Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Heroes
Happy Halloween, f00s! (At least in my time zone, I'm cutting it kinda close.)
Disclaimer: In my sad and pathetic attempt to attract more people to my ragtag story, here is my next chapter (sniff). As for any confusion about my character's powers, they will be addressed in more detail within the next few chapters. And if you ask if I own TT, you shall suffer 100 smacks with a wet noodle. But the two people who officially reveal themselves in this chapter are mine. You can't have them. Unless you ask nicely, but don't get your hopes up.
Kudos to those who catch the Iron Man reference.
Phantom Shadow
Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Heroes
"Since you wish for me to avoid being too civilized," I laughed at that. "Why is this of importance?"
"You want to know why I'm here?" He nodded. "Well, I'm starting at the very beginning. Sit back and relax, though, this is going to take a while"
The team of five moved toward the outskirts of the power plant, proud of their recent triumph, but still aware of their new development. Half way back to Robin's R-Cycle, his communicator gave another blip. Without word, he reached for his utility belt and activated the device.
"So soon, mayor?" Robin said.
"I apologize Robin, I just got some more news that may intrigue you. I spoke with some friends of mine at the French consulate to see what they could find out about Overload's escape. Good news is that only two were released, so you can give a sigh of relief now, Robin."
"Still a little high strung at the moment mayor. It's going to have to be another time." Robinson smiled and continued.
"Very well. The consulate ordered a team into the prison to review the damage."
"And." Robin urged. The other Titans had stopped altogether to listen in.
Mayor Robinson's smile widened, "There was no damage on his escape. But!" he quickly interjected before Robin could speak. "Overload's alcove had severe damage, along with Mumbo Jumbo's, most likely from an explosive, but not to the cryogenic freezing modules. Mumbo apparently escaped before the French ambassador could be informed. But the strange thing is the blast apparently originated from inside the wall itself."
Robin's eyes widened. "So was there some type of time delayed charge waiting, just to release anyone there? Is there more ch-?"
The mayor interrupted, "Just let me finish Robin. As soon as the SWAT team saw the damage, they called in for backup and surveyed the area. Charges were the first thing they looked for. Then they checked the internal sensors. Now here's the interesting part. Apparently, for 45 seconds there was one additional person inside the compound. That signal only appeared in the compound itself, however, not entering through any of the access points."
"So, are we dealing with a teleporter?"
"Apparently, but something's fishy here."
"Why is that?" Robin inquired.
"The internal sensors indicated that the intruder held his or her location for roughly 15 seconds near Overload's alcove. Then the explosion took place right over the intruder's position. The signal vanished in thin air just a few seconds later. As you can tell, that doesn't make all 45. I don't believe he was killed in the blast, since no remains were found and because the signal reappeared moments before the team arrived, but vanishing again before they entered the room. It may or may not be the same intruder, though I suspect it is. I'm no detective, but I doubt that someone who released a criminal would return. At least, not in that type of prison"
"I believe your suspicions are correct, mayor. Keep me informed if anything turns up."
"Of course I will, Robin. It must get rather dull in that tower, but I got to keep you occupied to satisfy the taxpayers." Mayor Robinson gave a small laugh and the screen went blank.
No one spoke for a few seconds, which is until Cyborg broke the silence. "You think that maybe this guy Beast Boy saw has anything to do with this?"
"Not sure, though I wouldn't doubt it. We're missing something here, and that stranger has the answer." He looked up. "Enough time's been spent, let's head back to the tower." Cyborg opened the driver's door, and then stopped. "Maybe we got this wrong." He turned to Robin, "What if he didn't intend to release Overload. What if it was an accident, and then he came back here to stop him?"
Robin gave it some though for a moment. "Possible, but I don't think so. The most likely option is that we're dealing with two different people. Overload got here way too fast for someone to help him and then turn on him. It's not worth the effort"
"Well, it did make sense, but they were far from what really happened . . . kinda."
Cyborg nodded, well it did make sense. Cyborg reached for the handle to open the driver side door, then stopped himself.
"Woah, didn't I already open the door?"
Beast Boy shrugged, "Who knows? Let's just go home."
Everyone nodded and proceeded in their own manner of transportation. But just as Raven was about to take into the air to meet Starfire, she stumbled and collapsed. All eyes were immediately on her.
"Raven!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "What happened now?"
Raven's eyes were empty, almost glazed over. Cyborg opened up the data pad on his forearm and did a scan.
"I don't know man. Apparently there's nothing wrong with her. Vitals are all normal, respiration, neural activity, heart's a little elevated, but that's it."
Raven groaned and stirred in Beast Boy's lap. She got on to her hands and shook off the last bits of, well, whatever it was.
Robin turned to Beast Boy. "You said 'What happened now?', when did this happen before?"
"While we were fighting Overload. She just stopped moving altogeth-"
"I can speak for myself." Raven coolly said standing up and brushing off the small layer of dust that formed on her leotard. The team's eyes were all still on her. "What?" she said, the same sharp tone now back in her voice. "I'm fine."
"Apparently not." Robin speculated, pointing at her hands, which were alive with black energy. Raven quickly suppressed the surge of power.
"This is serious Raven. You almost became comatose twice." Beast Boy said, a small note of urgency in his voice.
"I said I'm fine." The note of finality in her voice made it clear that the issue would not be pressed anymore for the moment. Robin observed Raven for a moment and nodded.
"All right, lets go home. But I want you," he indicated to Raven. "To ride with Cyborg back to the tower. I don't want you to become separated from Starfire and pass out." Raven was about to argue, but stopped herself. She opened up the passenger side door and got inside along with Cyborg.
Back at the tower, all of the Titans were now lounging about in whatever positions they chose. More often then none, someone's eyes drifted back to Raven. Robin had a talk with Raven as soon as they got back to the tower, but she said the same story to Beast Boy. All she said was that something wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Robin left it at that; it was getting late. Power was shut off in each corridor one by one. Raven was the last to go to bed. Being too tired to get on any pajamas, she only removed her cape before she slipped under the covers. Sleep did not yet come to her, all because of not revealing something to her teammates, but it was more out of curiosity and concern, rather than insubordination.
She felt his presence before either Beast Boy or Overload, silently thanking the former for rescuing her. A dark ripple that appeared in her mind indicated his presence from some other section of the power plant. She felt the aggressiveness first, indicating he was male, and she instinctively ventured out in her mind to seek it, only to encounter a wall.
Raven was surprised with herself when she cursed; no one had ever blocked her telepathic probing. Well . . . except one, which was exactly was why she was concerned, or maybe afraid. The battle around her was forgotten, only the telepath mattered. She circled his mind probing in different places. But every time Raven found an opening, a wall of something came out of nowhere. She had to get closer to this thing, but that could be dangerous. She poured more power into her telepathy in order to better 'see' what was in front of her.
She inched her way forward to the barrier and saw something she almost didn't believe. The blackened wall in front of her was titanic, reaching into the heavens of a blackened and cloudy sky. She examined the wall even closer. At first seemed to constantly shift and move, but apparently it was created of shifting and fluxing black energy. The very same Beast Boy described the stranger having on return to the tower, almost the same as her own . . .
Such power . . . it was impossible for him to not detect her presence, unless he didn't care or consider her a threat. A shiver went down Raven's spine, fully realizing three truths about the stranger she knew for certain.
