in green wolves. The boy himself was hard to distinguish from the wolves, his dark olive skin was stripped in green war paint and his wild green hair that merged with the heavy green fur cloak that swamped the boy's body.
"So you're telling me you let the boy escape." Grey growled at the man, more menacing than any of Beast's wolves.
"Um… not let, Sir-" Grey gave the man a glare, "Yes sir, I let him go. Mercy." The commander, a man of about thirty with a head of grey hair tried to keep his lip stiff and his eyes from watering, but Grey still saw it.
Beast gave a snort.
"Your mercy is granted, Commander."
"Thank you, Greybird." The commander managed before the transmission cut off.
"Dude, you're way too easy on them." Beast rumbled. "He and his whole force just let a meta go and your not even going to punish them all because he asked you to!"
Grey ignored the insubordinate words, he didn't have time to reprimand the kid while a meta was on the loose, "Stone, take the car, and lock down the ports and roads. Beast, take the dogs and find a scent. Call in and report, Clear?"
"Got it."
And they dispersed without a word
Ξ
Grey arrived at the police station all too soon, most of the officers were gone, and those who were left as he entered. Grey slipped into the corner office and slouched into the seat in front of the desk. He looked at the brass name plaque then the man, he hadn't managed to learn the name in seven months it had been since he last sat in this office.
"Commissioner Zavala."
The man was a mess, hair disheveled, and jacket off and in a t-shirt. His desk was empty with only a phone, a photo, a gun and glass of amber liquid on its surface. He looked at that moment, very much like the last Commissioner he had put to death in this room.
"She told me not to take the job, she said she would leave if I did." Zavala said as he fingered the photo. His voice was horse and soft as he stared longingly at the brown haired beauty on the paper.
"I've lost a girl too."
Zavala looked at him imploringly, a mixed serving of surprise and interest on his face.
"Give me a glass and I'll tell yah the story."
Zavala gave him a glass of what turned out to be black coffee mixed with tea, a bitter mixture but Grey didn't complain. Such a bitter brew fit the occasion.
They talked about lost love, Zavala who had a love of his life that left him when he took a job in the force, in her words, "his heroism would get him killed." He had found out less than a year ago that his woman had also left him for the safety of their child, that his woman had still never let him meet. Grey told of his own girl, his beautiful green-eyed red haired girl, who stole his heart and broke it when she was revealed her true side as a Meta.
They talked about other things, fond memories and sour ones, they cried and laughed and it was in the middle of one off these laughs that Grey reached the bottom of his glass, and as Zavala wiped the tears out of his eyes his neck blossomed red. Grey stood slowly replacing his glass on Zavala's table before he retrieved his knife.
"You're a heroic man, Zavala. Few dare to live like you did."
Grey pulled down the top of his shirt to reveal his collarbone, the skin above the bone was scored with an even line of small vertical cuts. Grey knew by heart there were 37 of them, Grey turned the knife on himself and added Jackson Zavala to the tally. 38.
The call from Beast came a few minutes later as he was mounting his motorcycle. The boy had been moved to the docks and by the scents of things he was with Zeus and the Olympians were in on the prison break as well. Grey ordered Beast to corner the boy and man and wait for him. Beast agreed readily and sent up a howl over the phone that also echoed through the city as his dogs took up the song and converged on Beast's location to hunt.
Ξ
Zeus roared as he beat at the wolves, they slipped around his attacks like water, a liquid-like mass of fur, muscles, claws, and snapping teeth. A dog slid his fangs into his forearm and Zeus gripped desperately at the thing's ruff to rip it off, but the fur was too slick with blood for him to manage.
"Travis can you get us out of here!?" he called desperately to the boy who was crouched in a ball on the fire escape above his head.
He only heard whimpering sobs in reply, leading him to wonder if the child could even hear him over the snarls. His thoughts were quickly diverted by a dog seizing his free arm, fear pulsed through his as his footing faltered. His fear was well warranted as the dogs instantly piled on, teeth punched into his hands, shoulders, sides and legs. The force and weight brought the large man to his knees, he tried to thrash out of it, but every movement tugged against the teeth in his flesh. Zeus expected the teeth of the final dog to close on his throat any second to end him, but instead he was gifted with something much worse. The dogs1 that surrounded him parted and let through a single human. Everything was silent except the sounds Travis' sobs, which were more fervent than ever. The slow even steps stopped right in front of Zeus. With his head bowed, he could just see the tips of boots, his head snapped up to the blue-eyed teen.
