Author: Xeric
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by DC Comics, as well as Warner Bros. Entertainment. Original characters and plot lines belong to me. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
A/N: Boo. The original plan was to write the whole day out as one chapter, but it was turning out a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would. So, broken up into several chapters this day will be. It'll probably be that way the whole way through.
Geez. A whole year? What am I thinking?
Rating: M, for violence, foul language, gore, adult situations, all that jazz that comes with the M rating. This chapter has some disturbing imagery, for example. So... your call if you want to read it.
.oOo.
A Year In The Life
JANUARY 1st, 2008 – NEW YEAR'S DAY
A new year.
Isn't that wonderful. I get to spend it sitting here in the main room, sitting with a green skinned animorph, a titanium-plated cyborg, a hooded empath with a heaping handful of trouble sitting where her emotions should be, and a silver skinned girl who could burn a hole straight through me if I ever pissed her off enough. Robin and Starfire are elsewhere. I don't know where they are, but they certainly aren't here. Just another day in Titan's Tower, I suppose.
I can't help but feel a tingle of apprehension about this year, though. Something feels off. Argent feels it too. The calm before the storm, she says. I don't know how I feel about the situation. That's likely because there isn't really a huge situation to deal with as of yet. I may just be losing my mind. It wouldn't be the first time.
I want to punch something.
"Ten!"
Beast Boy is making himself look like a very compelling target.
"Nine!"
I groaned, rolling my head around from its comfortable resting place on the couch, and glared at the green skinned changeling. He paid me no mind whatsoever, continuing with his excessively enthusiastic countdown. Beast Boy's eyes were fixated on the screen; more precisely, on the large metallic ball descending from the spire erected over Jump City Hall. An obvious copy of Times Square, but hell, they called it a homage and nobody seemed to care. The West Coast's New Year's Celebration, they called it.
I called it a pain in the ass. I was just thankful they didn't make us run the security.
It hadn't even snowed yet this winter.
"Eight!"
I fervently wished that time would hurry up. My head was pounding, and I wanted this pointless celebration to hurry up and end so I could go and get some much needed sleep. I mindlessly brushed dust off the blue cargo pants I was wearing.
"Seven!"
Fantastic. Now Cyborg's joined in.
"Six!"
Looks like Raven's going to snap.
"Five!"
My headache is getting worse, and I've got a nervous feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. Slowly, I pushed myself to a sitting position, staring intently at the screen. Something had caught my attention, I just wasn't sure quite what it was yet. What little of the screen I could make out through Beast Boy's flailing limbs revealed nothing to cause any unease.
"Four!"
Argent's noticed it too. She's stopped picking at her jeans, and looked up at the screen. There's a worried look in her eyes I've come to recognize.
"Three!"
Raven's closed her book, and she's watching the screen. My feeling of unease seemed to be spreading around the group. Beast Boy continued his jig, oblivious, but Cyborg noticed the increased attention paid to the screen, and he quieted, focusing on the screen as well. Nobody seemed able to put a name to the disquiet that had settled over the room, but we watched the celebrating crowds on the screen, waiting for an answer to appear.
"Two!"
Beast Boy looked around the room, and saw that we were all focused on the screen. He trailed off, turning to watch the screen as well.
"One."
Beast Boy finished the countdown, but the joy had gone out of his voice, replaced by an audible tone of foreboding. I felt a sudden twinge of guilt at that, but it vanished from my mind when the gigantic metal ball touched down upon the roof of Jump City Hall and promptly exploded into a massive twisting ball of flame and shrapnel. After a chillingly silent moment, screams of terror began echoing through the television speakers. I turned to stare out a window, and I spotted the ballooning firestorm in the distance.
"Holy shit-" I started, but at the same time, Robin's commanding tone boomed from behind the couch, making everyone jump. I had completely missed him coming in; maybe he'd been there the whole time, just skulking in the shadows.
"Titans! Go!"
.oOo.
I grimaced as I belted myself into the backseat of the T-Car, staring about me as the other members of the Teen Titans made their own way into a dangerous situation. Beast Boy, Starfire, and Argent could all fly, so they're all fine. Raven could fly as well, but it's a strain on her, I think; I assume that's the reason why she's chosen to ride shotgun in the T-Car, leaving me in the backseat. Robin's got his R-Cycle,
I don't want to whine, I just feel like I should be asking Cyborg to hurry up so I'm not late for soccer practice. I really need to get my own form of transportation. Or Titan's Tower could install some power cables instead of running off a generator.
"All belted in? Shock? Rae?" Cyborg asked, swinging himself into the driver's seat and glancing at the two occupants in his car. I nodded in response, but Raven glared at the cyborg from beneath her hood.
"Don't call me that." Raven ground out, but Cyborg just laughed, and started up the engine. Peeling out of the garage with a slight squeal, he winked at the blue-haired empath.
"You know you like it." Cyborg teased, steering the car across the land bridge. Raven frowned in response, turning her head to \ stare out the window at the surrounding territory. Robin tore past them on his motorcycle, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Starfire blazed by, closely tailing Robin as he moved. Cyborg gaped for a moment, before his face settled into a frown. "That's how you want to play, Robin?" Cyborg challenged, shifting a gear in the car and pressing down on the acceleration.
It was silent for a moment in the car, and I stared out the window. The atmosphere in the car was uncomfortable, and I had a feeling that my presence had a lot to do with it. I stared out the window, eagerly watching out for some power lines to appear. I knew they would be coming up shortly; I had a fair bit of experience with this road.