One: the stranger was a male
Two: He had a large quantity of shadow magic, similar to hers.
And three, Raven swallowed: The only way he could have gotten that kind of strength was from a demon. A demon as strong as Trigon.
"Raven's always been the most perceptive of the team. Her only disadvantage is her powers. Since her powers are directly influenced by her emotions, she has difficulty showing them, for fear of harming those around her. She holds back on acting on her gut instincts because she doesn't want to lose the friendship and trust of those around her, no matter how much she believes she's right. That proved to be the entire team's downfall on one fight against Slade, and his current apprentice at the time, Terra. Friends are just something that she is never willing to give up; that is both a blessing and a curse. But she wouldn't have to wait long to get some of her answers. You know what they say: Fate's a cruel mistress."
There weren't any calls that the Jump City Police Force couldn't handle during the night, so the Titans got a nice, long rest, that is until it was 6:00. One by one, the five Titans groggily made their way out of their rooms and got ready for breakfast.
"Mornin'" Breast Boy said, or more like whimpered to Cyborg from lack of sleep. Cyborg responded with a yawn and started to rummage through random cupboards for some grub. Starfire was the next to drift out of the corridor, followed next by Raven and Robin soon after, all scrounging for various forms of food.
"Got a feeling this is going to be a long day," Cyborg mumbled after finding some leftover pizza and a two liter bottle of root beer, pouring some into a glass, tossed the glass onto the counter, then drained the rest of the bottle.
"We are the Titans, when do we have a short day?" Robin responded. He discontinued his search and instead walked over to one of the computer terminals. He proceeded to rapidly type away, searching through the police reports for anything of interest. There wasn't much, a mugger was captured in the subway system and a Russian man was arrested with some high caliber weapon found in his hotel room. He wasn't saying anything on how he obtained it or what he needed it for.
"Nothing much, appears the police have it covered for now," Robin said, somewhat disappointed. A little chaos in the morning always woke him up.
Cyborg got up and went to the terminal to view the data himself, but stopped when Raven caught his eye all of a sudden. Something was very wrong. Raven was clutching her head with one hand and the edge of the table with the other. Her eyes were wide and her teeth were clenched, heaving gasps wracking her body.
"Raven?"
Raven's eyes darted all around the room, then back to Cyborg.
"He-he's here."
Robin was about to say, "Who?", but then jerked his head upward, ready for anything; he had just heard as if some large animal had its arm torn off. What he saw blew his mind for a few brief seconds. Cracks in, well . . . air had materialized, blue light steaming from behind the fracture. The rest of the Titans stood and prepared to face the threat, whatever it was, but Starfire stayed next to Raven to protect her. The fracture fluctuated, slowly appearing wider and wider, forming a gateway. Robin leaped forward to examine the phenomenon. Inside was a mass of swirling blue light of all different hues and colors. Deeper inside the gate, more multicolored light branched off in different directions in ever which way, like some massive and intricate mandala. Robin leaned even closer, and then ducked. A large mass had rocketed toward him, first as a tiny black speck among the mass of blue light, then burst out of the gate with tremendous speed. From the mass, a sword was drawn and connected with the fracture, cleaving it in two. The fracture destabilized, started fluctuating violently, and then collapsed in on itself. The mass continued on its path toward the window. Actually it connected with the side of one of the computer terminals, bounced, and then hit the window, issuing a masculine, "Damn it!" and fell to the floor, the sword clattering a few feet away.
"You think that hurts, just wait 'til I get my hands on you!" Came a feminine voice. This one rolled out of the male's grasp and laid near the couch, dazed.
"You know I didn't mean to do that!"
"If I wasn't still in shock I would kick your ass!"
"Why do you keep focusing on that, damn it?!"
"You did it on purpose!"
"Burning rain of death, end of days, atomic radiation, is any of that factoring in with your rant!"
With that comment, the female clutched a pillow from the couch and threw it at the male's face, who didn't even try to block it.
"You're going to be taking a dirt nap if you keep this up."
Cl-Clack
Both of the strangers looked up at the Titans, right into Cyborg's sonic cannon and Robin's unsheathed birdarangs were facing the female. The male just blinked, "Uh, hello . . . sorry I didn't use the front door." He looked out the window behind him. "Hmm, I was aiming for the desert. Need to install a G.P.S. or something."
His gaze ventured back to Robin.
"Apologies, Boy Wonder, haven't introduced myself yet. The name's Reon. Reon Adler." He nodded toward the female. "And the harpy's name is Angela." He switched to a mock tone of adoration. "Though I call her Angel because she acts like my own personal guardian angel." And he earned another pillow to the face, but he still remained collapsed at the window.
Robin scrutinized him. Reon, as his name was, appeared only slightly older than himself, maybe 17 or 18. He had unkempt jet-black hair that went nicely with his ice blue eyes, of which appeared to be ready for sleep. He also didn't look in the best of health; his skin seemed almost unnaturally pale and was clutching his skull as if had a major migraine. He was wearing an ordinary pair of blue jeans and a pair of fingerless gloves, though very worn. There was also a black leather jacket over a standard grey military surplus T-shirt and he was topped off with a pair of brown combat issue boots. What really caught everyone's eye was the pair of sword sheaths across his left hip.
"Dude, it's you." Beast Boy was first to blurt out.
"What?"
"At the power plant. You saved my life!"
"Power plant?" Reon trailed off. The female was next to speak.
"He's talking about the time where you screwed up." Light bulb kicked in.
"Oh! Right Angel, forgot about that." Raven had finally recovered and now glided over to the fallen Reon, much to the protest of Starfire. Ever direct, "Why are you here?" She coldly directed to Reon.
"I'm here for the future of all mankind, princess."
"Might as well tell them, not like we have anywhere else to go." Robin switched his attention to Angela, but only because he detected a hardened, steely tone in her voice. She was African American, but was more of a light bronze than black, except for her hair, which was black and in the same messy state as his. There was also an imprint in her hair for headphones, which were now around her neck. They were connected to a small iPod that was attached to her hip. She was dressed in a ver low cut and a very tight red tank top, along with some equally low rise and tight pair of denim jeans. There was also a pair of greenish black vambraces on her forearm, scratched from long use. It was apparent that she was also trying to cover something attached to her right hip. Robin gestured to her hip with one of the birdarangs and Angel begrudgingly removed her arms.
Robin was surprised at first. She was covering something that appeared to be a very peculiar weapon. It resembled at first to be an old weapon called a kusarigama, but instead of a sickle, there was a steel pinwheel attached to the chain. It was small, about a foot and a half long and was out of it's casing on her leg. The coiled chain was long, almost fifteen feet, but still shorter than a standard kusarigama. At the end of the chain was a weight that probably weighed about five pounds. A very odd weapon indeed.
"I will, but can you start?" He bent his knees and grasped his head with both hands now. "I need to get used to this for a few minutes." He had trouble finishing his sentence because he was gritting his teeth so much.
"Get used to what?" Cyborg questioned.
