The Stone Chest
Chapter 4
"The Escape"
Two members of the Order of Chaos walked slowly due to the several hits received back in the battle against the Titans, but fortunately, they were near to their destination. A dark cave was in front of them and, after a short pause for breathing; they decided to enter very cautiously in order to remain unnoticed; the thing they didn't know was that a warrior from the opposite Order was following them very closely.
Afterwards, everybody was inside and they could see a big group of people surrounding a statue; Connor revised the cave looking for a place where he could see the scene remaining unnoticed and the two robbers joined the others to get in front of the leaders. A short while later, the Order of the Darkness young member found a distant overhang where he could see everything clearly although he could barely hear anything; nevertheless, given the situation he could not expect more than he had. After a moment, the spy put his chest on the floor taking care for avoiding to be seen and he dedicated to look the little convention which was being developed beneath him. The two guys, followed by Connor, arrived to the center of the meeting where the statue was located and quickly they talked with the leaders of the cult.
"Master, we are sorry for the delay, but we had an encounter with the titans" – said the mage of the deadly attack.
"Your words tell me that the objective you had was reached, but, anyhow soon we will know it for sure" – replied one of the leaders.
In that moment, everybody, including Connor, turned their heads to the entrance, while listening the particular sound of footsteps getting closer; some instants later, another man dressed like the others appeared and, after walking to the masters, he got on his knee offering a chest to one of them.
"Mission accomplished" – said the man without rising his head.
"You have done well" – said the other leader after examining the content of the box.
"Everything is happening according to the plan; the titans were easily eluded by a little distraction party and they never realized that the true strike was taking place far away" – added the other boss while laughing.
"Only to guests are missed, after their arrival we can start the ceremony" – said other member after getting closer to the main group.
Almost immediately after those words, two persons appeared beside the leaders; the guys dressed robes that looked very similar of the other ones, but the drawn emblem was different. Connor, from his hideout, had to make a big effort to avoid a gasp whose sound would lead the others towards him; but what he was seen was unbelievable; the most powerful two master of his own order had just appeared next to the leaders of that meeting without making any sign to begin a fight; and that only meant one thing; betrayal.
"I can see that you finally understand that your interests and ours have a lot in common" – said one of the leaders to the newcomers.
"This world is about to live a change and we can not just step aside of it, my dear John" – replied one of the newcomers.
"Indeed Joseph, now with Zarth free again many things will stop being what they were; and, better times will come to all of us" – said John politely – "Alright, we already have all the necessary stuff and all the necessary people to begin the ceremony so it would be better stop wasting time, the Supreme Master is awaiting and his patience is not large"
The four Masters and two apprentices put some objects around Terra's statue while the other disciples raised flames of different colors; shortly, a mixture of red, blue, brown and gray lights illuminated the cave. Connor was thankful of being backwards the meeting otherwise he would have been seen easily. In that moment, all the disciples and their leaders were focusing towards the stone figure and that fact showed that it had great importance in the ritual the others were just performing.
Connor had an internal battle trying to find a reasonable explanation to what he was seeing; it was pretty obvious that some kind of alliance had been established between mortal enemies, an alliance that for some reason remained unknown for the other members of the Order of Darkness; in fact, the idea of a big double crossing to smash the Order of Chaos seemed to have sense, but if you analyze the facts a little bit closer you ended discarding the idea for being very improbable.
Some instants later, the Masters began to recite an enchantment and once again they used the Latin as the main language; the disciples repeated some of the phrases said by the leaders, while two apprentices raised the chests that were lying in front of the statue in order to offer them to it as a tribute. Several minutes passed and a little earthquake began to take control of the entire place; nevertheless, none of the people present dared to move, it was like everybody expected something like that to happen; even Connor, who had no idea of the purpose of the ritual, seemed to unnoticed the natural threat. But, what happened afterwards really surprised him; the statue began to shine, it was like light trying to escaping from the inside, at the beginning, it was a tenuous light and then, the statue started letting to escape many beams. The young warrior looked the whole scene remaining confused and it was in that moment when he noticed the earthquake, which was rising at the same time that the light coming from inside the statue got stronger. Connor started to doubt if the cave would stand over that huge shaking; however, he had to stop thinking to cover his eyes. The light in that moment was so intense that it literally blinded everybody for a few seconds. Fortunately, and almost immediately, the light started to extinguish itself and the earthquake got weaker; Connor wait for a short while before open his eyes but what he saw afterwards made him think that the entire phenomena had clouded his mind because in the very place where the statue was located a blonde girl was standing looking very dizzy.