"I don't like it." Raven whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear, and I stiffened in my seat. The uncomfortable feeling in the car seemed to increase, becoming a near-palpable weight in the bottom of my stomach. With an enormous feeling of relief, I spotted the first set of power lines coming up. I opened my mouth to tell Cyborg, but he had already noticed; the car roof was retreating back, converting easily into a convertible. I grimaced as I undid my seatbelt, moving to a crouching position in the seat. Cyborg nodded at me from the rear view mirror. Raven was staring out the window, and I noticed her eyes were fixated on the burning Jump City Hall.
"See you there." I muttered, and pushed off from my seat. Flipping into the air, I extended an arm, reaching towards the power lines I could easily make out despite the darkness. A gleaming arc of electricity shot out of my hand, contacting with the cable and pulling me towards it. I tensed my arm, maneuvering myself around so my feet landed on the cable with practiced ease. I took a brief moment to soak in the feeling of the electricity as it rushed through my body, charging me like a battery, then pushed off towards the burning wreck of Jump City Hall.
I easily overtook the T-Car, where Raven and Cyborg were pointedly not talking to each other. My feet were sending off sparks beneath me as I blazed along the power lines, using the electricity circulating through the power lines to increase my own speed. Argent likes to call it "jolting", this method of faster movement that I use, and it seems to have caught on with the others. I haven't really devoted any energy to giving it a better name.
Moving faster all the while, my feet a sparking white beneath me, I passed Robin and Starfire; the former barely acknowledged me with a nod, the latter with a wave and a smile. It's been hard on Starfire, recently, and I don't know how she keeps smiling. It's hard to imagine her doing otherwise, but still...
I jolted further ahead, finally catching up with Beast Boy and Argent. Argent waved at me as she flew, her dyed red strands contrasting deep black hair, tipping me a small wink. Beast Boy, flapping along in pterodactyl form, loudly screeched at me when I waved. I assumed it was a greeting.
As we rushed towards the flaming wreckage of Jump City Hall, crowds of frantic people flooded the streets beneath us, a massive tide away from the smoking building. Police cars and fire trucks were also hurrying towards the scene, but I could already see a few dark shapes lying on the massive lawn in front of the burning building. The area seemed to be otherwise abandoned.
Grimacing, I increased my speed, jolting ahead of Argent and Beast Boy. I quickly made it to the edge of the lawn, and flipped off the wires, electricity arcing all around me as I slid to a stop in the grass, right next to one of the dark shapes I had spotted before. I realized what it was a moment later, and I swallowed the rising bile in my throat with some difficulty.
I knelt next to the body, taking the pulse as an instinct, but there was no heartbeat. I knew there wouldn't be. One doesn't take a foot long piece of shrapnel through the right temple and wake up the next day with a mild headache. I heard Argent and Beast Boy land behind me, and she cursed loudly when she saw what I was kneeling next too. I heard a wet noise, and turned to see Beast Boy vomiting against a tree. With a sigh, I walked up behind him, patting his shoulder as he wiped his mouth.
Beast Boy turned a sickly face up towards mine. The smell of stomach acid, blood, and smoke hung heavily in the air, and the combination was nearly enough to make me throw up as well. "Who would do this?" Beast Boy asked, his voice frail.
Who would do this?
I was asking myself the same question. This kind of attack was unlike anything I'd seen before while I'd been working with the Titans. This was an outright bombing, and that just didn't happen in Jump City. There was always warning. There was always a chance to fend off the strike. Yet there had been nothing in this case. No warning, no obvious threats, no foreshadowing at all. It didn't make any sense.
Cyborg and Raven slid to a stop a moment later, stepping out of the car and staring at the flaming building with grim expressions. A moment later, Starfire and Robin pulled up behind us with a squeal of his tires, and the leader of the Teen Titans immediately began barking out commands. "Titans! Secure the area, make sure that whoever did this doesn't get away! We need to make this area as safe as we can for the fire department, and we need to do it quickly." Robin pushed off his bike, looking around as the police cars and fire trucks began driving into the area. "Starfire, Beast Boy, take the air. Raven, I need you to use your powers to find out if there's still anybody that needs saving under all that. Argent, Cyborg, you're securing the ground. Make sure whoever did this doesn't get out of a three block radius of this point."
A beat of a second passed, and I stared at Robin, who turned to face me with a focused look on his face, as the others scattered to fulfill their instructions. "Shock, we're going to go in there and save whoever we can, and confirm there isn't a secondary explosive." I nodded, and turned to Raven, who had entered her meditative pose. Robin walked over to his R-Cycle, hitting numerous buttons and scanning for any sign of another bomb.
I waited as she hovered in the air, the fires crackling loudly behind us. The police and fire departments were setting up around us, waiting at a safe distance. I was the closest when Raven began to speak, her voice an hauntingly echoing drone. "The mayor is in his office. Three of his aides are with him."
I looked at Robin, who nodded in response. "No sign of a second bomb." he muttered, moving away from his bike towards me. "You heard Raven, let's move. We've got a mayor to save. Raven, keep looking for more people, tell me when you find them." Without another word, Robin started running towards the flaming remains of Jump City Hall. A second later, I followed.