"They're memories." Angela started, trying to look rather bored. "We both have a very unusual form of telepathy. He has a negative field empathy, allowing, or more like forcing, him to relive the moments of people he's near. Hate, fear, pain, betrayal, and many others, but only the ones that the person considers the worst moments. Myself, I have a form of tactile telepathy, not quite like Superboy's tactile telekinesis. By just being near an object, I can psychically predict the past. My subconscious automatically puts together the pieces of certain stimuli, like air currents, residual heat, and vibration. Kinda useful. And don't worry about him, it should take him a minute or two to adjust, but he'll be all right." She plucked at a loose thread from her jeans. "Sooo, I'd say I got the better end of the deal."
"Can't be too pleasant to be in public." Beast Boy said after she had finished.
"...Actually . . . crowds are better . . . " Reon managed to say, trying to stand. Ignoring Robin's protest, Angela went to his side and helped him up. He leaned up against the window, viewing the scenery of the bay and the city beyond. "When there's crowds, the memories overlap too much, and becomes white noise. Unless I teleport myself right into the middle of one."
Reon turned to Angela and whispered something to her. She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and helped him to a chair, picking up the fallen sword on the way. Reon removed the sheaths before sitting down and Angela inserted the sword into it, much to the Titans relief.
"I don't intend on fighting you," He said to Robin. "Though I understand your caution."
Angela proceeded toward the counter and touched the rim of Cyborg's forgotten glass. Her muscles seized up for a split second before she bent down and got another glass from the cupboard, filling it with water from the faucet. She smiled at Robin.
"I told you it comes in handy." And gave it to Reon, who eagerly gulped it down.
"Now, where was I?"
"..."
Reon put his hands in front of him. "Whoa, whoa! Don't all answer at once!"
"..."
"All right, I'll start." He ran a hand through his hair.
"Raven, what do you know about the Relinquo"
Raven's face went pale, though not much more given her current pallor. "How do you know that term!?" She demanded.
"I'm guessing your father was one?" Reon asked, his tone serious. It was now apparent to everyone how worn and edged his voice sounded. And to answer his question, Raven could only nod.
"What is it?" Robin said, directing the question at Raven, though it was Reon that answered.
"It's Latin for forsaken. The Relinquo is an elite group of senior demons, so strong that they are rumored to rule even over Hell itself. I'm sure the malebolge would be nice and comfy for Trigon, yes, I do know who he is, I know a lot about everyone you know, including yourselves." He quickly added, seeming the alarmed look on everyone's face at the mention of Raven's father.
"So Raven, have you heard the name Mefeist?" She shook her head, which made Reon shake his head.
"Pity, I was hoping you knew something about him. A year or so back, I had an unpleasant encounter with him. Heh heh." The laugh was bitter.
"Most of my family was killed early in the warthat ravaged our world, except for my brother. He was serving in the United States Army and left with his troop a few months before they died." Reon barely managed to suppress a snarl. "Last time I ever saw him. You see, tension had been building between superpowers for a very long time, but it was so gradual that no one ever noticed, or maybe never cared enough to bother; too many other concers to deal with. Though there were several precedents before it, the Middle East was considered by many to have made the first move. Terrorist cells hijacked a few planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, one grazed the Pentagon, and the passengers on the forth and final plane retook it, and it landed in a Pennsylvania forest, away from the cities."
"It was on now. Strain that had accumulated for years burst like a powder keg within just a few years, though the public was too content to really care, the politicians thought." Reon put an extra dose of venom in the last word. "We could never understand the complexity of the outside world. We shouldn't be allowed to hear what was happening because they were only protecting us."
"Anyways, North Korea was suspected of finally beginning it's own nuclear arsenal, but again, the bureaucrats were wrong. As it turns out, ex-KGB who had staged a coup d'etat had also been assisting them distribute their very high yield warheads, a lot of them, more then anyone had ever thought. It was the same for Iran and Iraq, along with a few other countries. But that bastard President Bush, pardon the swearing, insisted that he was doing everything reasonable possible to stop the terrorist threats, but he needed to step a little outside of the red tape and the law if he wanted to gain control like he wanted to."
"We then proceeded to Japan, one of the few places where it was marginally safe." He couldn't contain the chuckle. "Picked up a few combat techniques from an unexpected source as well, but I'll get to that later. Meanwhile, the United Nations was trying to reaffirm who were their allies and who were their enemies, and that's when fate took an unexpected turn. Two old friends of mine convinced the two of us to join the Army with them, to help do what was right. And don't get me wrong, I trusted both of them implicitly and without question. But something was always off in their personalities, could never put my finger on it."
"Both of them seemed more world weary than everyone else, and they always seemed to know more about what was happening in a situation than everyone else did. They saved our troop more times than I can count, always against impossible odds. They were brothers, so I understand most about them, but there was just something different about them. He had on a thoughtful expression. "...Well Simon was insane and Meric was an introvert, which should have been my first tip off. Oh well."
"Anyway, after a long and excruciating time of not looking guys in funny hats in the eye and extensive tactical training, we were on our way. First stop, Brazil. Mission was to stop some drug lords who staged yet another of the who really cares how many coups and, well, yadda yadda. I never really cared what was the directive, just as long as we didn't die."
His expression gave a sudden change, to one the Titans have seen several times before. It was a look that had faced extreme hardship, but was trying to do its best to overcome it.
"Egypt was the next stop our tour guide decided to take us on. There's always been hostility between Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinians, ever since the end of World War II. Israel was supposedly the target of a tactical missile strike, so they wanted to make the first move. Right into their neighboring countries. We were sent into the Nile river basin to our encampment. Sooner than naught, I was doing reconnaissance on an invading encampment along with Angela and the two of them. We found an inconsistency in their duty shifts, and it could be something that we could exploit when we take back the settlement. But we couldn't tell our superior officer when we returned, we encountered a slight problem. It was a bloodbath."
"Oh my God . . . " Angel said, awestruck. Bodies were strewn everywhere, everyone in various stages of dismemberment. All of them had at least one body part completely severed from the rest of their body. There was almost a hundred and twenty soldiers stationed here, and there wasn't a single one alive. She approached one of the fallen.
"No time." Came Meric's droning voice, but still retained an edge of seriousness in it. He was crouched down by one of the stood back up, the fallen soldier's Desert Eagle in one hand and a Schmidt rifle in the other, tossing the later to Reon. "Look for survivors" He cocked the gun, loading a round in the chamber. "We'll head to the HQ and call in support." Not a soul argued with him. Simon walked to another soldier and picked up an AK-47.
"Our good little boys aren't allowed to use these toys. These were in the contraband weapons locker. Our uninvited guests mustn't have brought the beer shipment."
"Simon could never utter a sentence without a joke or pun of some kind. That's what made him both lovable and also wanted you to knock his teeth down his throat." A smile crossed Robin's face.
Reon walked slowly down the row of barracks, Angela at his heals. Reon approached another fallen soldier and picked up his pistol, giving it to her. She swallowed, the grisly images of soldiers with theirs innards and blood flowing like a river through the earth and sand was still sickening to her stomach. The scent of death was overpowering.
"Try not to look at them." Reon advised. She did not respond.
They continued to walk down the rows of barracks, checking each for signs of life. Again, there were none. All of them seemed outside, ready to do battle again a long gone opponent.
"I don't like this."
"What?" She inquired, her breath fogging in the dying sun.
"I don't like this. Hostiles here thrive on dishonoring the dead of the enemy, but not to this degree. Something's seriously wrong here."
"This is making me really nervous. I'm scared, for once, lets get out of here."