"Greybird." He growled through his mask.
The bird had a simple smirk on his lips,
"You look so disappointed to see me, Zeus. You didn't really think you could get out of my city with my meta, did you?"
Zeus stayed quiet.
"You really did!" Grey said with a short laugh.
"You're better than this Richar-"
"Don't you dare start that!" Grey snarled as he pressed a blade forcefully into the metal of Zeus' faceplate. "If I was better than this I would have killed you ages ago, but I'm soft, I admit, I thought you could change. I know better now, though. Things will never change in this game of ours, in this world of ours."
Gey gave a command to the dogs and they released Zeus. The man was numb, this was it, Greybird was done playing games and now he was going to be killed. Grey tossed him a blade and he caught it. He was going to die here, he could take Greybird on a good day but in the condition he was in now he wouldn't stand a chance, he couldn't even see straight. True his wounds were already starting to scab over but replacing all the blood he had lost would take hours if not days, and there was no way for him to stall hours, maybe minutes but not hours. Maybe just enough time for Travis to get away, it was only a spark but Zeus clung to it.
Zeus got into the best stance he could manage as he called over his shoulder.
"Hey, Travis. I need you calm down and listen to me for a second ok?" Zeus waited a second, "Travis?"
The boy stifled his sobs.
"Ok I need you to focus very hard and get yourself as far away as possible."
The boy tried to talk but Zeus cut him off. "Don't worry about me just go, ok?"
"Ok." It was very quiet but good enough for him.
"You done?" Greybird asked with a lifted eyebrow.
Zeus just nodded and lunged, Grey danced away easily and slashed the man across the back as he stumbled to a stop and turned. The fight continued that way for dreadfully long minutes, with Zeus being a second too slow to block. The end came way to quickly, a swift maneuver from Grey sent his sword skittering along the ground and as Zeus looked up he saw Grey's sword coming back at him in a back hand slash aimed at his neck. He heard Travis scream out as hot cold blade touched his skin and then his world was a burst of light before it faded black.
Ξ
The alarm echoed loud through the Tower as the Titans converged on the main room.
"Cyborg what's the emergency!" Robin called as he ran into the room.
"Trouble in downtown, some people appeared out of thin air, it's a big scene."
"Alright, girls could you fly out with Beastboy and figure out what's happened, Cyborg and I will follow in the T-car."
The teens raced out of the Tower and into the city.
The girls and BB got to the site first, they found a boy about nine or ten cradling the body od a bloody man they couldn't see the boy's face through his thick wild brown hair but they could tell from the quivering of his shoulders that the boy was crying.
Starfire floated slowly over to the boy "Are you well?"
The boy looked up sharply at the floating girl before him. His eyes wide with fear and amazement then information flowed out like a torrent and Starfire could only grasp slight but none of it made sense, but she pretended to understand to calm the boy, her main worry was that the bloody man, she hopped he wasn't dead.
"Hey Star!" she heard Robin call
"Over here friend Robin, the boy is most distressed."
The boy looked up see who she was talking to and he let out a gasp of fear at Robin and Cyborg who were making their way towards them, then he began to scream.
Ξ
Zeus was in pain, which meant he was alive. His mind attempted to reeve up to its normal flurry of activity but it couldn't quite manage, so started with the basics. A system check of wiggling his fingers and toes and tensing an array of muscles, making sure to make the motions extremely subtle due to the muddled voices he heard around him. There was suddenly surge of noise. Zeus took a second to make sense of it. It was human and high pitched. Zeus swallowed and suddenly the muddled cloud was gone. Everything rushed in like a flood, the smells of cloth, blood, asphalt and sweat, the pain of every cut, bruise and broken bone and lastly he hear the scream. The terrified, mournful, pitiful sound of Travis screaming.