The disciples started to scream of jubilee due to the sudden apparition and the four Masters smiled with pleasure seeing his mission accomplished successfully.
"Brothers, the prophecy start to fulfill itself; at last we have in our bare hands the only barrier which dares to stand in front of our plans! And once she is destroyed nothing will be able to stop a new reign being arisen on Earth!" – screamed John towards the crowd.
A louder scream filled the entire place while a focused Connor began to understand what was happening; it was obvious that no matter the intentions of the Masters the girl had a very important role to play; and, considering what he just saw and the words John just said, the outcome would not be something good; then, the young warrior decided to do the most sense thing he managed to think in that moment: to kidnap the girl. He only needed to find the right moment to do it; an open fight against the four masters was a suicide for sure so it was necessary to have a lot of patient to conduct the plan he had not yet thought. A few moments later another ritual began, this time two of the masters were grabbing the disoriented girl, who was too confused to react, while the other two red a book which seemed to be very antique; the rest of the people were lying on their knees in a reverence posture. Up to that instant it was obvious for the member of the Order of Darkness that the masters had released the girl with the only purpose of destroying her and for that reason it was vital the stop the ritual, which Connor knew very well, before it reached its end. The young warrior waited until the ritual was getting closer to its end before put on practice the plan he managed to build minutes ago; and, when the right moment came, he quickly raised his hands and shot a strong beam of energy towards the roof, that attack shook the whole place and started a cave-in.
All the disciples started to run for their life since they were not expecting another earthquake; this chaos was used by Blackwood to throw another beam, stronger than the previous one, against the four masters and since they were using all their mind powers and energy to perform the ritual, they could not avoid being hit by the attack. Connor could observe how the four sorcerers were expelled away from the girl and immediately he jumped from the overhang with the mere intention of rescuing her, but then, three disciples who realized his trick stood in front of him.
One of the guys threw an energy beam towards Connor who stretched his left arm in order to create a light shield which stopped the attack; immediately the other two enemies charged against the member of the Order of Darkness who threw the shield which he just created against one of the aggressors in order to attack the other with an energy beam thrown from his right arm; both attackers ended unconscious over the floor and the third one created several light darts which he threw quickly against Connor. The young mage, after observing that technique, disappear only to appear behind the attacker who jumped aside in order to stay out of Connor's attack range.
"I would really want to stay a little longer, but duty calls" – said Connor while smiling and then he shot himself at maximum speed towards the blonde girl.
"If you want to reach her it will be over my dead body" – said the other while appearing between Connor and the girl.
"If you really want to die I will make you happy" – replied Blackwood changing his facial expression into a darker one.
Connor amassed a certain amount of energy in his right hand and a white beam emerged towards his opponent who jumped to evade it, but the attacker did not even managed to reach the maximum elevation when he saw the member of the Order of Darkness before him.
"Surprised?" – said Connor while joining his hands in order to throw a huge energy attack towards the unready rival who fell to the floor motionless after receiving the whole technique.
The young warrior took a deep breath and then he started to run at maximum speed towards the blonde girl who reacted with a lot of fear when she saw him and that reaction caused an intensity rising in the earthquake; Connor knew he was running out of time; the Masters will not last any longer before recovering and the cave was about to collapse so the only reasonable choice was going out from that place and the sooner the better. The guy grabbed the girl, but she far from cooperating started to struggle to free herself. Blackwood, after seeing her reaction, used his left arm to grab her while putting his right hand over her face, and the girl could see with horror how the guy's eyes became completely dark while a shining light started to emerge from his hand. Seconds afterwards, an unconscious Terra was grabbed by Connor just before both disappearing leaving no trace behind.