"We need to look for others."
"You should listen to the girl." Came a raspy, sullied voice.
Reon whirled around, weapon at the ready. But it was useless, the falling sun was in his eyes. All he could make out was a figure in his path. Angela could do no batter. He snuck up on them, but did not attack, even though he could have killed them both without any hassle. So the only reasonable action was to hold his ground.
"Who are you and state why you're here?" Reon demanded. He could shield his eyes from the sun with one hand, but he'd have to remove a hand from his weapon, which required two hands to use with the recoil. The figure walked forward. There was an odd lurch in his step.
"Stop or I'll fire!" Reon warned, but the stranger payed no heed to the warning. He had no choice, and fired, but Reon could not distinguish any sounds of impact. Reon risked placing a hand in front of his eyes to see what was in front of him, but nothing was there.
"What the hell?"
He was now painfully aware of how cold it was; the steam issuing from his breath, the hairs standing up on his neck, the shaking of his hands. He gripped his weapon tighter to stop his quivering, but it didn't help. It felt as though ice was flowing through his veins, freezing him to his very core. Angela wasn't fairing much better, barely managing to stay on her feet.
"You're an interesting one . . . " Reon whirled around to face the hostile, but only saw the barren sand.
"I was waiting for one of the other two, but I'd like to have some fun first . . . " A shot went off into the emptiness. Angela had fired a shot off, but it was apparent that she could no longer control her shaking. She dropped her weapon and fell to her knees and latched onto her shoulders, trying to stop her body's trembling and shivering. Reon stepped in front of her to shield her from the threat, but he already knew he wasn't going to be much help. He just couldn't control his fear. He saw a looming shadow in the sand in front of him and turned around again in the middle of the rows of barracks. This time he attacked without giving a warning, but not by firing the weapon. He adjusted his grip to shove the hot barrel under the attacker's chin with enough force to probably leave a person counting all the pretty stars.
The attack was in vain. The intruder merely grabbed a hold of the barrel like it was an ordinary wooden stick. Reon face was a mask of horror, finally getting a clear view of his attacker, but wishing he didn't. A long, thin spider like hand was grabbing onto the barrel, with the appearance that it had been long dead and had been gnawed on by animals overnight. What really got his attention was the yellow catlike eyes that he was staring into, forcing him to give eye contact. Reon was unable to move as another spider like hand grabbed a hold of his waist and lifted him in the air with ease so they could be eye level. This creature was inhumanly tall.
"Oh yes . . . " That sick sadistic tone was still in his voice, but Reon was still paralyzed to even care or get angry. He let go of the gun and the figure tossed it aside. The figure then wrapped his splintery fingers around his left arm.
As soon as he did, Reon became aware of his surroundings once more as pain burst like damn at the point where he touched his arm.
"This is going to be fun indeed." And he let go of him. It took forever for Reon to hit the ground. Each microsecond seemed like an eternity within him mind. Every thought that he could ever remember flooded his mind. His fifth birthday at a water park. When his brother left at the airfield along with his troop. The first time he meet Angela on a trip to Madison. When a second grader got in trouble for hiding another student's backpack.
Seeing himself huddled on the ground screaming in agony as a yellow-eyed silhouette merely watched . . .
He managed to block out the mental onslaught for a few moments to try and gather his thoughts for a moment. The pain flowing through his body and mind making it next to impossible to accomplish. He fell over on his side and got into the fetal position, the pain now at an unbearable level.
"Concentrate."
Reon caught the words through the storm in his mind. He attempted to calm his breathing, just as his sensei had taught him. The memory. The one with himself and the figure, it wasn't his. He tried to remember the memory, but it was distorted and blurry in the flurry of light and color.
"Fear is the mind killer, Reon. Concentrate!"
Reon obeyed the command. He fell back upon his martial arts training in Japan. The grueling exercises in which his was forced to focus every particle of his mind and body in order to accomplish. The memory flashed by once more.
The sun. It was in front of him. But in the memory, it was to the right. That meant the source was coming from his right. Reon turned in that direction, and there was Angela.
She was huddled against the wall, terror evident in her gaping eyes, spasmodic breath and perspiring skin. The moment he made eye contact, she gasped and tried futilely to crawl back even further.
That moment of fear in her soul was all that Reon needed in order to get up onto one knee, his eyes still not leaving hers."Come on, my Angel." She shook her head violently.
"Come on! Ugh-" He was kicked in the stomach, leaving him winded.
"I see you are protective of this female." There was a soft sound as the creature made its way to her. A long, dead finger unfurled and stoked her check. She did nothing to prevent the gesture. "She smells so sweet and pure, though. I just might have a little fun with her later as well."
Fresh anger boiled to the surface, his own hatred, raw and volatile. "Forget protocol. You're a dead man."
The creature gave a scratchy laugh. "That's not going to help much when I'm already dead."
"Then all we have left to do is bury you!" Two figures ran past him and toward the figure. Simon and Meric had heard the gunshots and come at last. But there were two things wrong; as soon as they came, a fresh wave of pain racked Reon, and his two friends each had something wrong with them. Simon got to the figure first and aimed a roundhouse kick at the figure, which he dodged. But in the wake of the kick, a transparent purple-blue haze followed.
"Take care of them." Yes, that was Meric's voice there. He stopped just short of the figure and brought his hands together. As he did so, the sand on both sides of the figure snaked its way around it with lightning speed and formed a perfect, solid cube. As it completed its prison, the sand developed a translucent quality, hardening into crystal somehow. But like everything else that was thrown at him so far, it didn't help. The crystal shattered and Reon saw why, the creature had an enormous scythe in his hand, topped with a bison skull and stained with the blood of his comrades.
"Got to do better than that." It taunted. And Meric complied. He cocked his fist back and the shattered crystal snaked around his form and around his arm with super speed. The crystal reassembled itself around his arm and into a massive hammer and Meric swung it at the creature with all his might and hit him dead on in the side, sending him flying off into one of the barracks.
While Meric dueled with the creature, Simon had finally dragged Reon next to Angela, who he had to hold on to in order to restrain her. "Damn it, Angela, hold still." Yet she was still too panic-stricken to obey. Too frustrated to think of something else, Simon forced the two to them on their backs in the sand. He then placed a knee on their chest to hold them down, then placed his left hand on her cheek, and his right hand on Reon's cheek.
"Concentrate, both of you." The thoughts calmed in Reon's just slightly, remembering those words.
"Let my control become yours." When did Simon's eyes gain that purple-blue hue?
"Let me help you." The onslaught of memories, gathered from the four minds present, jerked ever so slightly, recognizing another presence inside the mindscape. Reon's mind, still overwhelmed with thoughts, was dwarfed by the much larger presence. Simon's mind then pulled at Angela's, bringing the three's together. In astral form, Simon stretched out a hand into each of their skulls, right into their own thoughts and memories. He got a firm grip and focused his powers, drawing out the energy that was placed in both of them. Raw mental essence oozed up his arms and into his mind. He winced slightly, startled at first with the memories Reon had gathered and Angela's fear. He flexed his mental muscles and gained back control of the flow of thoughts. Through the astral plane, he could see the results of his work; their breathing had evened out and Angela had ceased struggling. He gave a hard yank to get any stray thoughts that caused them anymore discomfort. He then pulled back from the two, retracting his steady flow of power.
