Rundown
(AKA Why not to piss off Pride.)
Originally I was going to put in each nightmare the Titans suffered, but I realized I couldn't do the incidents justice, plus it would take massive re-writing, and I wanted to actually advance the plot. So, here goes.
Oh, and this ends the Enter the Black Arc. Next is the Trigger Arc. If you were wondering.
Titans Tower...
Pride watched with amusement as the Titans reappeared in the Tower from the Nightmare Plane. Only two were still standing, and a few Titans had tears running down their face. Cyborg looked like he had been hit relatively hard, while Gauntlet almost looked unaffected. The Nightmare Plane was a horrid place that could mentally beat down any hero, so you can't blame them.
Gauntlet had been a fluke. Something about Noel being too much of a stu to have been caught...
Cyborg had been truly strong, having been through daily ordeals of being half-machine. The abyss could not stare back into his soul...
Pride snorted with disgust, "Unless you can do better than this, I'll be on my way."
He melted into his shadow, disappearing, yet never letting his look of disgust slip from his face. There was silence for a little while. Then...
"HA! I BEAT THE STU AT FACING DOWN A NIGHTMARE! HAAAAAAAAHAHAHA!"
"Oh shut the hell up, and get packing."
That Night, Uptown Jump City...
Downtown Jump City was typically an area filled with miscreants, but tonight someone decided to travel a few miles for a better target. It was called Star Jewelry. It had all kinds of jewelry, specializing in star-shaped, as the name suggested. Apparently, a mister Jack L. Noame, as he was registered, decided to get a crystal star for his tree this Christmas. He climbed in silently and avoided any lasers.
He reached one that had caught his eye. It was a brilliant emerald green. A Star Emerald, it was called. Jack snickered at the in-joke he had and then smashed the glass. An alarm blared and something melted out of a shadow. Jack noticed it but didn't react to the black wolf that disappeared. He smirked as he knew what was coming. Pride came out of the same shadow almost immediately.
"I don't believe it'd be in the best interest of your nether regions to try to steal that." Pride said, his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
"It'll save my butt from poverty, so I really think it is." Jack lied.
"Ah-huh. Yeah, I'm gonna' give you all of three seconds to put it back. And it took me... about six seconds to say that." Pride replied, looking at his watch.
"This is going to hurt isn't it?" Jack asked.
"Oh yeah." Pride said.
Pride threw two single strands of black shadows towards Jack, who caught them both, his hands glowing. He smiled. He fought someone periodically who was much more proficient with shadow powers than this being. Jack fired off a white bolt of energy which caught Pride in the chest. And sent him flying. Pride shot up through Jack's shadow and delivered an uppercut straight into the back of his head. Jack whirled around a fired a black bolt that sent Pride for a loop.
"The first time that was simply energy. I put some darkness into my attack that time." Jack said.
"Funnily enough, I'm the King of Darkness. You can do me no harm." Pride said, now possessing a black sheen.
Jack threw a dark blast from his palms, which shattered against Pride and returned to his shadow. However, the second it hit his shadow, he received a jolt that brought him down to his knees, in pain.
"How? Unless... you are... a... Darkagon...?" Jack coughed and sputtered, looking up at Pride.
"Well of course." Pride said, his shadow lurching upwards and wrapping around his right hand, then transforming into a demonic claw.
"Taokii?" Jack asked.
"That wretch? You mistook me for TAOKII?!" Manik demanded. "TAOKII IS HERE?!"
Jack instantly knew he said the wrong thing.
Jack instantly knew he was about to die.
Jack was right on both counts.
Pride shot forward and crushed Jack's head in his shadow claw, then threw the body outside. In his seething anger, he whirled around and smashed the nearest glass, knocking the item to the floor.
The Next Morning, Fairly Close to Titans Tower...
An alarm blared really quite loudly, as some idiot tried to rob a Seven Eleven. Apparently, this was one slightly more advanced, as it had an alarm that blared way too loud. The idiot raced down the street and Nik emerged from the alley and hit him from the side. The would-be robber wobbled a bit and Nik grabbed his head. He peered into the shadows of his mind and was disgusted.
The mind possesses pre-cognitive powers, but we never realize it. However, we sometimes get feelings of deja vu due to it, because we forget whatever is seen. Or at least that's the theory. Nik had currently peered into the pre-cognition and seeing what the man would later do. He would get out of prison because of a poor justice system. He would later rob a random gas station and kill everyone in it. Seven police would die in the shoot-out. How could Nik see this? It was difficult, but he was able to peer into people's minds, but only their pre-cognition.