Robin pulled a grappling hook out of his belt and launched it towards the building, vaulting himself upwards and through a third story window. I crouched, taking the energy rushing through me, and focusing it into my legs. With a burst of electricity that scorched the grass beneath me, I launched into the air, spinning slightly as I flew through the same window Robing had passed through, and skidded to a stop on the hardwood floors, sparks flying from my feet. Robin glanced at me, then pulled out his communicator to bring up a map of the building. The air was thick with smoke, so the two of us crouched beneath the roiling black clouds.
I glanced at my watch.
12:07.
Less then ten minutes ago, I had been sitting in the Main Room of Titan's Tower, nursing a headache and awaiting the new year. Now here I was, crouching in a burning building and feeling the electric charge I had acquired rushing through me.
"This building is essentially three long hallways, one on each floor, all of them going the length of the building." Robin said, as I listened intently. "The Mayor is in his office, and that's at the far end of this hallway, but the bomb went off right above the middle of the building. We'll need to find an alternate route-" Robin was cut off abruptly when Raven's voice crackled out of the small yellow device.
"snkktt – Robin! Are you there? " She sounded shaken, and that caught my attention. In my three months so far with the Titans, Raven had never sounded shaken.
Robin blinked. "Raven? Have you found somebody else in here?"
"No, what I've found is far worse." Robin raised an eyebrow. I shifted slightly, moving my legs to a more comfortable position as I waited for Robin to decide what to do. The smoke was building up above me; at this point the off-white ceiling roof was entirely obscured from view. "Katarou is there. But he-"
"Katarou?" Robin interjected. "Wasn't he frozen in Paris?"
I frowned. I hadn't been there for the trouble with the Brotherhood of Doom, but I had watched the aftereffects from afar. More and more of the Titan's Villains Gallery had been showing up on the scene again, up to their old tricks, and despite our efforts we haven't been able to track down whoever had been defrosting them. It had been quiet for the past couple of weeks, and to be honest, I wasn't all that thrilled about the prospect of another super trying to mix it up in the city. It was enough trouble keeping the ones that were already here in check.
"He's obviously back now, but Robin, he's -different- now. His mind is... tainted, twisted, more so then your standard villain. I missed his him the first time I was looking because I was looking for human minds." There was a slight pause, and I noticed that Raven's voice was coming from my communicator as well. She was obviously warning all of the Titans. "I don't know what happened, but it certainly looks like there's some kind of foreign influence affecting his mind."
"Well, what are we dealing with, then?" Cyborg interjected, his voice somewhat hard to make out among all the police sirens he was apparently standing between. The crackling of the fire around us had made it somewhat more difficult to understand what the titanium Titan had been saying. It had started to get uncomfortably warm inside the room we were standing in.
"Some kind of mind control? Is he a zombie?" Beast Boy theorized.
"I don't know what's caused it. I see... green, that's all. All encompassing green. What's important for you to know is that I'm certain that Katarou will not be behaving the way we're used to him behaving." I glanced at Robin, who had clenched his teeth at that. I shrugged, watching the surrounding room underneath the smoke.
I wasn't sure what this "Katarou" looked like, but I wasn't about to allow it to sneak up on us. I slowly pulled one of the thin metal pipes I carried along with me out of the sheath on my lower leg, spinning it around slightly and letting electricity seep into the metal. About a foot and a half long, it crackled slightly, shooting off sparks onto the hardwood floors, and emitted a slight glow as I charged it with more energy. Robin paid me no mind, focusing on the communicator.
Cyborg had come up with the idea for the pipes about a month back. They had a steel core for durability, but they were plated with hardened silver for better conductivity. I was still learning how to use them to their full potential, but they had been thoroughly useful in making me significantly more dangerous than I had been when I was fighting with just my bare hands.
"So what are we dealing with here?" Robin repeated, his voice steady. A loud cracking noise echoed through the building, followed by a thunderous crash that shook the floor beneath our feet. I wasn't sure exactly what had just happened, but it sounded as though a floor had just collapsed somewhere nearby. "Was it Katarou who set up the bomb?"
"I'm not precisely sure. I don't know about the bomb. It's unlike Katarou to use explosives, but considering the state of his mind, it's entirely possible that he may have changed his standard tactics." A slight pause. So slight it was barely noticeable. "The only thing I can be sure about is that Katarou has gone completely insane. Be careful, Robin. You too, Shock."
Robin nodded grimly. "I'll be careful." he briskly said, putting the communicator away. He moved towards the door, beyond which I presumed the hallway lay. I followed closely behind him, glowing pipe in hand. Robin glanced at me, reaching for the doorknob. "Mayor's office is to the left of our current position, at the end of the hall. We'll meet up there." I nodded in response, spinning the pipe to calm myself. A small rain of sparks shot away from it onto the ground.
"Katarou?" I asked, curious. Robin's hand tightened slightly on the doorknob.
"One of our old enemies. Martial artist. He favors a staff." Robin said shortly towards the door, and I raised an eyebrow. Apparently I had hit a sore spot. "He's normally not any trouble at all. He's a hyped-up burglar, basically. What's he's doing here is unusual." Robin took a breath, and opened the door.
Smoke poured into the room from the hallway, as Robin and I dove out onto the lush red carpet of the hallway. We both looked down the long path and spotted the familiar ornate door of the mayor's office, barely visible through fire and smoke, and we started to move in an awkwardly hunched run towards it. The smoke rushed above us, moving in the same direction as we were. I realized why a moment later, when we abruptly came to a stop.