"You two think weird thoughts."
Reon gave him the one fingered victory salute."Now what the fuck is going on?! And get off me!"
"Yay, back to normal." Simon looked at Angela, who he had to help to stand because she was still shaking. She managed to get to her feet only to fall back on her knees.
"Take it easy, no one ever gets used to Vulcan mind melds. And he really did a number on you." He said to Reon.
"Yeah, what the hell did he do to me?" He moaned, rubbing his head. "And what the hell did you do to me?"
"No clue on both counts."
"Smart ass. And you're still on me!"
Simon got up, then got back down. A ball of fire demolished the barracks directly behind him, flew over the three of them, and collapsed the linen roof of the barracks across from it, setting it on fire in the process.
"Not bad, better than I thought, I admit." The figure had jumped from the destroyed barracks and perched on the wooden frame of the one still aflame. Through the flickering light, Reon could make out its clawed feet and a pair of scaly black wings protruding from his back.
"But you're still not in my league." Simon got up and helped the other two to their feet, their problem in their minds now gone. Wait, where was Mer- -
"Meric's fine." Simon's voice came out jovial, almost a challenging humorous tone. "He's just having a little fun. You alright in there, bro!?" He shouted at the fire. The other two were in bewilderment. This only got the creature's attention.
"Puny human." It turned on its perch and faced the remaining three, slowly spreading his great black wings.
BOOOOM!
From the burning barracks came another ball of flame, impacting the creature right in the back, sending him into the first destroyed barracks. The fire then slowly descended to the ground from the air, taking on a human shape, arms, legs and all.
"Holy shit." Reon said. The fire then walked towards the three. Reon and Angela couldn't help but take a step back, while Simon actually took a step forward.
"Let's kick some demon ass." Simon said as he extended a hand, which was pulsing with a spectral magenta shade. The fire also extended a crackling and blazing hand, meeting Simon's.
"Meric?" Reon thought out loud. The inferno looked over Simon's shoulder toward Reon, and nodded. "Oh, hell, now I'm completely lost."
"Then die!" Came a venomous yell. The creature burst out of the destroyed barracks and swept his massive scythe toward Reon, who was almost twenty feet away but the creature's height and the length of his weapon made the distance no trouble accomplishing. For a brief moment, the creature finally came in full view as the falling sun was now sunk below the horizon, the only light now coming from the Meric and the blazing barracks.
He was bone thin, only stretched and dying and rotted green/black skin seemed to cover him. His knees were also bent backwards, giving him and a hunched back. His chest was almost completely rotted off, leaving only some ribs and a few hanging bits of flesh along with crisscrossing leather straps on his shoulders and torso. His arms were equally rotted and covered in overly stretched skin. He even had some kind of bone or a spike sticking out of his elbow, along with a pair of rusty and spiked wristbands, engraved on them were several different runes and strange etchings. To top it off, his head was the ugliest of all. Unlike the rest of his body, his head was large and had little decay. He had a wide set jaw and at least two rows of jagged and distorted teeth, with foul breath to match. He was topped off with some bat-like ears and blackened horns that curved outward and then upward. His eye sockets were gaunt almost bugeyed, complementing his yellow, catlike eyes. And the angle that he arched himself showed that even his spine looked like it was bulging out of his skin, right down to the devil tail he had. Even his weapon was demonic. The scythe was about eleven feet tall, only slightly taller than himself. The staff itself was apparently made out of a twisted, gnarled and black wood, stained red in several places. At the top of the staff was a burned black bison skull and inside its open jaws was the blade, extending at least four feet long and still splattered with blood. It was engraved with runes and strange symbols.
Reon got a really good view of the etchings because just then, the scythe swept in a wide arch, but this time he was prepared. He launched himself toward the ground, pivoted himself on his arm, and swept a leg at the creature's side with all his might. He grunted in pain, but recovered quickly enough to swipe a boney hand at Reon. He muffled a yell of pain as one of the claws pierced his side and sent him flying ten feet away. He gave a sneer at the teenager just before he lurched forward as Meric launched a ball of fire at him.
"AAARGH!" He screamed.
"Hope Ozzy likes his bat extra crispy." Simon taunted. The creature turned toward the first two, eyeing daggers at them both. With a great beat of his wings, the fire extinguished itself.
"The name is Mefeist, infidels!"
"Heh, ya can't talk tough. All you've done so far is scare Angela, which really isn't too hard." He smiled as she issued a curse at him safely behind the two. "You want to play then?" He picked up part of the wooden framework from the ruined barracks, and a burst of purple light from his hand extinguished the flames and sharpened the ends of the rod simultaneously. "Fine then, lets play."
Mefeist crouched slightly bring his scythe into attack posture.
Simon and Meric spread ten feet apart from each other, Simon smiling, Meric blazing.
Two against one, they stared each other down in the cooling air of the night. Just at that moment the moon appeared from behind the clouds, bathing the army base in an eerie blue light. Reon and Angela could only watch as the standoff progressed, Reon from behind Mayfeist, Angela now behind Simon.
Unsurprisingly, Simon gave a laugh, drawing the demon's attention for a split second. He pointed the sharpened rod at him in an attacking position.
"Boom." He said and energy flowed from him and into the javelin, making it visibly vibrate. He then made a complete circle to gain enough momentum to throw the charge spear. Mefeist prepared a defense, but was almost caught off guard yet again by Meric as his hand went up and launched another fireball at him. Mefeist lowered his weapon and folded his great black wings over himself. The fire impacted, not the javelin, and he once again tossed his wings back to dissipate the fire, only to be right in the face of Simon. The said psycho somehow reacquired the javelin, jumped impossibly high to meet his opponent, and thrusted it toward his chest. Mefeist wasn't quick enough to dodge the attack this time as the javelin pierced his shoulder. Angry, he didn't feel the pain and retaliated by bringing the bottom of his staff down to crush Simon's head. It impacted with a satisfying 'CRACK!', but Simon only smiled at him as his body flickered and died.
"What!?" He cried out in fury, also realizing that his wound was also gone. He had no time to ponder as Meric covered the flank, gathering some of the fire circling his body and gave it a jerk, forming a flaming whip. He flung out the blazing tool outward in a wide arc. The whip blazed like the sun as it cut through the neighboring barracks like butter and set them on fire also before reaching his target. Mefeist planted the butt of the staff into the ground and used his sprang upward to do a handstand on top of the scythe. The whip latched securely on the scythe, just as Mefeist had planned. He then beat his wings once more, bring himself and Meric into the air. Meric was launched wildly into the air and lost his grip on his weapon. It soon flickered and ceased to exist.
Halfway through one of the flipping rotations, he gathered his energy and launched a stream of fire right into the overly abused barracks, straightening his twirling form and propelling himself higher into the air. Mefeist, keeping his high steady with a steady rhythm of his wings, saw his momentary opening in his defense and took advantage of it. With a great beat of air, he rocketed toward Meric. With a swing of his massive scythe, Mefeist attempted to cleaved Meric in two but once again, the brothers had an ace up their sleeves. Just before he was sliced in half, Meric separated himself into two blazing halves. As the scythe whisked in th opening, Meric reassembled himself and brought a fist back once more. Mefeist was too close to block or dodge, so he took another burst of fire full in the chest
"AAARGHHH!" For the second time tonight, he screamed in agony as he was engulfed in flame. Instead of a fireball, Meric focused his attack in a continuing stream. He then brought both hands together and brought them down hard toward the ground, the column of fire mimicked his actions and brought Mefeist down into one of the obliterated barracks. Several more of them had caught fire, including some of the dead soldiers. Meric gently lowered himself to the ground on superheated air, just like a dirigible.