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Robin and the others were revising, in a detailed way, the cave where Terra had been resting for more than a year; they did not wanted to leave a single nook without checking it trying to find any clue about either what or who had kidnapped their partner. Starfire and Raven searched the roof carefully while Cyborg and the boy wonder did the same in the floor; the walls were checked by Beast Boy who took the shape of either a spider or a snake depending on the situation with the purpose of doing an extremely dedicated search. The Titans spent many hours doing the investigation, but in the end they did not find even one single clue which helped them to find the statue.
"I just can't believe there's no trace of the kidnappers" – said Starfire looking angry.
"It is like they just came out from nowhere" – added Cyborg.
"Or like they appeared in here and then disappeared" – indicated Raven with clear signs of having a possible name in mind.
"Do you think this guy, Connor, is the responsible of all this? – asked Robin understanding behind the lines.
"His actions have been very suspicious from the beginning and it's clear that he hadn't told us all he knows; besides, his ability of teleporting fix perfectly in this modus operandi" – answered Raven without turning a hair and with her typical monotone voice.
"Then we have to find that guy as soon as possible!" – screamed Beast Boy while going towards the exit of the cave.
"Where do you think you're going?" – Asked Cyborg while grabbing his buddy by his green hand – "By any chance do you have the introduction card of that Connor where is typed his telephone number and his address?"
"Staying in here is not going to bring Terra back" – replied Beast Boy while getting free of his partner grabbing.
"Acting without thinking properly won't bring her back either; keep in that little mind of yours that all of this reasoning part have not been confirmed yet… Now, whoever these guys are, I'm sure they will appear again and in that moment we'll have a great chance of catching them; until then, looking for Terra in a blindfold way won't have any result" – said Robin in the same tone that a teacher use to talk to his class.
"For you is easy to say we have to wait, at the end you never supported or understood Terra, that plate was a mere formalism for you and the words written in it only spoke for one of us. I know she lied and betrayed us, but in the end he sacrificed her life to save us and it is about time for you to consider that fact. If you want to seat and doing nothing is ok for me, but I'll do whatever I can to find her, is the least she deserves for saving us" – said Beast Boy before turning into a cheetah to leave the cave running at maximum speed.
"…from a situation where she put us in the first place" – thought Raven, although given the tension of Beast Boy speech, the Titan chose to say nothing.
"Freeze!" – screamed Cyborg while preparing himself to run after his partner.
"Is better to let him go" – said Robin while stopping his metallic friend – "Beast Boy is having a hard time and is obvious that he doesn't like the idea of waiting; maybe some patrol time will help him to feel better"
The other Titans, looking very disappointed due to Beast Boy departing, decided to go back to the Tower and get prepared to respond to another attack; after all, the robbers couldn't get the Aztec pieces from the museum so the idea to wait for another strike wouldn't look too wild for them.
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Connor were in a rooftop near the Order of the Chaos Headquarters, the young warrior didn't want to stop until reaching his destination because there were a lot of thing to inform, the leaders betrayal among them; it was necessary to define the strategies to use and investigate why the blonde girl was so important for Zarth and his crew. Nevertheless, the sound of a text message in his cell phone stopped him, no due to the message itself but for the fact that it was from Jessy and it was catalogued as emergency; Blackwood red it and get very disturbed for his friend's words, the message was short, but straight to the point and powerful:
Don't come to the headquarters for any reason; you must contact me at once. It is vital that you talk with me before doing anything, reply me as soon as possible to know that you red this message.
Connor spent some minutes trying to find an explanation to what he just red, if something was a trademark for Jessy it was that she barely overreacted and, considering the way in which she asked him to stay far away of the headquarters something deeply bad should had happened; the young mage meditated for some instants and then he replied the message using a code which they only knew in order to confirm the identity of the sender. Almost immediately the member of the Order of Darkness received a call.
"Jessy? Is that you?" What the hell is that about not going back to the headquarters?" – asked Connor.
"And you still dare to ask? After what you did I don't even think on going back" – answered the woman.
"What the…? I don't understand. How do you know it?" – inquired Connor amazed.
"So, is it true? I can't believe it. How could you…? Jack called everybody to an emergency session to inform us what happened" – said Jessy very affected by the facts.
"I don't understand. Something is fishy, I can't believe that Jack told everything to everybody" – said Connor more for himself than for his friend.