The hallway we were in was evidently directly below where the metal sphere had gone off, and as a result a massive hole had been blown in the roof. The smoke was rushing out of the building through the gap, and through the flames I could spot the encircling police cars and fire trucks. What made us stop so suddenly was that the explosion had evidently weakened the structure of the building, making the floors collapse, which was the likely explanation for the tremendous crash I had heard earlier.
The resultant situation left Robin and I standing in front of a gaping hole that had gouged its way through the three floors in the building, leaving a fifty foot wide hole that was partially aflame and evidently went all the way down into the basement. I stared at the sight, shocked at the devastation, and turned to Robin. The red-and-green clad hero turned to me, a dark look on his face. "We'll have to be quick. Get in, get the mayor and his aides, get out. Katarou will have to wait. This building won't be standing much longer at this rate."
I nodded. "Got it." Facing the mayor's door again, I crouched, focusing energy in my legs. Robin leaped into the gap, firing off a grappling hook and vaulting easily across the gap. Once I felt the familiar buzzing in my legs, I launched forward into the air, trailing sparks in my wake as I twirled in the air. I covered my face with my forearms as I burst through the flames, rolling to a stop on the other side of the gap.
Robin looked down at me as I pushed myself to my feet. "Looks like you're improving. I guess all that training was worth it after all."
I ignored the jibe, moving forwards towards the mayor's door with a frown as I tightly grasped the metal pole in my grasp. Robin matched my pace step for step, and we came to a stop on the wide double doors that heralded the entrance to the mayor's office. I had been here before, after the Titans had acknowledged my presence on the team – the mayor had been anxious to meet yet another superhuman willing to be highly visible publicity for the city.
The Teen Titans, if nothing else, had been good for tourism.
12:11.
I had glanced at my watch as Robin and I took up positions on either side of the door. Dimly, over the sound of crackling wooden supports and flaming furniture, I could hear muffled sounds emanating through the doors. Robin held up three fingers. I watched, tightening my grip on the pole as his fingers flicked down. Two. One.
WHAM!
Robin kicked in the door, diving into the plush room with bo staff in hand. I quickly followed, moving beside Robin, with the sparking pipe held up in front of me in a defensive pose. "Alright, Katarou, put your hands... up..."Robin started, but quickly trailed off at the scene in front of us. I spotted what he had at the exact same time, and nearly threw up on the spot. Swallowing back bile for the second time that night, I stared in disgust at the scene before me.
"Oh, God." I murmured, feeling nauseous. When I took a deep breath, the odors in the room nearly overwhelmed my stomach, which violently recoiled again and nearly escaped my control. Robin looked like he was as queasy as I felt.
A hulking Asian man was standing behind the mayor's desk, wearing a high-necked white shirt with a deep v-neck that exposed a good deal of his torso, and pants that apparently stopped just below his knees. I would have thought he looked entirely ridiculous, if not for the fact that his garments were liberally spattered with blood. He seemed to be wielding some kind of ceremonial knife, obviously well used – blood ran all the way up his massive forearm. A clunky pendant was around his neck, with a sickeningly green emerald set into it. However, what drew our horrified attention was not Katarou's appearance, but instead the image of the person lying on the desk.
I didn't want to look – but like a magnet, the horrifying sight drew my vision. A man was strapped to the desk, and judging by the shock of red hair, it was – had been – the mayor. Judging by the wounds on the body, he had been completely eviscerated. I could make out gleaming entrails, and what looked like the small intestine had been pulled out, hanging over the edge of the desk. Ribs had been broken and pulled up, standing up along the torso like bloodied statues. My gaze came up to the face, and I noticed that the eyes were still moving.
With a shock of horror, I realized that the horribly maimed person in front of me was still alive.
"Oh, God." I repeated, and Robin echoed me this time.
"Ah, Robin." Katarou said, his voice rough, as though his throat had been torn apart as much as the ravaged man on the desk before him. He spoke with the air of someone who had just noticed that we had entered the room. Well, he didn't seem to notice me, but judging by the behavior of the man, I was perfectly fine with being ignored. The huge man's eyes were a brilliant shade of green, I noticed, that almost seemed to be emitting their own light. "How nice of you to join me. Did you like my little performance? I'm ever so fond of it."
"You're sick, Katarou." Robin replied, his eyes flickering around the room. I noticed the three aides Raven had mentioned sitting against the wall, one of whom was covered in blood herself. They all looked understandably traumatized by the situation. I started shifting discreetly towards them, intending to get them out of this room and as far away from the blood-drenched madman in front of me. "Was it you who planted the bomb?"
Katarou did not seem to have heard Robin's question. "Little tendrils of fate, circling around the world... a triumph of dedication and persistence... it's wondrous the colors one can see from this side of the ether." Slowly, the top-heavy man began to move around the desk, spinning the ceremonial knife in his hand. Flecks of blood scattered across the room.
"Don't move!" Robin commanded, holding out his staff in an attack position, but Katarou paid him no mind. The insane man's eyes glinted green as he fixated his gaze on the masked hero. I tightened my grip on the pipe, turning as Katarou approached, trying to keep the aides at my back. "I said don't move!" Robin struck out with his staff, jabbing it towards the Asian man's head, but he stopped just out of range.
Katarou shook his head, vibrant eyes gleaming. "Robin, Robin, Robin..." he said mockingly. Light from the fires in the hallway glinted off the green gemstone in the dull golden pendant on his neck, and my eyes widened. Green, Raven? I thought, mind racing. Is that what you meant? Is it the pendant? I glanced discreetly at Robin, and although the mask obscured his eyes, I could tell Robin's gaze was fixed on the pendant as well. My gaze jerked back up to Katarou when I realized he was talking again. "There's so much you don't understand. The world is a wondrous place... but the world's beyond it are even more magnificent."