"He wasn't too rough on you was he?" Came that annoying, jocular voice. Meric shoke his head, making the fire flicker and die around his body, leaving him still perfectly safe. The light behind Meric bent and fluctuated, revealing Simon also unharmed.
Now it was Angela's turn to say, "Holy Shit."
"Just sit back and relax, ma'lady. We got it covered here." Simon returned his attention back to Mayfeist's landing zone when he came out of the flames, still clutching his scythe and not even a scratch on him.
"You should be dead." He said. It was more of a question than a statement.
"Yeah I know, I keep getting that. And I'm afraid we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My, where are your matters Meric? Heh heh."
He placed the rod in his right hand and saluted with his left. "The name's Simon." He moved his hand and gave his left temple a flick with his thumb and forefinger. Incredibly, his head rolled off his shoulder and onto the ground. Afterwards, he flipped his head onto his foot and then up into the air, where he then lifted the sharped rod in the air and balanced his head on the very tip when it landed.
"Behold, master illusionist and telepath." He then dropped the rod, letting his head fall. Grabbing the rod in both hands, he swung at his own head with all his might towards Mefeist. In midair, his head yelled toward him saying, "Ands I think you already know Meric's power!"
"Enough of this." Mefeist said. He raised his scythe, spectral black energy trailing in its wake. He brought it to his right and then swung in a horizontal arc. Simon's head was cleaved in two, along with the fireball that Meric had hidden inside it. But as he swung, the energy left his scythe and bolted to the brothers in a crescent moon shape.
They dove in opposite directions to avoid the strike, though Simon wasn't as lucky as Meric. His headless body suddenly collapsed as the crescent left a three inch long gash in his left arm. His head reappeared where it should be and he clutched his hemorrhaging arm, his smile somewhat fallen.
"Damn, what the hell was that?"
"Screw that, what the hell is this?" Reon called out. Simon turned to him and was stunned at what he saw. Reon's left arm was gushing torrents of spectral black energy. He was clutching it with his right hand in an attempt to stem the flow. "I don't know what the f he did to me in the first place, but as soon as he did that black scythe crap, this started happening."
"Get down!" They learned from experience that whenever Meric orders you to do something, you better do it. The moment the next shadow strike passed over Reon, energy exploded out of his arm once more, this time intense enough to cause him pain. Simon moved himself to keel between Reon and Mefeist in order to protect him from another attack, which came immediately. On his scaley wings, Mefeist zoomed toward Simon to deliver a death strike.
"Shit." Simon barely managed to collect his javelin, coat it with psyonic energy and bring it up horizontally to meet the scythe. Reon was knocked on his derriere when the two energies mixed. Mefeist's large, bat-like head was mere inches away from Simon's.
"Woah! Get some breath mints!" Mefeist put even more force on his scythe at the insult. Simon's arms buckled under the force, the throbbing in his arm not helping in the least. Mefeist was thin as... bone, but he was strong. He towered over Simon, even bent over as he was. The scythe was being blocked by only an inch of wood and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to hold his javelin steady so he wouldn't but sliced in half.
"A little help here, bro, would be greatly appreciated." As it turns out, Meric had heeded the plea even before it was asked. From the remains of Mefeist's crystalline prison, Meric had gathered the shards from when he turned himself into fire and turned it into a diamond hard arm. He got between the two and attempted to pry the scythe from the wood and away from his brother. But as soon as he tried to pry it loose, the scythe cleanly sliced through his arm.
"Shit." Simon swore again. "Alright, plan B."
Time slowed down as he planted his left heel into the sand and lifted his chest up. In doing so, he created enough room to plant the right end of the javelin into the sand. He adjusted his grip on the javelin and pulled up on the javelin and swung his right leg onto Meric's arched back. Mefeist lost his footing momentarily as he did this, but lost it even more as Simon then placed both palms on the sandy ground and pivoted with all his might, sending his left foot square into Mefeist's jaw. In doing so, Simon completely lost his balance and fell toward the sandy Earth, suppressing a grunt of pain as he landed on his injured arm. When Mefeist jerked back, his grip on scythe pried it out of the javelin.
And Angela, finally seeing an opening, made her way around the fighting and toward Reon. She helped him to his feet with a, 'What the hell are we supposed to do?' look on her face. Reon's only answer was to get back away from the three. Simon and Meric could take care of themselves; the two of them would either get in the way or end up as collateral damage.
Simon quickly got to his feet, trying to brush some of the sand out of his wound. Mefeist recovered just a hair sooner and swung his weapon in a wide arc. Thankfully, Meric was quicker. He back flipped onto his palms and used the momentum to deliver a kick to his sternum, sending him just out of range of the attack. Meric completed the flip and landed next to his severed limb, but he payed it no mind. As Mefeist saw, he didn't have to. His severed hand and forearm developed a molten quality and oozed toward Meric. It slithered up his leg, along his torso, and down his arm. Much to Mefeist's amazement, it reattached itself to his wrist, molding and melting itself back into its proper form. When it developed a light tan semblance, he flexed it, making a fist and other gestures to test out his reattached appendage.
"Pay attention, you noob demon!" Shouted Simon. He aimed the javelin for Mefeist's oversized cranium with pinpoint accuracy. But once again, Mefeaist was too fast; he quickly wrapped one large hand around the shaft and tossed it into the flames. Meric quickly followed suit and launched an attack of white-hot fire instead of the usual red. The hairs on the back of Reon's and Angela's stand up.
Wait, what was that smell?...
Ozone...
Realization hit Reon like a lightning bolt, figuratively and literally. But Meric's electrical orb faired no better than Simon's attack. With a swipe with the back of his hand, the orb was brushed aside into another one of the undamaged tents.
BOOM!
The barracks was obliterated in a blinding flash of white and yellow light.
"Damn it Meric, don't kill us in the process!" Angela yelled over the roar. She had to shield her eyes from the light, which also caused her to see Mefeist walking toward them first. "Look out!"
But it was still too late, Mefeist was pissed. He gave a slash of his clawed hands at Meric, who couldn't make a suitable defense in time. Blood soaked his vest as he was propelled into one of the flaming barracks.
"Bekta Kyr'stea barakashe." Mefeist said with a snarl. He advanced on Simon next. He attempted to charge up his fists with more psyonic energy, but it faired no better than his brother. He gave a backwards swipe with the same hand. Simon got the wind knocked out of him as he was launched in the opposite direction and into another smoldering tent.
"Stoigia net'staika pen'daeli shevaob!"
"Oh hell," Reon swore. Mefeist was making a beeline toward him, fury evident in his slitted eyes. He got to his feet and pivoted, aiming a roundhouse kick to his jaw once more. But it didn't work this time. Mefeist lowered the blade of the scythe to block it, then reached around it and grabbed his leg, lifting him in the air.
"I've had enough of you."
His scythe was enveloped in shadow and vanished within the cool and steady wind.