However, he was spotted. It was four o' clock, sure, which meant nobody was out. But a few Titans just couldn't sleep, especially Starfire, due to her incredible emotions. So, she went for a flight. She was too late to stop what happened, but she saw Nik put two small shadow strands into the robber. One through his head, and the other through his heart. She reacted immediately and fired off several Starbolts in Nik's direction.
Nik was faster than the bolts, plus Star didn't have direction in her favor. He lifted the body of the robber up and it was decimated. He tossed it aside and disappeared before Star could get a lock on him again. Now that she knew what Nik was doing, she had to immediately report it to the team. They could then classify Nik as a full-fledge threat, rather than an annoyance or a simple troublemaker.
But first, she had to deal with body. She picked it up and flew it to the morgue, and she told the people taking it in that the murderer was simply an ordinary human with a knife. No need to get the masses alarmed just yet.
Titans Tower...
Starfire came in with the blood of the dead robber on her and Robin was, naturally, alarmed.
"What happened?" he asked, getting up to see if it was a wound or merely spilled blood.
"Nik is a killer. While I was out flying, I heard an alarm. When I got to the vicinity where it was loudest, I saw Nik pierce the man's heart and brain. The man had apparently robbed the nearby convenience store, but I do not believe that merits death." Starfire explained.
"Pierce the man's heart and brain, you say?" Robin asked, looking thoughtful, trying to remember where he heard that.
"Yes. Two small shadow strands came up from his own shadow and killed the man. It was instant death. Unfortunately, I had arrived in time to see the strands piercing his back. I attacked Nik, but he used the man's body to block my Starbolts and he disappeared." Starfire continued.
"Ah. Right. So Nik's the new Punisher? Fun. I really don't want another Final Night..." Robin trailed off.
Starfire nodded in agreement.
"We should get some rest. I haven't gone to sleep yet." Robin yawned.
Starfire nodded in agreement, smiling this time as she floated off with him.
Gargarin Cathedral…
Nik waited on top of the cathedral, and felt darkness emanating from it. The smell of death was suffocating up here. All he knew about the place was that it had a good view of the city, and there was enough darkness to spare about it that he could concoct sentries to patrol the city with ease.
A priest walked up and clutched his heart in surprise when he spotted Nik.
"Please sir, civilians aren't allowed on this place except during church hours." the priest said, clearly scared.
Nik asked, "What is with this place? There's an evil aura to it."
The priest smiled weakly, "It's the Gargarin Cathedral. Supposedly named for Niko Gargarin, the man who built it. But it's actually meant to honor his son, Mino Gargarin. Niko was satanic in nature, similar to Vladimir the Impaler, now called Dracula. You notice the Gargouille and Gargoyles? They were fountains of blood at one time. Niko would kill his enemies, and every year, a blood rain would come from this building. The heads of his enemies were stuck on poles out here on the roof."
"That would explain the smell of death." Nik muttered.
And the Darkness.
Shut up right now, the priest is talking.
"His son inherited the building the day his father died, however he did. Mino was called Seraphim at times, considering his dedication to God, especially in comparison to his demonic father. He cleaned of this roof, washed away the blood, and turned the building into a church. This roof, however, is the subject of many ghost tales and myths, considering its eerie nature in how it seems to have… well, ghosts about it." the Priest continued.
"Wow. He was one apple who fell far from the tree. The tree seemed to 've thrown that apple." Nik muttered.
Shut up! The priest is talking!
Asshole.
I try.
"Well sir, I guess I could allow you to stay up here. You seem a nice-enough fellow." the Priest said.
"What would be your name?" Nik asked.
"I'm Dave Soach. What would your name be, son?" Mr. Soach said.
"Mr. Soach…? Did you ever happen to own an orphanage?" Nik asked.
"Why… yes. Soach's Orphanage for Little Angels, it was called. I let one of the orphans take over when she was old enough. Why?" Mr. Soach asked.
Nik was stunned. So even this dimension held the orphanage he grew up in, where his "family" was? How?
"I-I had heard about it a while back. My name's… Nik." Nik said.
"Hmmm… Nik? Heh. I once had a boy at my orphanage who named himself that. Poor kid." Soach said, shaking his head.
"What happened to him?" Nik asked, curious.
"At about age 17, he and his best friend were walking back to the orphanage, when they were both mugged and shot." Mr. Soach said. "But enough depressing stories for today. I just had to check on the latest "ghost story". They claimed they see a wolf meet with a demon, who flew into the air and disappeared a few nights back. I can safely guess I'll be seeing you again up here, Nik?"
"Yes sir." Nik said, nodding his head.
Mr. Soach smiled as he closed the door behind him, walking down the steps. The man was so much like the orphan he had adopted all those years ago. Maybe he... naw.
Nik disappeared, alerted to a disturbance.
Uptown, City of Jump...
