Someone flame me already!

Chapter 7

He watched how Flash gurgled on the floor and eventually stopped moving entirely. He hoped he would have felt something. He felt nothing, absolutely nothing, for him and it made his appearance change into something foreign from cold and rational displeasure. The knowledge of the emotions that should have been raging inside him was weighting down on his psyche and made his thoughts erratic and unpredictable. The little control he had over the turmoil of energy inside him was crumbling and every high-powered machinery on the Tower light up from the rogue energy crackling in the air.

He fell to his knees and his eyes turned dark, they shut down, and he shut down. "Ghhrraagh…"Raven had called him an emotional parasite and he was beginning to wonder if she was right. She might not have said it, but he knew exactly what she thought and felt. She thought and believed that he was an unknown breed of a dragon. He was not so sure about that. He had to take other things into account. What did drive him on? Was it a simple base instinct to breed and spread his genome? That would explain his interest with Jinx. He was beginning to think that he had turned into a dragon just to impress her; it did give him the results he wished. It would also explain why his reproductive organs were so…pronounced. Did he manipulate Jinx just for her to have sex with him? She was hopelessly into unicorns, dragons, knights and all that stuff. She didn't show it much, but still he knew, he always knew. He knew this from the first time he came into contact with her. He knew these things about every one around him with an energy pattern distinct enough for him to read. So he knew this and then acted on it. Secluded her, made her smudge just the right rune and then when the fire was unleashed, he transformed into a thing that looked and acted like a dragon. Only time he had felt something was while he was around other people. Did he really leech on other people's emotions to feel more human, to justify his existence? Was he really the monster that he was forced to be?

He stumbled up and his eyes flared up again. They really did flare: white flames shot out of his eyes and burned two circular holes in the ceiling. He got back up and kicked Flash's body in a fit of rage, or he just did what he would do in a fit of rage, he didn't know anymore. He wanted to be able to feel! He wanted to know that he was, believing was not enough! He threw random bursts of energy around and let them rip the walls apart and then made the pieces fly around and destroy every other thing in the cafeteria.

"I am human! I am just as human as every one on this freaking space station! I am just as human as the freaks down there!" His face turned even more inhuman and his form became engulfed in white flames. The storm of energy intensified and Flash's body was torn into a thousand pieces that splattered around the remaining walls and some pieces stayed glued to the ceiling and were permanently scorched into the ceiling when flames engulfed the room and Du'grel let out a wail of pure desperation, the sound was more like a wailing wind than anything that a human could produce. The sound was so full of loneliness and madness that it made shills run up and down the backs of every one on the station. Du'grel flew through their minds without knowing it and saw the difference of their minds and his own. His mind was so cold! It was devastating to his mind and everyone on the Watchtower shared his horror and despair for only a split second, but it was enough to bring most of them to their knees.

"No! Nonononono!" His mind was breaking down and the flames started burning away his flesh. He was losing control and he couldn't care less. Damn them, damn them all! Let them burn, let them feel what my life was and still is! Make them feel the - "Pain…" His eyes suddenly dimmed and his body fell to its knees and the flames burned him away in a matter of seconds. He did not breath any dramatic last words; he was just burned away in a matter of seconds.

Actually, he didn't die. The flame kept on raging on and finally activated the automatic sprinkler system. His flame was different, it didn't radiate heat; it was hot enough to melt just about anything, but only on direct contact and the fire didn't reach the sprinklers until just now. The fire danced around hypnotically and completely ignored the water raining down on it and the heroes attempts to put it out. It pulsated like a living thing and made a sound that was like a whooshing heartbeat. Not even nearly resembling any sound that a human body could produce. You could connect the sound to hydraulic machinery. It was still wailing miserably and tried to tear apart every hero that tried to put it out.

Some base instinct was still alive in the complex gathering of energies that had once been Du'grel, and in some way, still was. It reacted very violently when Jhan tried to find out what kind of mind controlled the conscious flame that was now ravaging the Watchtower. The martian was sensing a unclear outline of a mind in the flame and tried to go deeper when it suddenly shot back.

Down in the cafeteria the flame roared higher than ever and was sucking Stargirl in its depths when it suddenly dissipated into thin air. It didn't die out, it just disappeared in an blink of an eye.

"What happened? Where -" She couldn't finish her sentence because the stench of scorched flesh hit her. The flame had also covered the bits and pieces that were what was left of Flash. No one had known of them until now. She covered her mouth and tried to force down the vomit. The stench intensified and she thought that she heard laughter. She shot up (She didn't remember getting down on her knees) and looked around wildly. At least she didn't feel like vomiting anymore.