"The only world you're going to be seeing from now on is prison." Robin snarled, and I felt a distinct urge to roll my eyes. Restraining myself from doing so, I continued shifting towards the terrified aides. I wasn't sure how I was going to get them out, but smashing open a window and throwing them out seemed a safer alternative to allowing them to remain in the room with Katarou.
"Faith, Robin." Katarou smirked, apparently ignoring my slow approach towards the aides. "You have so little. Your focus on the material things in life... puny ideals like justice and right and wrong... I was like that once. Now, I see the world for what it is." He took a long, deliberate step towards Robin, towering over the smaller teen hero.
Robin jabbed out with his staff, but Katarou dodged the blow easily, leaning over to the side. "Faith, Robin. Faith is what makes me strong. The lack thereof makes one more weak than one can imagine. I'm afraid you fall into that category, but I wish it were otherwise. In faith, there are no enemies. We could be as close as brothers." He took another long step towards Robin.
"You're insane, Katarou!" Robin bit out, moving in a curved path as Katarou approached him, obviously trying to pull the Asian man's gaze away from me. I finally backed into the wall, right beside the three aides. I glanced down at them, and almost wished I hadn't; three terrified people, two women and one man, all staring blankly into the room with horrified expressions.
Looking to my right, I noticed that the window was open, evidently having smashed at some earlier point. I knelt down next to the three, and picked up one of the women, letting the charge seep out of the pipe back into me. I kept an eye on Katarou as he moved, but he was still facing the opposite direction. Cradling the lady in my arms, I leaped out of the window, landing on the grassy lawn three floors below with a burst of sparks that scorched the grass.
A large chunk of the far end of the building crumbled as I rushed towards the police cars. Skidding to a stop next to an ambulance, I deposited the lady onto a stretcher. She continued staring blankly into space, her face still locked in that same horrified look. EMT's scrambled around me, asking the lady questions I didn't hear.
I doubted she heard them either. I rushed back towards the mayor's office, leaping over a corpse along the way.
"snkktt – Shock? What's going on? Have you found Katarou?" Cyborg.
I pulled out the yellow communicator as I ran. "Yeah, I have. I really goddamn wish I hadn't. The guy's completely fucking insane." I was shouting, but with the noise of the burning building and the circus of fire trucks and police cars, I think I had the right. Not to mention what I had witnessed. "I need some help extracting some hostages from the mayor's office-" A brief pause. "Starfire, Argent, help me out here."
"Certainly!" Starfire.
"On my way." Argent.
"Hey, I can help too!" Beast Boy.
I shook my head. "No, Beast Boy. You... shouldn't see this."
"What do you mean by-"
I shut my communicator off, and shoved it into my pocket; I had reached the area beneath the mayor's office. After a moment to charge, I leaped up onto the windowsill, and hopped down into the room. Katarou and Robin were still circling each other, the latter making occasional jabs at the former, who dodged the attacks easily as he spoke.
I charged up the gleaming pipe again as I waited for the familiar sounds of Argent and Starfire swooping up behind me, and watched Katarou intently. The crazy little bastard was still talking, as he methodically approached Robin, who continued circling out of range, buying me time.
"There's so much I've seen... glorious twisting gleaming horrific lifeforms, at a size beyond understanding, beyond imagination... fantastic sights that I thought mere myth so recently, but now I have come to realize... there is no existence that my new god does not allow... everything is how he commands it to be... he sees all... and I, his loyal servant, see all as well..."
"Oh, yeah?" Robin ground out, swinging his staff. Katarou ducked effortlessly, completely unruffled by the attack. I heard Starfire's familiar swoosh as she flew up behind me. Slowly, I bent down and picked up the blankly-staring man, and grunted with the effort as I passed him through the window over to Starfire, who lifted him easily with her alien strength. She launched off towards the police cars, and Argent swept down in her place, holding out her arms for the last hostage. I picked up the bloodstained woman, whose hands were shaking, and held her out through the window to the floating red-and-black haired girl.
My ears pricked up when Katarou began to speak again. Argent froze, listening as the madman spoke, his voice a twisted cadence, like tires grinding on gravel. "Yes, Robin, I see all... including your paltry efforts to distract me from the actions of your allies." Katarou laughed at the shocked look on Robin's face, and I winced. "Do you think I would allow those useless beings to be removed from my presence if I had any remaining use for them?"
"What do you want with them? What is your plan?" Robin snarled.
"My plan, Robin?"
I turned to Argent, frantically waving her off. "Go! Go!" I muttered, and Argent nodded, flying off with the last hostage. I glanced at the mayor, whose eyes had finally closed. The morbid thought occurred to me that he had probably used Robin's distraction of his tormentor as a chance to die.
"My plan is to sacrifice the purity of life, the shining light of hope, the very essence of humanity... for it is useless, mottled flesh around the true meaning of existence. There is nothing too great, nothing too unworthy to lend to the fire. I will open the cursed gate my god desires... and bring him to the throne that has rightfully been his since the dawn of time. Oh, but trust me, Robin...
"Trust me, Robin..." Katarou's voice settled down to a sickening purr. "The roads will be rivers of destruction, and the soil permanently stained with the lifeblood of the masses of this cursed city before I am done with you... and your little friend."