The Titans had set up a trap. A false alarm would occur. Pride would appear. They would capture him and beat him into submission so he couldn't disperse. Then, they'd drag him into a power-restricting cell and interrogate him, to find out if he's just insane or if there's a reason behind the killings. They figured he was most likely insane.
The false alarm was occurring now. It was fairly late at night, maybe about ten. A woman was backed up in an ally and several men were surrounding her, leering dangerously.
"Ya' know, I think I see mirrors in your clothes or somethin', cause I can certainly see myself in 'em." one guy said.
The others laughed at the stupid remark he made to lighten the mood of what they were pretending to do. The woman whimpered, convincingly, and a pool of darkness appeared behind the men.
"Every night on these streets, it's trick or treat... Well tonight? It's TRICK!" Pride shouted, his powers activating.
The darkness began ripping up into a hurricane and tossing the men about. A dark orb had appeared around the woman, protecting her efficiently. The men slammed into the walls and Pride peered into their pre-cognition. They looked like they'd lead fairly decent lives, maybe a vice here or there, but nothing serious out of 'em. He then peered into the memory of darkness.
Now, we're going to learn something right quick. Everything has memory of sorts. Water, blood, trees, anything. Water can also pick up on thoughts, but that's a discussion for a different time. So, naturally, the darkness has memory, the variable of magic having been thrown into it. The men were being told what to do, and were given a large sum of money.
If they were paid to do this, then... OH SHIT.
Pride turned around in time to get blasted by a Starbolt. A long strand of the Shimmer wrapped about him and dug into his ear, while obsidian energy surrounded him, disabling his powers. The Titans all came out, ready to fight.
Pride began hissing his own Shadow language, clearly pissed. Then a large bellow came from him.
"LET ME THE FEK GO YOU USELESS ANNOYING HERO-WANNABES!" was the general consensus.
Savior dug for information and was suddenly turned completely black and shot into a wall. Nik had lost a mental battle and let Manik fight in his stead.
"I FUCKING TOLD YOU TO LET ME GO YOU BASTARDS!"
Raven held the shield up, having been mentally battle-trained. Well, except for what happened next. For you see, even having experience with someone able to transform into a Dragon, she never expected to meet up with another one. Especially one who can transform in a split-second and shoot off waves of power that knocked everyone back, since they hadn't braced themselves.
"WHEN A DARKAGON TELLS YOU TO LET HIM GO, YOU FUCKING DO IT!" Manik roared, no trace of Nik's voice in him.
Beastboy recovered the fastest and turned into a hawk, then slammed into Nik's face, and blinded him with his talons. The eyes were now gone. And Nik wouldn't be able to do shite about it. But, with the Shimmer out of his head, he shot out a fist covered in Darkness, launching Beastboy away before anyone else could recover.
He failed, as half the team was already up, but he managed to turn back into Nik and warped away.
"I'm going to go into a stream of cursing. I'm not sure when I'm going to stop. You might want to leave now." Savior said to the group of men and the woman, who had all just recovered.
Pride hadn't slammed them about too hard, after all. The shadow-wolf told him there was something fishy about the scene before he shot off for him.
"Damn it! We were so CLOSE!" Robin shouted.
"I am sure we will be successful next time, Robin! We almost got him, so surely we will do better next time." Starfire reassured.
"Hey, at least Beastboy blinded him!" Terra pointed out.
"We still don't know the extent of his powers. He could be able to repair his eyes with his shadow abilities, or any other possibility that might give him back his sight," Savior said.
"That's true. But we still have to track him down. Beat him if we must. But for now, we'll have to bide our time. Pride won't be so proud after this." Robin said.
"Damn straight." Cyborg said, getting back into the T-Car.
The Titans all headed back home, some annoyed, some enraged, some in normal dispositions, and some still muttering curses, primarily Noel, considering how much he needed to wash his fekking mouth out.
And no, I won't be using an 'unlocked back door to the author's chamber joke' right now.
Gargarin Cathedral, Immediately Afterwards...
Nik was on the roof, coughing violently and shivering. With every cough, an inky black substance, Evil Darkness, came out. Finally, his coughing fit ceased, but he was still sweating and shaking as the night cooled. Mr. Soach opened the door.
"What happened to you?" he demanded, rushing to his side.
Nik looked back up at him with hollowed-eye sockets. Mr. Soach gasped in surprise and mild disgust.
"Let me get you to a doctor. How were you blinded?" Mr. Soach asked.
"I was attacked." Nik said, amidst a cough or two, no Darkness being expelled at this point.
Mr. Soach grabbed Nik and helped him walk down the stairs, rushed.
"I'll get you help. Don't worry." Mr. Soach said.
BADUM! BADUM! BADUM!
