Prelude to Destruction
Inky black clouds of smoke and ash wafted through the blood red sky, proclaiming the Hell on Earth that had come to Jump City. Most of the downtown area was still intact, if you didn't count almost every window having been shattered in every sky scrapper for twelve city blocks.
Only one building had truly fallen. In the center of the ruble that had once been the world headquarters for Diamatech International, there was a ceremony taking place. Three witches stood in a circle, chanting in unison and clutching a staff topped with a cup, a coin, and a ring. Next to them a wide open portal pulsed with demonic light and blew hellish winds from it's depths, brining howling laughter with it.
The first witch was cloaked in black, her hood throw back, revealing the long jagged cut across her brow. Her pale violet hair blew in the un-natural wind, and her amethyst eyes were fixated on the head of the staff she clutched with her two companions.
The second which was much shorter than the other two. She wore a white tunic with a gold and blue design depicting an angel on her breast. A skirt that was slit up both sides revealed her loose white pants, and blue boots. Her brown hair fell in straight lines around her young face, and her eyes burned bright gold as she chanted with her companions.
The third and final witch was clad in black leather pants with combat boots and a tight black tank top that exposed her stomach and was held up by two thin straps. She wore a black belt about her waist with all sorts of pouches on it, and had a katana strapped across her back. Her bright pink hair was pushed up into twin points, giving her pale face and pink eyes a sinister feel.
Standing a little ways away from the three witches performing their mysterious ritual was another woman, this one dressed red robes with black sashes that were marked with arcane looking runes. Her hood was dropped back, reveling her straight, naturally red hair. Her green eyes scanned the area around her, then snapped almost straight up. She shouted out, "There, Roy!" and pointed.
Even as she shouted, a shimmering appeared, then burst into the form of a large winged man with claws and fangs. The monster roared and prepared to dive down at the three witches, who hadn't even flinched at it's appearance.
Before the demon could swoop, a shot rang out and one of it's wings was blown from it's body. The red skinned monster fell to the ground with a shrike of pain, then tried to crawl away.
A man with red hair and a fair amount of scruff on his face marched into the area the ritual was being held in and pumped the SWAT issue shotgun he held in his hands. He was wearing a red body suit with plates of black armor sewn into key areas to protect his vitals, and had ruby red sunglasses stuck on his face.
As he made it up to the crawling demon, he kicked it so that it fell on it's back against a pile of rubble. Pointing the shotgun down at the monsters face with one hand, he put one of his combat boots against the creatures chest to pin it. With a snarl he pulled the trigger and watched the things head explode into a spurt of gore.
The red headed woman looked a little queasy, "Did you have to do that?"
"Yes." Roy looked over at the three witches, "How are they doing?"
"It's hard to say... I'm a mystic, but not a magic wielder." the woman shook her head.
"Well, just keep sensing out the demons. You're doing very good Omen."
Her eyes widened, "Fuck! Arsenal, behind you!"
The man now identified as Arsenal spun around and fired without even looking to see what he was shooting. A blue skinned demon had jumped over a pile of rubble and took the shot directly to the chest, blowing a good sized hole in it.
"Damnit!" Arsenal shouted, "Rae, hurry up!"
If any of the witches heard him, they chose not to show it.
"We need back up!" Omen shouted, "You're the only thing keeping us alive right now! They can't fight right now," she nodded to the coven, "and I'm useless in a battle like this! I'm a telepath, not a sword swinging mad-woman like Jenny!"
"Try raising one of the sisters. Last I knew Nightwing and Robin were uptown trying to find Brother Blood with Slade and Rose, and Terra, Beast Boy and Cyborg were helping Junior to contain Sabbac. I haven't seen either Starfire or Blackfire for some time though."
"What about Red-X?" Omen asked, "Or Kid Flash and Wonder Girl?"
Arsenal looked away from her and up at the black clouds and burning black sun, "I haven't seen any of them since the subway collapsed. We have to assume the worst."
"No..." Omen shook her head, "They were so young... Brian must have helped them to-"
"Don't get your hopes up. No concentrate and tell me where to shoot."
Omen cleared her mind and looked around. Her eyes went wide, "Oh no..."
"What? What is it?" Arsenal quickly reloaded his gun.
"They're coming. They know what we're doing..." she quickly dug into her robes and yanked out a yellow communication device emblazoned with a capital T, "This is Omen to all points! We're about to come under major attack at the Diamatech Building! Repeat! We're under attack by at least fifty hostiles-"
"Holy shit." Arsenal whispered and looked up at the sky as the clouds started to part. Scores of demons began to dive towards them in a howling mass of teeth and claws. The red haired gunman's face grew grim and he aimed at the sky.
Firing off all eight rounds he had in the shotgun, Arsenal watched as eight demons lost their heads. Dropping that gun, he reached behind his belt and yanked out two fully automatic pistols with spiral clips. Flipping the safeties off, he aimed up, "Omen! Sharpen your claws and prepare to fight hand to hand!"
"This isn't happening..." Omen set her communicator to auto replay and dropped it. Holding out her hands, which were wrapped in bandages from her elbows to her finger tips, she curled her digits in, and the tips of them sharpened. "We're gonna die."
"We're not!" Arsenal took aim, "Get ready!"
The chanting from the three witches grew louder as the demons descended, and Arsenal opened fire. The first of the demons reached melee distance, and Omen lashed out at it, ripping into it's face and keeping it from attacking the coven.
Blood flew, screams echoed, and the world...
The World...
The World came to an End.
Black sheets flew about as Raven jerked up in her bed. She gasped for breath, clutching at her brow. When she pulled her hand away and didn't see blood from the gash, and didn't feel the pain from the demons claws digging into her, she looked about.
The room she shared with Jason was dark, and the clock next to the bed read 2:14 am. Her boyfriend wouldn't be back from night patrol yet, then. She sighed and ran a hand over her face, feeling the buckets of sweat that were pouring off of her.
"What the hell was that?" she asked aloud.
Down the hall, Jinx was staring at her own pink eyes in the mirror above the sink in the bathroom attached to the room she and Gar shared. She was sure that the dream hadn't been just a dream, but she had lost her magical aptitude. She wasn't psychic like Raven, so that explanation was out as well.
"The hell is going on with me...?"
One floor down in the Tower, in a dark room with east facing windows, Kylee clutched her sheets up to her nose with wide eyes staring at the ceiling, "What a nightmare..."
She'd ask Raven about it in the morning, she decided, and tried to get back to sleep. Try as she might though, sleep wouldn't come to her again for the rest of the night.
Across town, in a dingy apartment, a red haired woman sat up suddenly in bed, much like Raven had. Except her sudden bolting was accompanied by a terrified scream.
Next to her, a rather build man stirred and rolled over to look at her, "What the fuck?"
The woman looked down at him, panting, then shook her head, covering her naked body with a sheet, "Nothing... bad dream... sorry for waking you Hank."
"No big deal." Hank eased back into his pillows, then glanced at her, "Hey, uh... you know, if you want to talk about it-"
"It's fine... happens sometimes when I drink too much and bring a bouncer home from the club to fuck his brains out." she grinned at him weakly.
Hank shrugged and smiled back, "Whatever you say, Lilith."
The red head looked away from him and out the window of her bedroom in her apartment. She gazed at the moon, and whispered out one word, "Titans..."
Jump City Symphony
A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald
Coming soon.