Robin's face contorted briefly, and he screamed, striking out at the bloodstained villain. "You'll not touch her!" Robin yelled, swinging his staff for Katarou's neck. Katarou ducked, and so did Robin, as he swung for Katarou's legs. Far more agilely then I would of thought possible for such a large man, Katarou hopped over the blow.
"Yaaaaaaaaa!" Robin yelled again, swinging for Katarou's head, but instead of dodging the blow, Katarou raised his hand and easily caught the staff. Robin gaped, trying to pull the staff out of Katarou's grip, but the large man seemed unaffected by his efforts.
"Interesting..." Katarou noted, grinning maniacally at Robin, his eyes bulging. The pendant glinted darkly, drawing my gaze like a magnet. "I did not name the friend I was referring to... but now I see... the robin fights for the fire..." Katarou leaned towards Robin, still holding the bo staff in his hand, and raised his other arm. I realized, with a shock, that he was still holding the blood-soaked dagger. "In that case... I see what must be done."
The arm with the knife started to come back. Robin gritted his teeth, leaping back, but he started too late, and he was moving too slowly.
WHAM!
I entered the fight. A fully charged pipe slammed across Katarou's forehead, sending him flying back against the bookshelves along the wall. Robin fell back, reaching into his utility belt for another staff.
CRASH!
The bookshelves toppled over on top of Katarou as he tumbled to the ground. The pendant clanked against the ground as books pummeled the Asian man when they fell from the shelves. With a grunt, Katarou pushed the shelves off him, and stood up, still clenching the dagger tightly in his fist.
"You interfere with things far beyond your understanding, boy." Katarou spat out, glaring at me. For the first time, he seemed angry.
My earlier trepidation had vanished, and I just glared back at the crazed man. "Shut the fuck up." I retorted simply, spinning the pipe in my hand. Robin extended his second bo staff. Katarou grimaced, and looked down, apparently noticing he was still holding the bo staff he had taken from Robin. He spun the staff, moving into a ready position I recognized from training sessions with Robin.
"He knows how to use the staff, watch out." Robin muttered out of the corner of his mouth, and I nodded in response, gritting my teeth.
Katarou attacked, leaping forward and slamming the staff down against the ground where Robin and I had been standing a second before. W-WHAM! The ground split open from the blow, hardwood cracking open and revealing that room on the floor below was entirely aflame.
I ran at Katarou, swinging the pipe, but he moved the bo staff to block me. C-CLANK! Sparks flew as the metal poles clashed, and I let electricity charge into the staff, which went straight to Katarou. Katarou only grinned at the pain, and I gaped, jumping back. Katarou held up his hand, and I noticed it was bleeding, dripping onto the ground.
Robin swung from behind, and Katarou turned to block, pushing Robin back easily with his staff. I leaped over the growing hole in the ground – chunks of the wooden floor were falling into the fires below, leaving only the steel supports criss-crossing the room – and moved to hit Katarou in the back. The man reached back blindly and batted me away with a huge hand.
CRASH! I slammed into the wall with a groan. Shaking my head, I went at Katarou again, who nearly had Robin pressed up against the wall. A blast of heat sprung up in front of me, fire from the room below licking at my feet. I shook my head, steeled myself, and leaped over the growing hole with a yell. "Ayaaaah!"
My feet crashed into Katarou's back, and he stumbled forward, his head smashing into an intact window. SMMMASH! Glass fountained outwards into the night from the collision. The ceremonial dagger fell from the huge man's hand as Katarou turned around to face Robin and I once again after a moment.
I gaped. A large piece of glass was stuck in Katarou's forehead, but he didn't seem to notice. After a moment, Katarou's tongue flicked around his face, licking up the blood that was running down his cheek from the wound.
"Oh, come on..." I muttered, disgusted even further, as Katarou turned his maniacal bloodstained grin towards me. The huge man lunged forwards, swinging the staff. I flipped backwards, and the staff dented a revealed steel support in the floor. CLLANG!
I barely made it to the other side of the growing gap, balancing on the side for a moment before I stumbled back against the wall. I looked through the rising haze of heat over at Robin, who seemed unaffected by the increasingly dangerous situation. The leader of the Teen Titans had his gaze firmly locked on Katarou, a furious expression on his face.
"There is so much you don't understand, Robin..." Katarou uttered softly, barely audible over the crackling fires and the falling floors. He balanced easily on a steel support, blood streaming from his hand and forehead. Behind him, the mayor's desk fell through the floor, smashing into pieces on the floor below. I stared, horrified, as the mayor's body was consumed by the flames.
"You never learn..." Katarou added, and I noticed his voice was a lot closer to me than it should have been. I looked up to see Katarou standing directly in front of me, swinging his fist towards my face. I blocked the blow with my forearm, but it sent me stumbling back. I nearly tipped over again, but managed to balance, stepping out onto one of the steel supports. I held the pole out in front of me, and it crackled with energy.
Robin moved onto the support next to me, holding out his bo staff. "It's all over, Katarou!"
Katarou laughed maniacally, shaking his head at the two of us. "Oh, no, Robin... this dance is just beginning." Katarou moved to a crouch, and closed his eyes. The pendant hanging from his neck glowed brightly, an all-encompassing glow that filled the room. I held up my other hand, covering my eyes from the glare.
The light receded just in time for me to see Katarou leap directly upwards, smashing through the roof. He flipped out of sight, laughing all the while. I gaped at the hole he had gouged in the roof.
