As Kori and Richard walked past they saw that Gar and Vic stopped running and were now kicking their pursuers' behind.
"Kori, you find my mom and rally the others. I'll look for Slade!" said Richard.
Richard started to make his way up to Titan Tower. Richard saw Slade looking down at the other end of the cliff with a superior look. He was pretty angry with something but what Richard wasn't sure what it was. However, the important thing at the moment was getting to him unnoticed.
"MARY!" shouted Slade.
Mary started to make her way towards Titan Rock with some of the villians snapping at her a few times. Mary did the only thing she could do to them, she glared at them disdainfully and continued walking.
"Yes, Slade?" asked Mary.
"Where is your hunting party? They're not doing they're job!" said Slade.
"Slade, there is no food. The herds have moved on." Said Mary.
"No! You're just not looking hard enough!" said Slade.
"It is over. There is nothing left. We have only one choice. We must leave Titan Tower." Said Mary.
Slade glared at her for a second.
"We're not going anywhere." Said Slade.
"Then you have sentenced us to death!" said Mary.
"Then so be it!" said Slade.
Mary was utterly shocked at Slade's lack of responsibility.
"You can't do that!" said Mary.
"I'm the leader. I can do whatever I want." Said Slade.
"If you were half as good as a leader John was…"
But before Mary could finish Slade backhanded her to the ground.
"I'm TEN times the leader John was!" said Slade.
A battle cry was heard. One of anger, one that would have been made when John was in battle.
Richard was covered in the shadows, so in a way it looked like he had a black uniform.
Slade took a couple of steps back in fear.
"John? No! You're dead!" said Slade.
Richard ignored Slade an walked over to Mary. He pushed her softly in attempt to wake her. It had worked, she looked at Richard with weakened eyes.
"John?" asked Mary.
"No, it's me Richard."
"Richard? You're alive? " asked Mary..
"Richard? Richard! I'm a little surprised to see you…" gives Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth a death glare. "Alive!" The three gulp audibly slowly disappearing into the shadows knowing they were in deep trouble now.
Mary starts to get up with some help of the superheroes.
Richard glared at Slade.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't rip you apart." Threatened Richard.
Now that Richard had grown up there was no telling how many ways he could torture Slade. Even Slade himself had a limited amount of torture ideas.
"Oh, Richard, you must understand. The pressures of ruling a team…" started Slade.
"Are no longer yours. Step down Slade!" finished Richard.
"Oh, oh, ye… Well, I would but there is one little problem. You see them?" asked Slade.
He pointed above to reveal a whole bunch of Hive members on the cliff.
"They think I'M leader." Said Slade.
"Well we don't! Richard is the rightful leader!" said Kori.
The super heros stood behind Kori nodding their approval. Slade was a lousy leader.
"The choice is yours, Slade. Either step down or go through battling for the title." Said Beast Boy.
"Oh, must it all end in violence? I'd hate to be responsible for the death of a family member. Wouldn't you agree, Richard" asked Slade.
"That's not going to work, Slade! I've put it behind me!" said Richard.
"Ah, but what about your faithful teamates? Have they put it behind them?" questioned Slade.
"Richard, what is he talking about?" asked Kori.
"Ahh, so you haven't told them your little secret." Said a delighted Slade. "Well, Richard, now's your chance to tell them. Tell them who is responsible for John's death!"
Richard steeled himself over.
"I am."
Mary approached her son with a look of pure grief.
"It's not true. Tell me it's not true."
Richard's head sunk.
"It's true."
"You see? He admits it! Murderer!" accused Slade.
Lightning crashed behind Slade's head to punctuate the sentence.
"No! It was an accident!"
Slade walks around and around Richard with his hands behind his back.
"If it weren't for you, John would still be alive! It's your fault he's dead; do you deny it?"
"No."
"Then! You're! Guilty!"
"No! I'm not a murderer!"
Slade and the villians start to back Richard up the length of Titans tower.
"Oh, Richard, you're in trouble again. But this time, Daddy isn't here to save you. And now EVERYONE…KNOWS…WHY!"
Richard slipped over the edge and was clinging on to the ledge with his hands. He brought out two bird-a-rangs and sunk them into the rock to help him climb. .
Lightning striked the bushes below him, igniting a fire.