"He had to, after all, a Master's death can't be hidden, can be? Although considering that you are his murderer it is easy to understand your attitude… I… The truth is that I expected you telling me that he was blaming you. I never believed that you were capable of doing that atrocity" – said Jessy starting to cry.
"What the hell did you just say! One of the Masters died! …Wait a second… What told you Jack exactly?" – asked Connor fearing the worst.
"You already know that"
"Stop the paranoid show Jessy, it is important for me to hear all the details of what Jack said to you".
"Jack came very frustrated to the base and almost immediately he called the session… in which he said that Joseph had been killed in an ambush set by you" – replied Jessy trying to keep calm.
"Asshole! Well, now everything gets clear. Damn it! He knew that I would unmask him and he decided to play rude; but killing Joseph… How could he dare to do such a thing?" – said Blackwood trying to put his ideas in order.
"Now it's me who don't understand? What do you mean with all that you just said?" – ask the woman.
Connor gave her all the details about what had happened in the cave since his arrival, going through the blonde girl apparition, until their escape and put a big emphasis in Joseph and Jack's betrayal.
"I can't believe it, well now I understand Jack's play" – said Jessy.
"That crazy guy knew that I'd expose him before the council and he decided to take the initiative in the worst way he could".
"The worst part is that he indeed accomplished his mission; almost all the members of the Order are after you with the only intention to kill you; not to mention that others decided to stay here in the case you dare to come".
"And considering the facts, it is not wise to go there to tell my version".
"I don't think they even let you talk, and it is senseless thinking they are going to believe you; keep in mind that it'd be your word against a Master".
"Well my friend, I really appreciate your warning, but it's no safe to extend this conversation anymore; if they find our connection you'll be in great danger".
"I know it but what are you going to do?"
"I don't know it yet, but I can assure you that I won't let them catch me, not without a big fight at least; see you later".
Connor hung up the cell phone and started to run at maximum speed towards the only place where he could receive some help in that moment; the idea to go there was not comfortable for him, but given the situation, the alternatives weren't better.
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Robin was looking for something to eat when the sound of someone knocking the front door came to his ears; it was very unusual to receive visits those days and it was even less common to have visitors at that time. The boy wonder waited to see if anybody else had listened the calling, but alter realize that the others were in their respective bedrooms he decided to see what was happening. If the leader of the Titans could swear something on his life it was that there were a very few things with the power of surprising him, but what he saw after opening the door not only shocked him but left him speechless. Before him was the strange suspicious guy accused of robbing Terra's statue, but the thing which caused his surprise was seeing Terra lying asleep in the guy's arms; if that day in the morning somebody had bet him that a few hours later he would be seeing that scene, the former Batman's apprentice had lost a huge amount of money. Obviously, Connor began the conversation after seeing the reaction of the other.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you, but terrible things have happened and it's necessary for me to inform you; besides this girl need some help and I thought you were the right guys to ask for it" – said Connor using his most formal tone.
"Well my friend, you have no idea of the revolution that your presence will cause" – replied Robin while inviting the other to enter and trying to realize what was happening before his eyes.
What will happen when the others see Connor? What will Beast Boy say when he sees Terra alive? What will Terra do when she awakes? Will Connor continue being chased? Stay tuned and don't miss next chapter.
Author's Notes: Well, at last I finish this chapter and it's a little longer than the others. I've been very busy since last one; in fact I left my sweet Venezuela and went to Spain to make a Master and right now I'll be living in Scotland for two and a half months in order to have the second term's lectures of this Master. But I'm trying to find time between lectures, traveling and moving on periods to write this story; so don't be afraid that this will continue 'til the end. I know this chapter was too much centered in Connor and I promise that the others will have more words about our heroes. Well Terra finally appeared so let's see how she is received by her… friends? Definitely Jack is a man without compassion and he has no limits when he is after something or he believes he's in danger; and poor Connor, he's being chased by his own partners… definitely it's not a sunny day for them. Anyway, step by step you'll start to discover the mysteries surrounding the young mage and the blonde girl; not to mention that hard tests awaits for our heroes; so don't miss the action and see you in next issue.