Basically, all of Herman's fight scenes are going to be me avoiding the word "dodge" like it's my crazy ex-girlfriend.


It took approximately three nanoseconds for Beast Boy to realize that this was no regular alarm. There was no klaxon or flashing red light. This one was 100% noise, an ear-shattering screech that sounded like microphone feedback.

Beast Boy looked up from the chess board at Raven, and wordlessly, the two of them disappeared into a black portal and landed in the common room.

Cyborg and Starfire were entering, and Robin was already at the big screen.

"Dude, do you think we can get a louder alarm? My soul hasn't gone deaf yet."

Robin ignored the jibe. "Big problem. Big Alarm."

"What has occurred?" Starfire asked, the fear evident in her voice.

"Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload."

"That's big," Cyborg said.

"No. It's bigger," Raven corrected. "The last time those three worked in tandem..."

"Slade was behind it," Robin growled.

"So how are we splitting up?" Cyborg questioned. He looked to Starfire, hovering near Robin, and Beast boy, holding Raven's hand. "Okay, I've figured that part out by now, but... who's going where?"

"We're all going the same place," Robin said. "Murakami High School."

Raven felt Beast Boy's grip tighten, as her empathic senses picked up a wave of shock, fear, and pure, unbridled rage.

"It's got to be a diversion," Cyborg said. "He's sendin' the most destructive thing he can at a place with a high civilian count, to throw us off his trail."

"We still have to get down there. Now."

The other Titans looked to Beast Boy, who had become stone-faced, his pupils narrowed to cat-like slits. He turned and headed for the door, at a slow, deliberate pace. The hairs on the back of his head were visibly standing up, and his hands twitched sporadically, as though he was trying to transform.

"You think Slade's after something there?" Robin called after him.

"No. Not something," Raven said, following him the door. "Someone."

"Who?"

Beast Boy's answer was direct: "Terra."

The other four Titans looked amongst each other, fearful and surprised. Never had they heard him speak with the intent to kill.


Herman knew he was outclassed. He was looking at martial arts, pointy things being thrown at him, and ridiculous, physics-defying acrobatic stunts. He was used to being outclassed. For as much as he was able to avoid injury- he hadn't so much as caught a cold since his precognition developed to the point it was at currently- his skill at actually fighting developed in the streets.

But he was used to being outclassed. He'd fought foes who were stronger, more powerful, and more durable than he would ever be. While most of those fights ended in draws, he'd never been beaten.

Admittedly, his powers (as well as sheer dumb luck) played the major role in deciding his fights. But his greatest weapon was his mouth.

"Seriously, though, ninjas?"

A throwing knife sailed through the air. It was a warning, not meant to hit, and Herman didn't even move when it missed taking an ear by bare millimeters. His two opponents flinched slightly, shocked at his nonchalant look. He wished he could have seen the looks on their faces. In fact...

"May I ask about the half mask thing?"

In response, he received a storm of projectiles, and he twisted around them, stepping closer at every opportunity and running his mouth the whole time.

"I get most of it. Black suit, orange trim. Orange Suit, black trim. So I guess half-black-half-orange mask works."

He jumped and spun past the final volley and landed a yard in front of them, not a rip in his clothes. "But... you guys only have one eye-hole going on."

The two just stared at him in shock and confusion. Orange Ninja spoke up then.

"Did you just fucking pirouette through a storm of shuriken?" The voice, while gravelly, was still decidedly female.

"Language, honey," Herman responded. "And I think it was more of a triple axle."

Black Ninja- taller but more lithe- raced forward, swinging his strange blades at empty space as Herman stepped sideways and around him. He threw a right hook, but it missed and he had to duck under another swipe of the blades.

"Aw. I wanted to talk some more."

Herman drew his fist back for a punch, but hopped back at the last second as a throwing knife just barely missed chopping his nose off.

Orange Ninja raced into the fray with a high kick. Herman ducked under and responded with an uppercut that grazed her jaw (or maybe somewhere else; the mask made it hard to see where exactly he hit). She rubbed the bruise as he backed off.

"You know, this whole aesthetic wouldn't be too bad if not for the orange," Herman said, after some thought.

A sidestep to dodge a punch.

"And not even the fact that there's orange, just the shade you chose. Could have been a bit darker."

A cartwheel past another swipe of the weird sickle things.

"I mean, it's almost Naruto bad."

A chill ran down Herman's spine as he felt a million and a half sharp objects impacting his body in various places.

"Ooh, seems like I've struck some nerves," he said with a grin. It had been a while since he'd had that much ill will directed at him.