"I'll finish what I started with you, then take care of your friends." Mefeist once again wrapped his boney hand around Reon's arm. Once again, Reon was submerged in overpowering pain once more.
"AARRRGGHH!"
Mefeist uncaringly dropped the writhing Reon to the sandy ground. He turned on his heels and strolled over to the sparking and burning tent on his right. Meric was on his knees in the fire, a hand to his bleeding chest. He looked up at Mefeist, his face still immaculate of all emotion and pain, despite his wounds. Shadows once again flowed down Mefeist's arm, this time rematerializing the scythe in his right hand.
"There's no use for either you." He raised the scythe, the death blow ready to come. The reaper incarnate brought the blade down, even the howling wind ceased blowing and halted its song to watched the grisly spectacle about to take place. Even the bloody blade had a matchless brilliance as it rose like a cobra read to strike. Time slowed down once more as the blade took seemingly an eternity to lower, and Angela, still watching over Reon, could only watch in horror as it sailed to meet its mark.
"AARRGGHH!"
Angela jumped to her feet in surprise. Mefeist stumbled backwards, curling forward and clutching his forearms in pain. Even Meric was surprised as he dropped his weapon before he attacked and sank to his knees.
"Tam'vitte rel permissum mihi perago mestra corzana baarakshai sullivan!" He screamed, even louder than Reon. He glared at her with his piercing eyes, adjusted his grip on the scythe, and slammed the butt end of the staff into the sand. Angela couldn't stop herself as her eyes instantly started to droop. The last thing she saw Mefeist take flight on his great black wings and flight into the dark shadows of the night.
"We never found out why Mefeist took off. From Meric's view, it looked like that his gauntlets were the source of why he was in pain, but we don't have an answer to that either."
"Meric and Simon had recovered from their wounds. Apparently they both had heightened metabolisms that helped them heal and cope with the stress of using their powers. Simon, using him mind, and Meric, his body, have an incredible rate of control over their body functions; they're capable of blocking out pain or healing their wounds almost instantaneously." He gave a soundless laugh. "We on the other hand had different problems."
"It was easy for Meric to make a proper burial for the dead troops, being a metamorph. But we still had to flee. Reinforcements were to be arriving the next day because Meric managed to get a signal out before Mefeist appeared, and I doubt that they would believe that a demon killed everyone."
Reon's face turned downcast. He gave a sign and reached for his left arm and proceeded to remove his jacket. "When he touched me the second time, I briefly saw his thoughts." His arms shuddered visibly. "Five words kept appearing: Relinquo, Devildom, Trinity, Cado, and Occulus. Now Cado is Latin for fallen, and Occulus is the same for eye, but I got no idea what they meant to him. All except for Occulus and kinda what Cado is, but I'll get to that in a sec." The rest of his jacket was removed revealing his army shirt and toned, muscular arms underneath. He rolled back the little bit of sleeve on his left arm back slightly, revealing something to the Titans.
From his neck to his wrist, a large jet-black dragon tattoo on his arm. The head was near his wrist, with its jaw open with razor sharp teeth. It had pointed ears, each with a black hoop earing through each of its ears. There were two horns on the top of its reptilian head, right ahead of its scaley body, which wrapped twice around Reon's arm, the tail ending curled around his neck.
"When I came to, this was on my arm. Why? Who the hell really knows. But it caused a whole lot of trouble back in Cairo. I picked up on every stray thought on everyone I was near. It was hell on Earth for me. Simon had to constantly stay with me so I don't collapse from a sensory overload. Angela didn't fair much better. She could see everything at once with every step she took. In the end, they had to train us both so we wouldn't be overwhelmed with our powers. In the end, it turns out we had more abilities than we thought."
"As it turns out, Angela's power could not only let her see the past, but could somewhat predict what the future could be. And mine turned out to be really interesting. With Simon's help, I was able to focus the memories into a solid form." He brought up a gloved hand, and in a flash, was suddenly blazing with black energy. "He helped me learn that I could also send memories out in this form, as well as gather them. But since the power that I use is acquired from others, my ability to use them depends on the strength of the memories I collect. The more I colect, the stronger I get. But since some are weaker than others, my powers take on a dry ice in water appearance. Still solid, but sometimes appears as a gas."
"But it wasn't the only thing I was able to do." He depowered his hand and unsnapped a small leather pouch on his hip. Robin once again became uneasy, issuing a smile from Robin.
"Not gonna bite Robin." But he still stopped his hand. He waited for Robin, who gave a nod. Reon than reached into the pouch and pulled out the last thing the Titans expected.
He slowly removed his hand, revealing a deep blue gemstone that was giant by normal standards. Approximately three inches in diameter, it was perfectly cut and glowed in an aqua blue brilliance. Within its depths, the very ocean itself seemed to flow in time with Reon's heartbeat, delighted that it was able to be shown to the heros.
"This little beauty was given to me just after we fought Mefeist. No no no, not by anyone in Cairo." He gave a loud laugh that startled everyone in the room. "I actually found it in later that week. As it turns out, the hotel room we acquired through Meric's ill gotten gains wasn't at all top secret as we originally thought. We received a package addressed to all four of us, but on the inside was a note, addresses specifically to me." Reon's grin couldn't have been wider. "It said 'Even in the darkest heart, the slightest light saves the world. I'll be watching.' And as it turns out, it was signed 'Cado.'" He entertained a thought for a second, "Why do I keep smiling and giggling like a schoolgirl?" He didn't move for a few seconds, then shrugged to himself.
"Meric was the first to figure it out, like everything else in the universe." He said, mumbling the last part. "As it turns out, my powers reacted with this little piece of eye candy, thus the reason I call it the Eye due to my lack of rational thought." His laughter lessened and then stopped. "Back on tract to the point, Meric found out that a rather unusual byproduct was made when my powers, or other sources or densely packed power sources, intermingled with the Eye."
He waited with a small smile on his face until Beast Boy gave a, "Well, made what?" He said, listening eagerly to the story. Reon gave an exaggerated wide eyed grin.
"Glad you asked!" He gave another chuckle and turned to Cyborg and Robin. "Tachyons."
"What!?" Came four voices and a, "Why don't I ever know any of the smart terms?"
Robin turned to Beast Boy. "Tachyons are theoretical particles that move faster than light, and can theoretically be used to initiate time travel." He turned back to Reon. "And that's why you are here?" He asked.
Reon nodded. "Indeed. The problem is, because the thoughts I collect, I can't always find a happy medium between the strength of my powers and my strength of mind. Therefore," He nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I don't always aim right. Like just before for instance. Was aiming for the desert in fear of my life, but we ended up here. And not stuck in the wall again."
"Now, after we got control of our powers, we were happy, delighted, thrilled, and other terms that grossly over exaggerate our emotions. Except for the deluge of fear we felt later on." He placed the Eye back in its pouch.
"The UN had a meeting to discuss their next course of action, but they shouldn't have bothered. Terrorist had rigged the UN conference. The building was leveled, no survivors. Anarchy and war sprang up everywhere. Unfortunately, the four of us had to part ways. Angela and I headed toward to Japan to meet with our sensei, who taught us a fair amount of martial arts techniques before we joined the army. Meric and Simon had to head to Greece to sort through a Fascist takeover. Metahumans weren't really in full swing as they are in this world, so they had to be covert. But it was still no use."