"Richard!" shouted Kori.
Slade smirked as he looked upon Richard's fearful face.
"Now this looks familiar. Hmm…Where have I seen this before? Oh yes, I remember. This is just the way your father looked before he died."
He takes out two razor sharp silver S's and plunged them into Richards hands like he did to John.
"And here's my little secret…"
Slade leaned in close to whisper it to him.
"I killed John." Whispered Slade.
Richard had a quick memory flash back to that fateful instant. His voice blended with his younger voice in the scream of when his father died.
"NoooooOOOO!"
In one giant leap Richard lunged up and pined Slade on his back.
"Murderer!"
"No, Richard, please!"
"Tell them the truth!"
"Truth? But truth is in the eye of the behold…" Richard started to put pressure down on Slade's throat. "All right! All right! I did it!"
"So they can hear you!" demanded Richard.
Slade gritted his teeth but did as he was told.
"I killed John!"
Kori warmed up a few starbolts and started flying towards Slade. Hive members jumped off their ledge and attacked Richard. The super heroes joined in the fray to fight off the Villians.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" was the cry that was heard as the Hive members were blasted away with sonic blasts and a rhino.
"'Scuse me! Pardon me! Comin' through! Hot stuff! Whoo!" exclaimed Gar.
A pale hand punches a Hive member off of Richard. Raven starts fighting off the Hive members in a Kung fu 'B-movie' style.
One last Hive member tries to sneak up behind him but hits him in the face with a raise of his fist without turning around in a typical Batman fashion.
Gizmo, Mammoth, and Jinx arrive in the cave and smirk as they walk over to Bruce.
"I've been waiting to do this for a long time now!" said Gizmo.
"I'm going to enjoy this." Said Jinx.
Bruce put out two bird-a-rangs to defend himself from Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo who had entered the room to pummel him and quite possibly eat him later (cannibals).
Two shadows suddenly outstretched into the cave.
The three looked and saw Gar and Vic itching for a fight.
"You want to give these guys the sonic boom?" asked Gar.
Vic turned his arm into his sonic cannon.
"I got the sonic if you got the boom." Said Vic.
"Hey! Who's the Tin Man?" asked Gizmo.
"Oh no you did NOT just call me a TIN MAN!" shouted Vic.
"Oh no they called him a Tin Man." Said Gar.
"You callin' me a Tin Man?" demanded Vic.
"They shouldn't have done that." Said Gar.
"Are you callin' ME a Tin man?" demanded Vic..
"Now they're in for it." Said Gar
"They call me MR. TIN MAN! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The three Hive members held onto each other and scream in fear. "AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
A dust cloud started to form as Vic began to beat the crap out of the three evil doers. Mammoth tries to escape at one point but Vic drags him back into the dust cloud.
As the three Hive members go running out of the cave Gar and Bruce start to chant.
"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!"
*** Titans tower glowed orange from the fire as the smoke was reached high into the sky. The Villians began running away from the city figuring the battle wasn't worth being barbequed. Richard searched for Slade, scanning the rocks above and around him. The boy looked over at the path that led to the top of Titans tower and saw something in the shadows. Just then lightning flashed, revealing Slade sitting there and when the lightning struck again, Slade had all but vanished. Richard scowled and chased after him. The young man jumped through a wall of flame to reach the top and came face to face with Slade who was standing by the edge, waiting with a cold stare. Richard walked over to him glaring as he did.
"Slade, you tormented what's left of my family and destroyed my home, this ends tonight."
Slade scoffed "I assure you dear boy, that I had nothing to do with how Jump city becoming a barren wasteland. Those filthy, mangy, low brain-celled villians did all that." Unknown to Slade was that Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo were standing behind the wall of flames and heard every word. The trio scowled and backed away.
"No, Slade. I blame you." Richard stood in front of Slade, staring hatefully at his uncle, "You made me believe that I had killed my own dad." The one-eyed man was not intimidated and calmly asked,
"So what are you going to do now? Kill me?" Richard took a deep breathe.
"No. That would only prove I'm as bad as you, Slade. I want you to run. Run away... and never come back." After hearing those words, Slade slowly started walking away.