"Is he running away?" I asked dumbly.
"I'm not letting him get away!" Robin yelled, pulling out a grappling hook. He aimed for the hole Katarou had made, but the building was shaking too much for him to get a clean shot. He grimaced, putting it away. "Shock, get up there and keep him occupied until I get there!"
I stared at the green-and-red clad hero for a second, before his orders managed to penetrate my brain. "Uh... on it, chief." Jumping over to the place Katarou had leaped, I crouched, charging energy into my limbs. A second later I was twirling in the air, easily making it through the hole and landing on the roof on bended knee.
I quickly stood up on the gravel rooftop - no easy task, consider how much the building was shaking – and stared about to try and spot Katarou. Spinning about in place, silver pipe held aloft and sparking, I finally spotted the hulking Asian man standing at the edge of the gaping hole the bomb had made in the building.
"I'm not familiar with you, mysterious Titan..." Katarou uttered, turning to face me. I couldn't make out his expression, but I could still see the pendant on his chest. It glowed brightly, apparently producing its own light. "but my god knows you very well. Oh, yes, he does..." Katarou slowly moved towards me, pendant glinting evilly. I tightened my grip on the pipe, charging as much energy into it as I dared.
"He knows how you feel about the Titans... he knows the powers you possess... he knows... he knows..." Katarou paused, ten feet away from me, and took a deep breath. The blood on his face gleamed in the firelight. "He knows why you joined the Titans... he knows exactly what you are seeking..."
I paled, shaking my head wordlessly. Katarou grinned maniacally at me. "Oh, yes, Shock, he knows. Rest assured, he is watching, and those who seek to stop him will burn, along with those they hold dear..." the large man's voice curled off suggestively, but I had stopped listening.
"RAAUGGH!" I roared, leaping towards the man. I swung the pipe for his head, and he rolled to the side. My blow slammed into the gravel atop the roof, and the electricity rushed out of the pipe into the ground. BOOOOOM! The charge blew a hole in the rooftop ten feet wide in front of me, and dust and rocks scattered high into the air.
Unfazed, I swung to the side, pipe sparking through the air towards the Asian villain. He blocked with his arm, bracing his feet against the ground to bear the blow. The electricity arcing around the pipe cut open his arm in several places, but he didn't seem to notice the blood streaming from the wounded limb.
"She will burn." Katarou hissed into my face. I felt flecks of blood and spit spatter against my face, grimaced, and pressed on. Abruptly, I pushed away, spinning around and aiming for the crazed man's skull.
C-CLANK!
This time, he blocked with the bo staff, pressing back against me. He kicked out with his boot, and I caught the foot, leaping into the air and kicking the larger man in the face. He stumbled back, coming perilously close to the flaming hole in the roof.
Regaining his balance, Katarou started towards me, spinning the bo staff dangerously. He swung for my head, and I blocked with the sparking pipe. CLANK! He moved for the other side of my head. CLANK! Foot to the chest. I rolled out of the way, leaving Katarou to stumble forwards awkwardly.
Katarou recovered faster then I expected, and leaped towards me while gripping the staff over his head with both hands. I held up the pipe with both hands, and it took the blow as he swung towards my skull. CLANK! The force of the blow nearly knocked me to my knees. The pendant flew forward on Katarou's neck and smacked against my chest, and I gritted my teeth at the shockingly cold feeling it left on my skin through my shirt.
"My god will be pleased with your sacrifice." Katarou snarled, kicking me in the chest. I tumbled back across the ground, coming up onto my feet immediately, but Katarou was already upon me again.
I rolled under his upraised leg, which slammed down onto the ground where my head had been a moment before with an audible THUNK! Katarou spun around immediately and kicked at me, but I flipped back and over the attack, landing on top of an air conditioning unit.
The bo staff whistled through the air as Katarou struck. WHAM! The unit warped under the force of the blow, but I had already flipped up and over Katarou, and landed in a crouch behind his legs.
I swung the charged pipe from behind the large man, connecting with the back of his kneecap. T-THUD! Katarou tumbled over with a crash, and I stood up, raising my leg to kick Katarou in the face. He raised his hands, grabbing me by the foot.
Shit.
"HAA-YAAA!" Katarou yelled, swinging me by the foot and throwing me thirty feet away into an air conditioning duct. THUNK! I fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Struggling to push myself to my feet, I heard Katarou's limping footsteps approaching my prone body.
"A valiant effort..." Katarou murmured, coming to a stop next to me. I rolled onto my back, staring up at the insane man. My eyes seemed to be having trouble resolving him, he looked very blurry, surrounded by a haze of green. The eyes... I could only see his eyes... "My god applauds your valor. He so likes to consume heroic souls."
"Your god will be consuming nothing!" An unexpected voice shouted. "HYAAAAH!" Starfire rocketed directly into Katarou from the side, knocking him flying. Dazedly, I rose to a sitting position, staring at the scene with shock.
Katarou had somehow returned to his feet, and was grappling with the Tamaranian hero on the gravel rooftop. Surprisingly, he seemed to almost be her equal in strength, pushing her back a step for every two steps he lost. I heard footsteps approaching me, and I looked up to see Robin extending a hand towards me.
"Good job in keeping him here." Robin said, turning away immediately and running towards the battle.
"You're welcome." I sarcastically said to the air, shook my head to clear it, and dove back into the fight. Katarou noticed us coming and shifted his weight, swinging Starfire around and throwing her forcefully into Robin. The two collapsed in a pile, yelling loudly. I charged in, holding the pipe above my head.
