-1 Within
His name was Warthorn. He appeared only three days ago. He was dressed in a black tuxedo. Now all that was left of him was…everything. For the past three days he demolished, blundered, devastated, and destroyed everything in downtown.
Now, what was left of the Teen Titans stood before him. Warthorn, average hieght, a sickly pale, and the looks and build of an elderly man. His left hand was wrapped around a fallen Robin's throat. In a ring around were the battered Titans ready for battle.
Superboy, swaying slightly, took a baby step forward. Warthorn's hand tightened, causing Robin to let out a small yelp of agony.
"You know your not walking out of here alive don't you," asked Warthorn in his grainy voice. He lifted Robin into the air, his tattered cape, blowing in the wind.
"You'll be the one leaving in the body bag," smirked Kid Flash kneeling over what was late of a bench, holding his side.
"Don't make me laugh! I can smell your fear like the stench of humanity! I'm am the purifier! The savior! I will cure the cancer on mankind that is the super powered community!" Yelled Warthorn throwing Robin into the side of a car, blowing out the windows.
"Big mistake, Warthorn! You just gave up the only thing holding us back!" Shouted Beast Boy transforming into a rhino.
Wonder Girl's lasso flew through the air. Warthorn caught it and effortlessly pulled it from her, throwing it over his shoulder. At the same time the green rhino charging to his left. With sickening speed Warthorn grabbed the rhino's horn and flipped him into the air. By the time Beast Boy could change back he had already hit the side of a building. Cyborg grabbed Warthorn from behind and lifted him into the air. In one simple motion Warthorn broke his grip. Warthorn fell to the ground and back handed Cyborg into a pile of rumble
"You monster!" Screamed Superboy firing heat rays at Warthorn. He held out his open palm and the heat rays deflected off it into a near by car blowing it to smithereens. Superboy rocketed through the air, fists raised.
Warthorn smiled. Almost as Superman himself Warthorn caught Superboy's left fist and gave a brutal uppercut. The super powered boy flew backwards uncontrollably into a light pole, bending it slightly.
Wonder Girl screamed in rage. She lunged at Warthorn, who casually dodged her rage-fueled punches.
"Silly, girl! This is the problem with your kind, to much power, not enough control," said Warthorn grabbing Wonder Girl's wrist.
"I'll kill you!" She screamed.
Warthorn smirked and threw her into Superboy with one hand. Suddenly a blur sped by Warthorn, knocking him back. Getting to his feet he watched as Kid Flash circled him created a strong cyclone.
Warthorn punched the ground causing a monstrous tremor that opened a gigantic crevasse in the street. Kid Flash hit the crack at incredible speed tripping into the air. He went sailing into the front of a bus, shattering the windshield.
"Anyone else?" asked Warthorn cracking his knuckles. At that instant, several energy orbs hit all around him causing small explosions. Starfire soared over Warthorn releasing a steady stream of Starblots. When the dust cleared Warthorn stood, unaffected, chuckling to himself.
"A Tameranian? Well I guess this place has become worst than I originally suspected."
"Your rain of evil on these innocents will end now!" shouted Starfire flewing in for another attack.
She fired two Starbolts into Warthorn's chest with no effect. As she flew over Warthorn, he caught her by the ankle and began to swing her around, like a grown man swinging a toy. He let her go into a clothing store front window, shattering it into millons on shards.
"Good, but not impressive," said a voice from the shadows.
"He. Ha. And who do you think is better?" said Warthorn turning to the voice.
"Certainly, not me as you have demonstrated with my teammates," said the dark, and mysterious figure of Raven.
"Oh, then how can you be so pompous in your comments, young lady," said Warthorn casually strolling toward Raven.
"Because, as my teammates kept you busy, I looked inside you, I read your being like a book…a very interesting book."
"Oh I see. I suppose you took a gander at my soul too. May I ask what you saw?"
"Your soul? It's a black void, darker than anything I've seen…or felt. But I was most interested in your mind, or better yet your fears."
"W-what?" Said Warthorn, the smallest hint of sweat appearing on his brow.
"You see what I gleaned is… well, you only have one major fear. An extrademenional portal. In it, an energy-the collective force of all the life energy of the universe. Powerful enough to destroy you with ease."
Warthorn stopped dead in his tracks. "Y-yes, but you…you don't know how to access it!"
"That's were you're wrong. You told me. I saw it. And now I can do it."
"No."
"Yes."
Raising her hands, the ground began to tremble. Blue arcs of energy twisted around through the air, wrapping themselves around objects.
"You don't understand what your doing!" Shouted Warthorn over the loud rumbling that became deafening.
Raven's eyes narrowed, her teeth grinding under the intense strain of opening an extra dimensional wormhole.