"U-7 7400 H Class Electromagnetic Field Generator. Monstrously powerful. The best in its class. Especially if you siphon power from the Hadron Collider, the world's best ion collector in the world, at least when it was activated. It blacked out the entire northern hemisphere, but that was a waste of resources on the terrorists' behalf." His voice was now sullen.
"Contained for so long, hardly anyone had a defense against smallpox. It was released at an airport terminal in Buenos Ares, one of the few that was still operational. No one ever stood a chance, but the terrorists weren't done. They acquired plans for an atomic reactor override from the ruins of the Pentagon. Idiots should stop watching 24, but I understood why they thought it was necessary. So-called martyrs wouldn't care if they were killed in a nuclear explosion, so it would be a real boon if they could seize control of the reactors before terrorists could. But they planned to launch the EMP before the override was completed. It was flawless, not even Einstein himself could have planned it better."
"Since the override was mostly written on documents and wasn't saved on a hard drive, the plans were intact when the EMP was launched, another reason why I think that there was an inside source for the terrorists. But in the end, it didn't matter. Reactors worldwide were melting down one by one, and Angela and I were in the blast radius of the reactor in Onagawa. We never found our sensei, and neither were we able to warn Meric and Simon in time. I used the Eye and left our dimension before the meltdown occurred." Reon's arms tightened. "I didn't have a choice. Even if we wanted to go back, there isn't much to go back to any more. I find it strange, why would terrorists kill themselves in the process along with everyone else? We'll never know."
He looked up. "And I know what you're thinking, literally. Why not just go back in time and fix the damage? The problem was my powers itself. The Eye increased the intensity of my powers exponentially, and that created a feedback loop when I enter a dimension. I think that it's possible that that has something to do with it, but I'm not to sure. Going back in time is the only serious problem with my powers; if I go back in time, and someone is dead in the present but not the past, the moment I enter the past, they die instantly."
A collective gasp traveled through the group. But before any of them spoke, Reon started back up again. "I only went back in time once, and it wasin an attempt to fix the damage. But I was trying to do it in baby steps first. I found out what happens when I do with some help from Meric. I found out because out because of a hospital we were near while we were still in Cairo; six patients were alive one minute and dead the next. I never made the attempt again."
Both he and Angela gave a collective sigh, the latter quiet all the way through Reon's story. It took a minute for him to speak up again. "So, that's my history lesson, any questions?" The tone wasn't humorous, but also not brooding.
Robin was the one to speak, "I didn't imagine what you've gone through, so-"
"Don't apologize, Robin. I appreciate the sympathy, but there wasn't anything that could be done. I know that may seem callous of me, but I've seen my fair share of death and war. I know how to admit when all is lost." He picked up his jacket from where it fell on the ground a couple minutes back and wrapped his swords in it.
"Oh, yeah," Beast Boy spoke up. "What happened at the power plant?" Robin interrupted before Reon could respond.
"I think our guests would like a little bit of a break. I think they deserve a little reprieve."
"It would be very much appreciated." Angela finally chirped. In turn the Titans filed out, followed closely by the two newcomers. The hydraulic doors slid open, letting the group in the hallway.
"So, about the power plant?" Robin questioned.
"Yeah. And I wasn't lying about before, it really was my fault. I already told you about my occasional lack of control of the eye, and I was still in the testing faze. I followed Overload back to Jump City, because I was the one who let him out."
"Thing is, a lot of weird things can happen to you when you are testing out a powerful source of energy, like teleporting yourself inside a wall."
Robin turned his head while he walked, "So it was you inside the prison, but why was there an explosion?"
"I had to blow myself up because I was inside a wall! I was still aiming for that blasted desert. When the shock wore off, I saw him escaping."
"Did you see Mumbo escape?"
"Mumbo? No, I only saw Overload by the time I got out of that mess. But he was made of energy, so he could outrun me with all that power pumping into that place. And because of that, he amassed enough energy to come here in no time. I guessed he would come here because of all the fond memories with your team. Turns out I was right."
"Wait. You're also the reason why Raven keeps having problems with her powers." Beast Boy said. "Every time you appear, -"
"I know. I know. Raven's powers work through the use of your empathy and manipulation of the bonds in magic. Correct?" Raven nodded.
"I use a highly condensed form of magic as propulsion through space/time, so all beings who use magic will feel like a rail road spike is driving into their temple. It creates a ripple effect, so any magical being in the immediate area is affected."
Robin took a right turn next and Cyborg gaze him a questioning look. He only gave him a smile. Realization hit Cyborg and he gave a Grinch's grin.
It was Starfire's turn to ask a question. "And you knew all of our names and abilities just from the memories you have gathered?"
Reon let off a bark-like laugh. "Oh, I was so hoping you would ask that question. Heh heh. When I was growing up, my brother wasn't my only hero. I also loved to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Personal favorite was, drum roll please, the Teen Titans!" Now at this, everyone stopped.
"You mean the say you knew all about us from cartoons!?" Cyborg said in bewilderment.
"Well... yeah. Space and time gives the multiverse an unlimited amout of possibilities."
"...okay."
Beast Boy's gaze drifted down toward his swords in the tightly wrapped bundle. "Well, I guess you really didn't need your powers when you're fighting Overload with the two of the same swords like that."
"Actually," He unwrapped his jacket, revealing both swords. Both of the sheathes were wrapped in the same fine black material with crisscrossing gold stitching. One of the sheathes was actually considerably shorter than the other, almost by a full foot. "One of them is a katana, but the other is a wakizashi. I use a variation of the sword styles of Iaido and Kenjutsu, but I got to develop my own brand." He gave a small chuckle.
Robin couldn't stop a smile. "So you think you can fight pretty well?"
"Well, my sensei-Ow!" Angela slapped him upside the head. "I'm sorry, OUR sensei was considered one of the best in the world, though I'm fairly certain we are the only ones whoever saw his face."
"All right then, good." Robin finally reached his destination at a pair of double doors. The hydraulics opened them and both Angela and Reon both stared in the confines of the Titan's Tower personal gym.
"Kinda hoping it was a hot shower." Angela said as an afterthought.
"Not yet. You said you two were skilled fighters." Robin smiled and folded his arms. "I'd like to put that to the test myself."
"Now don't be putting words in my mouth, Boy Wonder."
"Show me."
Reon sweatdropped. "Come again?"
"You said you could fight, now show me."
Holy crap, that was a long chapter, and the fight scene was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. My problem is I have trouble concentrating, and I also need to through homework in the equation. And now I'm planning another fight scene so soon. Man, I'm insane. R&R people! Now enough with this all nighter . . . time to sleep... (faceplants on keyboard.)
...
Oh, forgot. Small update.
For those who have read it, There is a fight scene coming up between Reon and Robin, Angela might come out to play as well. Got one review, so want to remind people.
What I'm saying is that my resources are limited, so I have only so much to go on. My story is designed to take into account the opinions of my readers. So if you would like to volunteer any sword techniques or martial arts, go ahead, I'll see if I can use them. Reon is somewhat of a crafty trickster, as he is still hiding a very special ability from the Titans, so it is only natural that he has a few aces up his sleeve.
Like I said, if you wish to volunteer any info, go ahead. For those of you concerned, I still have some skills in reserve my two characters can use.