And then the next thing Herman knew, he was moving. Ducking under sword slashes, sidestepping thrusts, hopping back from all sorts of carnage, not even having the chance to attack, so fierce was the onslaught. And he had them right where he needed them to be.

An angry opponent was a predictable opponent.

A predictable opponent was a defeated opponent.

He ducked as Black sent the sickles at his head, then performed a no-handed backflip, delivering an uppercut and at the same time avoiding Orange's attack from behind, His leg sweeping out and clocking her in the back of the head as he spun. He landed in the same position he started, while both opponents were brought to the floor.

Herman had little time to admire his work, however, because a ninja star flew through the air, passing through the air his back had been moments before and embedding itself in the wall.

"Go get the girl!" Orange yelled. "I'll keep him busy."

"Oh, no you don't!" Herman growled, as Black got up and raced down the hallway.

Just as Black passed the shuriken in the wall, Herman jumped back involuntarily. A second later, the wall exploded, sending debris and detritus all over.

"You're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve," Orange said.

Herman turned to his rising opponent, grabbing a stray piece of lead pipe and brandishing it like a club.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you'll run out first."

She pulled a second katana out from its sheath and charged him.


It was difficult to wear out concrete limbs. Besides, of course, erosion. But that took years. Tara had, at best, minutes. As she raced through the halls, instead of focusing how such a being could even exist, or why it was after her, her mind was stuck on how something that big was able to move that fast. Or how it was able to take a single step without its kneecaps buckling. Concrete was strong, but not enough to support so much of its own weight on legs that skinny. A wonderful time to be thinking about geology.

She shook that idea out of her mind. Listing the ways that a monster defied the laws of physics did nothing to get rid of it. Instead, she focused on escape. The two ninjas- why did those colors seem so familiar?- were blocking off the exit, so she'd have to run the circumference of the hallway in order to get out. And the unnaturally fast concrete construct would catch her long before then. The only option, then, was to hope the thing couldn't climb stairs.

Something hard clocked her in the back, and she cried out as she felt a rib break. She fell to the ground and quickly scrambled up, glancing back to see the giant with an armful of bricks pulled from the walls, hurling them at her. She dodged them as best as she could, though a few more hit home, and she was forced to the ground twice again before he ran out of artillery. She finally managed to turn the corner, only to find the stairwell- and exit- in use. Someone had pulled the fire alarm, and dozens of panicked students were filing out as directed by their teachers.

If she kept going, she could slip through the crowd and escape.

But that would put everyone else in danger.

She turned around.

If this thing wanted to kill her, she'd let it. She couldn't let anyone get hurt. She wouldn't.

She held her aching rib as the concrete giant approached, roaring bloody murder and raising its giant fists to crash down on her head.

She dropped to her knees, and her arms went up in a reflexive, but futile attempt to protect herself. The concrete fists dropped.

She felt the impact, but no pain.

Another impact. Nothing.

She wasn't the only one surprised by this development. Cinderblock- the name had just come to her- seemed to falter in confusion before finally pulling back and slugging her in the chest.

A blow that by all rights should have torn her in two didn't even budge her.

In fact... she couldn't move at all.

Her hands and arms were fully intact, but made of stone.

Suddenly, the whole world was thrown into golden relief.

Standing. Still. They came and spoke. She wished to speak back, but couldn't. Soon, they stopped coming. All except him. It would be her and him, for hours at a time, a tiny hold on sanity.

Then he stopped coming. She waited days. Weeks. Months. She got sick of waiting. She wanted out. She got out. And she left him behind. She came back once, and saw him with her. A tree where she once stood. He'd left her behind as well.

Betrayal. Promises broken. Threats. The hot, boiling rage of the Earth itself. Pouring herself into that mix to calm it. Standing firm and telling it what to do.

I move the Earth.

I control the Earth

I am the Earth

The power was still there. She'd always felt it, never knew what it was. Just that it was once hers.

And she claimed it again.

She snapped back to herself. A herself that she knew long ago, who she had cast aside and now put on again, like finding an old coat that still fit. Safe. Familiar. Warm.

Her stone body glowed yellow, and she was flesh and blood once more, her hands sheathed in golden light.

She reached to Cinderblock. She saw Cinderblock. She felt Cinderblock. She became Cinderblock.

And then his knees blew out. The body crashed to the floor, and before he could so much as reach out to her, his arms disintegrated.

He was, after all, very structurally unsound.

She smiled to herself, but it didn't last long. Something exploded in the hallway, filling with smoke. Before Terra could react, three sharpened stars cut through the smoke and buried themselves in her abdomen.


And that's the second chapter.