"As you wish..." Slade looked down and saw a pile of burning ember by his hand. "..you're Majesty!" He swiped his hand through the embers and sent them flying in Logan's face. With a cry of surprise and pain, Riichard tried to wipe away the embers but Slade tackled him down onto the ground, Strangling at Richard's throat. Suddenly something knocked Slade off. The man turned to see Kori, who now stood between him and Richard.
"Get away from him!" she threatened between bared teeth.
"Ah, dear Kori, perfect timing as usual." They began circling each other and Slade swiped at her but Raven swiftly dodged and jump on him, which Slade managed to overpower her and pin the baeutiful girl to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. "And to think I wanted you to be my apprentice. It almost pains me that I have to kill such a promising young girl," Slade said coldly. "Almost." Slade heard a battle cry and then was knocked off of Kori by Richard. "Get off me!" Slade shouted and tossed Richard off. Kori got up and Starbolted Slade right across his face. The man snarled and hit Kori with the back of his hand sending her back down to the hard ground. Slade lunged at Richard again but this time the boy was ready for him. The two enemies were now face-to-face, punching each other every moment they could.
Richard hit Slade's face hard as the one-eyed man attacked without mercy with a swipe across the face then another. The force of the last one made Richard land on his back next to Kori. Time seemed to slow down as Slade leaped into the air with his Knives out, ready to finish them both.
"Richard, flip him!" Kori yelled. Richard nodded at her and Slade just about had the younger teens when they managed to push the older man over the edge of titans tower. Richard and Kori walked over to the edge and looked over to see that Slade had landed on a rock where the fire had not been able to reach. But what surprised them the most was that Slade actually survived the fall. Slade got up and looked around and from out of the smoke appeared the Villian trio, staring coldly at Slade.
"Ah, my dear friends," Slade said in a relaxed voice. Jinx gave a humorless chuckle.
"Oh so now we're your 'friends'? Earlier you said we're nothing but filthy, mangy, low brain-celled hyenas." Slade's eye widened.
"Yep that's what I heard," agreed Gizmo.
"Mammoth?" both Jinx and Gizmo asked. The giant teen started licking his chops and gruffly said,
"I say we stop talking and start eating." More villians started to appear, laughing and licking their lips as they moved closer to Slade. The white-haired man had nowhere to run, and was too weak to fight. But if he was going to die he wasn't going beg for his life like a coward. So he closed his eye with his head held high as the villians lunged at him and began eating him alive. Richard and Kori looked away from the grizzly sight.
"It's over," Richard said softly. Kori nodded her head in relief and managed a smile at Logan. Rain started to pour down upon the Jump city, putting out the fires and soaking the land in what it had been missing for so long. Kori and Richard climbed down to the base of Pride Rock where the other lionesses were waiting for them. Richard kissed his mother's cheek, happy that she was safe. Kori smiled at him and he gave her a sweet, but passionate kiss, which she returned. Mary and Lou-Anne smiled at the two and shared a knowing look. Someone cleared their throat politely and Richard looked up to see Raven standing on the path that led to the mouth of the landmark. Raven gestured to the peak, and Richard smirked slightly. He took a deep breath and began to ascend to where the girl stood, and once there he pulled her into a hug, catching her off guard. It didn't take Raven long to return it with a little hesitation.
"It is time Richard," Raven stated, after she regained her composure. Richard nodded and started to make his way to the peak of titans tower as all the heros, Gar, Vic, and Bruce watched with satisfied smirks on their faces. Richard looked up at the sky and smiled before he held his head high up, which all the heros joined in on, as rain continued to fall.
Gar rubbed his nose as his eyes started to tear up.
"I promised myself I wasn't gonna cry!" he said before he started to cry into Vics arm. Bruce gave a look before he rolled his eyes at the two friends.
**** Time passed, and Titans tower once again was full of life, grass, and water. It was no longer a desolate wasteland full of bones. A crowd of heros were gathered at the base of Titans tower looking up at Richard, Kori, Gar, and Vic. Kori looked over at Richard who was looking at her before he kissed her. She smiled.
"Told you you're the leader" she said playfully. Richard rolled his eyes in the same manner. They smiled at each other.
"I think its time we introduce someone," Richard stated, smiling proudly. Kori nodded and they both turned to see Raven, holding a small baby girl with black hair and green eyes. She smiled at them before holding up the baby for all to see. The heros went wild.
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life
Circle of…
Life…