Warthorn began frantically looking for options. He frowned an began walking toward Raven, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. Raven's eyes widen slightly at sight of Warthorn closing in. She was to far into the process to stop now, her life force between this dimension and the one she was trying to contact. Warthorn raised his fist in preparation to strike.
In an instant, Cyborg grabbed Warthorn by the shoulders and spun him around. Warthorn punched Cyborg the stomach. Hunched over the half man, half machine lunged foreword, picking up Warthron and flipping him over his shoulder.
Raven moaned in pain, a trickle of blood winding down he lip from her nose. Cyborg caught Warthorn in a bear hug, rendering his helpless.
"I must stop her you fool," Warthorn growled, as a small blur in the air began to widen.
"I'll…never….let you…win! Go Raven! It's up to you!" screamed Cyborg. Warthorn began to struggle, causing extreme physical damage.
Warthorn's eyes narrowed, a parking meter a few feet away began to twitch. Suddenly it burst from the pavement and soared toward the two. Warthorn ducked causing the meter to impale Cyborg's shoulder. He yelled in pain, releasing his grip on the villain.
Raven screamed, her entire body shaking in pain. A blue vortex formed in front of her, pulling in debris and creating gale force winds.
Warthorn trudged slowly toward Raven. The winds kept attempting to suck him into the vortex. He gritted his teeth, rage consuming him. Cyborg grasped him in a head lock. Warthorn elbowed Cyborg in his side. A blood curdling crack sounded at the strike. Cyborg groaned an fell to the ground.
"You monstrosity! You have angered me for the last time!" yelled Warthorn over the holing wind, the blizzard of debris, and the ground breaking up beneath them.
Suddenly the vortex began to glow. Perpetually, it grew brighter and brighter until it was blindingly bright.
"Almost……d-done," said Raven, her body on the verge of breakdown.
Warthorn whipped around, forgetting about Cyborg. He screamed and began to run toward Raven. His eyes bulging in fear, sweat drenching his body. He stopped dead just as the rumbling stopped.
The vortex exploded in a blinding flash. Raven threw up a psyonic shield just in time to miss the ground erupting into deadly shards. Cyborg shielded his face. A barely conscious Starfire lowered herself back into the store. Kid Flash crawled under the bus for protection.
From the explosion shot a bright blue beam, covered in a dark violet energy that resembled water in it's nature and movement. The beam struck Warthorn in the chest. He let out a scream of surprise, then moaned in a mixture of pain and anger. Glowing cracks and crevasses snaked their way across his body. His flesh began to breakdown and turn to dust. Without warning, Warthorn burst into billions of glowing embers and ash, shock waves rippled through the air signaling Warthorn's demise.
"Does…does this mean we won?" asked Kid Flash limping over to Cyborg.
"I-I guess," He replied.
"We owe our lives to Raven," stated Starfire walking over, Robin still unconscious in her arms.
"Yeah awesome trick Raven," said Kid Flash poking the parking meter in Cyborg's shoulder, causing him to wince.
"It wasn't me," said Raven appearing next to them.
"Raven! You are injured from battle," exclaimed Starfire pointing at the blood down her nose and on her lips.
"It is fine…just pushed to hard, caused a minor hemorrhage…I-I can deal with it later," She lowered her hood and looked at the column of dust and smoke riseing into the air were the portal used to be.
"We should get the word out, Warthorn's dead-er, taken care of," Superboy commented hobbling over to the group, using Wonder Girl for support.
"Beastboy is still out for the count, he took a bad spill…Robin's not going to be in fighting condition for a while," said Wonder Girl helping Superboy to the ground beside Cyborg.
"Are you sure your going to be okay Conner?" She asked.
"I'll be fine," said Superboy tenderly feeling his jaw.
" I believe a thanks is in order," said a smooth, yet hardened voice from the huge dust cloud.
"Who?" asked Cyborg, attempting to get to his feet.
From the cloud came a teen boy. He was tall, with a muscular build. He had longer black, silky hair. He was ruggedly handsome, his pupils and irises were a deep scarlet red. His facial expression was a cross between a smile and a smirk.
He wore a black armored t-shirt, a blue strip across it. His pants were armored, and the same black fabric. He wore boots that had silvery metal covering both the heal and front. Over all this he wore an overcoat that resembled leather, but was far more sturdier.
He stopped just feet before the Titans.
Raven's eyes temporarily widened, her emotions, strange and awkward, washed over her like a tidal wave. He affected her…differently. She tried…but, she couldn't feel his emotions, they were shielded…very well.
Beast Boy staggered to Cyborg's side. "Hey, I was out, did we win or w-hey, who's that?" He turned into a Timber Wolf and began to growl menacingly.
The boy held up his hand in greeting.
"W-who are you?" stammered Superboy his telekinesis prickling, poised for battle.
The boy smiled full-on, "I'm Darius Sinn…I'm here to save you all."
TO BE CONTINUED….