Ξ
Robin stared confused as the small boy screamed his lungs raw and he begged incoherently for his life, but before Robin could even attempt to try and calm the boy the body next to the kid started to move. There were audible and sickening wet noises and the body brought it's self to its feet. The pops of joints entering sockets and the creaky groan of bone grating on bone.
Robin went on defense as he looked to the looming man that looked like he had stepped straight out of one of Beastboy's favorite horror movies. Dark clothes tattered and wet with blood, a hunching form with slightly crooked limbs and a face hidden in shadow. Then in a way that made Robin's skin crawl the man tilted his head up and stared at him with one eye peering out from a broken two toned mask.
Before Robin could shout a warning, the ragged Slade had run past him and taken out Cyborg with a kick the head and in the same heartbeat Beastboy too was on the ground. Slade stood there on wavering legs looming over Beastboy when Robin gathered enough wits about him to launch his attack. With a loud yell he ran at Slade with a fist cocked back, his fist landed on air and he felt a large hand close around his throat. Robin tried to struggle but the grip held fast and dragged him in to face Slade.
Ξ
Zeus looked at the struggling boy who looked so much like Greybird yet so different. He knew in his first moments of hazy wakefulness that he had seen all three of the Titans but then he found himself standing over a boy with real green skin and no dogs. Then there was Greybird in his gasp with his oddly soft featured face curled into a familiar sneer.
Why was Greybird in such odd cloths? Why hadn't he killed him yet? Why was he wearing a mask?
Zeus lifted his other hand slowly to Greybird, no, the boy's face and gripped the edge of the mask. The boy stilled, breaths coming fast, with a quick pull the mask was off and he looked into big blue furious and frightened eyes. His tongue felt like lead as he tried to form words for the thoughts racing in in his mind.
"Wh…who are you?" His vision was fading fast with all the adrenaline leaving him in a rush, then everything went black.
Ξ
Robin watched the man in his sickbay, analyzing all there was to see. The man was in his upper fifties if his face was anything to go by, with its full beard of snow white to match his hair. The eye patch had been removed from the man's face to reveal the telltale sunken lids of a missing eye. They had also removed the upper half of the man's outfit to better treat the wounds underneath. It hadn't taken long to realize the man had healing abilities once they had started to dress the wounds, so the settled of cleaning them out and giving the man fluids to help along the healing. Looking at the man now he couldn't really find anything pressingly worrying about him, but when he looked at the distinctly Slade like mask he clutched he was a little more than unsettled.
Could this man in blue and black work for their orange and black villain, and if not why then where their masks so similar and why had he stopped attacking after Beastboy. But then again why had the man pulled off his mask. It was due to all these conflictions that the man had been relived all his ample weapons and bond to the bed with some help from Raven. Then there was the boy unconscious and locked in a different sick bay down the hall. He didn't like not understanding the odd situation he was thrust into and was determined to have his questions answered.
Ξ
So yeah first chapter done! I was going to add more but I think we can all agree that 3500+ words is a bit much for a first chapter. Sorry of any mistakes I can't catch them all, and if you have any ideas for the plot feel free to tell me. This is going to be a short-ish fic from 12-15 chapters but I only have 5 chapters planned out so yeah.
You've met everyone so here are a few tidbits about my mirrorverse characters.
Villains In General
They don't hide their true identities
So villain names are basically the equivalent of criminal nicknames
Villains hoard power
Thugs can't simply rise in power until they are considered villains, if that was the case the world would be crazy, villains kill anyone who tries
Only way to be a villain you have to be a sidekick/apprentice first
Meta humans are killed because they are too powerful and they would tip the balance of the world
They don't have costumes only distinct characteristics, markings, weapons or icons
Heroes in General
Since villains don't play around, all the weaker heroes are dead
They don't have a league
Greybird
Goes by Grey (his name comes from Greyson)
Just like Robin has a bad side Grey has a good side
The birds carved into Grey's arms are secretly a tribute to his parents
Zeus
Yeah super heroes have weird names
Zeus is a Metahuman
Has the same backstory as Deathstroke, more on that later
Zeus is practically Superman and Lex is his Batman
Olympians
Not metas
They don't have new names because they aren't important