Katarou moved to block me, and I smirked, focusing on my legs. Sparks blasted from my feet, and I dramatically increased my speed. I blurred past Katarou, skidded to a stop behind him, and smashed him forcefully in the back. He lurched forward several steps, nearly falling to his knees.
Robin had regained his footing, and had moved in front of Katarou. "RAAAUGH!" He gritted his swung upwards with the bo staff with a roar, hitting the huge man solidly in the chin. The force of the blow actually knocked Katarou up into the air. I saw a gleaming tooth spiral out into the night.
Starfire took advantage of Katarou's position to grip him around the waist. She spiraled up thirty feet into the air and forcefully threw him back down onto the gravel rooftop. W-WHAM! Dust flew into the air, and Starfire landed a moment later.
Katarou wheezed loudly, struggling for breath as we circled him. "F-fools..." he gasped, blood flowing from his mouth, as well as from his other wounds. "Your efforts a-are for n-naught..." The pendant started to glow again. I leaped towards it, pipe held aloft, intending to smash it to pieces. A force stopped my attack, smashing me in the stomach and sending me flying across the rooftop. I rolled to a stop right next to the hole from the mayor's office, groaning in pain.
"AID ME, DREAD LORD!" Katarou's voice boomed, cutting through the haze of pain, far louder than it had been before. The rooftop was bathed in a sickening shade of green for a second. A moment later, I heard Robin grunt, and Starfire shriek.
I rose to my knees, noticing first that the building was shaking extremely violently. The second thing I noticed was Robin flying high above in the air, gripping his stomach tightly and in obvious pain. I rose to my feet, shaking my head, and struggled to balance. My stomach swooped nauseatingly as the rooftop started to give beneath my feet.
C-C-C-C-C-C-CRACK!
I scrambled towards the edge of the roof, charging energy in my legs as I ran. I made it to the edge and blasted off into the night seconds before the roof collapsed, along with the rest of the building.
CRASSSSSSSSSSSH!
With dust and ash ballooning underneath me, I flipped through the air and skidded to a stop at an intersection filled with police cars. I ducked behind a police car, beside three panicked cops who stared at me with frantic eyes as the dust from the building's collapse overtook the car.
It was bizarrely tranquil, standing in the dust, after the building had finished falling and the thunderous noise had quieted. I could barely see a foot in front of me, and the viselike grip of one of the cops upon my arm was the only reminder that there was a world beyond what I could see. The situation was... oddly familiar, somehow.
Prying the hand off my arm, I started making my way through the dust-filled air. It was gradually settling around me, and under the orange streetlights it almost looked as though snow was falling. I suppose that's the ash, I mused, passing between two dust-covered police cars. Some of the windows in the cars were broken, I noted.
The area was incredibly quiet after the collapse of Jump City Hall, which was likely the reason I managed to hear Raven.
"...azarath, metrion, zinthos..."
I spun in place, turning in the direction I had heard her voice from. Three cops stumbled out of the dust, wandered past me in a dazed fashion, and vanished just as quickly as they appeared. I started towards Raven, walking over a police car in the process. The cops inside were too stunned to object.
A moment later, I walked into an anomalously clean circular area, at the center of which was Raven. She was surrounded by numerous police officers, all of whom were clean, as well as loudly discussing what had just happened. With particularly violent invectives.
I came to a stop besides Raven, who didn't acknowledge my presence beyond a nod. She resumed her meditation, and a couple seconds later Cyborg burst out of the dust. The police officers were starting to dissipate from Raven, moving into the dust to aid others who may have been injured. Soon, it was just Raven, Cyborg and I, two of us standing and staring at each other, the third levitating in between.
"Dude..." Cyborg started, turning to stare into the dust. "What happened?"
I opened my mouth to reply, but then I heard a familiar swoosh above us. We looked up in time to spot Argent, who was straining to hold Robin aloft by the shoulders. They hit the ground solidly enough that I winced, and once Argent managed to stand again she stomped over to me.
"What in the hell happened up there?!" Argent yelled, her eyes frantic. "You could have died! Are you completely daft?" Her hair was covered in dust, I noted absently.
"Part of the job, isn't it?" I retorted, shrugging with a frown. Argent frowned, and opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again when Robin cleared his throat behind her.
"Did any of you see where Katarou went?"
"You kidding, dawg? I was a bit distracted by JUMP CITY HALL collapsing!" Cyborg yelled, waving his arms. Raven frowned, not responding to Robin's question. I shrugged, and Argent shook her head, sending up a small cloud of dust.
Robin frowned, gritting his teeth. He looked around the group, and he raised a black eyebrow. "Has anyone seen Starfire?"
"Last time I saw her, she was flying towards the building." Argent said, gesturing towards where Jump City Hall had previously stood. "Well, the former building." In the quiet moment that followed, I glanced at my watch. I wiped the dust off it, and blinked when I saw the time.
12:37.
I could barely believe it. The whole ordeal had barely taken more then half an hour, but it had felt like days to me. I looked up into the smoke-filled night when I heard the beating of wings, and spotted a familiar green pterodactyl flapping towards our little group.
"Starfire." Beast Boy gasped, as he fell to the ground in front of us and immediately transformed back into an elf. We all stared at the changeling as he struggled for breath. "I saw it. He took Starfire."
In the silence that followed Beast Boy's terrible proclamation, I noticed that snow had finally started to fall.