"You disgusting girl! Do you have no respect for the dead? You're crawlin' on Flash's earthly remains!" The laughter echoed inside her head and made her vomit violently on the floor. She heard how the voice mocked her and laughed at her. "You like that, the smell, don't you, bitch! Fine, have a taste then." A sudden weight pressed her down and her face was forced against the floor. Her face was being rubbed in to her own vomit and the sticky remains of Flash. She cried uncontrollably and vomited again before passing from pure terror.

Her friends, her allies, couldn't do anything because of a force-field in the doorway of the cafeteria. They heard the voice that scolded her, and tried to hit the air all around her to hurt the thing that was holding her down. Supergirl was shooting lasers from her eyes all around the room, but she only ripped the room apart even more. The wicked power that had remained in the room after the flame had faded was starting to fade away, but it did not leave before shoving its power. A rather large piece of scorched Flash shot out from the wall and splattered on Supergirl's chest, right on the big "S" and covered it with scorching decaying flesh. "Rest in peaces…" The voice was fading away and

"Get it off! Get it off! Please, get it off!" Tears ran down her face and she was ripping her shirt apart and soon her whole chest was exposed, but no one thought anything even closely sexual when she dropped down on the floor on a feudal position and cried while hugging herself. Someone put their cape to cover her and carried her away. No one wanted to smell and see what the fire had done.

When the enemy was gone the heroes started to tend for the injured (The fire had given everyone who approached it severe burns, but no one had actually died while fighting it) and isolate the scene of the crime. Stargirl was wheeled out on and followed closely by her father, she was completely limp and seemed lifeless. If the damage was in her body or her brain; it definitely was fixable, but if it was in her mind, if she had broke down mentally; there was very little they could do for her. Jauhn was one of the few that could help her through whatever nightmare she was in.

Where am I? It's cold. Smells like winter, snow and ice.

Help me!

So cold…

"Jauhn! Jauhn, what's wrong?" Hawkgirl has never been accused of being especially, patient, but now she was sure that something was wrong. He had been probing the fire that was raging in the cafeteria for signs of some kind of primitive intelligence when he suddenly went limp and crashed to the floor. She was the first to reach him and she shook him like a rag doll. She knew that this didn't help if he was somewhere else than his own body, but it made her feel better. Like she was doing something.

The whole situation was chaotic. First the moon started spiralling towards the Watchtower and they launched out to do something about it. Superman just said that they should gather every flying super-powered hero available and push it back on its natural orbit. The precise orbit would have to be calculated later, but now they just had to get it back to orbiting earth.

They did that. Then the ships crashed into each other and they had to get back home with one ship and Green Lantern carrying the ones that were on the ships that crashed into each other. When they finally got back on to the station the cafeteria was engulfed in conscious flames and Flash was torn into thousands of pieces on the walls. It was hard to believe, but when he was not zipping around and throwing around stupid jokes it was easier to believe. Still… no one wanted to believe it.

"The fire went out, but it hospitalised Stargirl and Superirl." Superman said while floating into the room. There were dark shadows under his eyes and he looked like he could fall down from exhaustion. A lot had happened in the last thirty minutes.

"How? They didn't walk in it, did they?" Jauhn asked while getting up shakily, supporting himself on the table. Something had really knocked the wind out of him.

"What did you find out?" Superman asked without answering the question. Jauhn hesitated and considered if he should press on and find out what he was hiding. He sensed something in the back of his mind when he said that. Something foreign… He is an alien as well though, so it's not that alarming. There are whole galaxies between us. He decided against it.

"The fire indeed is a sentient being, violent, ancient, and driven on only by hate and a need to survive. It is capable of unspoken cruelty and comes from a place even more foreign than I. At least this is what I was able to gather before it struck back and disappeared."

"That's all nice and all, but how do we fight it?" Superman grimaced and his knees buckled under him. He would have fallen face first to the floor if Wonder Woman had not been there to catch him. "Are you feeling alright." Superman coughed up a trout and then said: "What do you think, hot stuff? Again, how do we fight it, Jauhn?" His hair started to turn into a lighter shade of grey and his muscles disappeared right in front of their eyes. His thights were getting baggy. He started coughing uncontrollably, spraying blood all over the floor and Wonder Woman. She dropped Superman and frantically wiped the blood out from her eyes. Superman stumbled and then fell down face first on the floor.

"Superman was surprisingly easy. I don't think that he even noticed that I was inside him. Jauhn, you were right, I do have intelligence, but I don't know what was that stuff about me being ancient… I would like to see what you dug up. I need to."

The fire jumped out of Superman's drained body and engulfed Jauhn. He dematerialised just before the flame made contact and didn't get burned alive. "Forgot about that, but it's not going to help you. I can melt through anything you phase through. I only want the things you uncovered about my past! I have no need for your power!"

Jauhn and the fire that was and is Du'grel did not fight in the traditional sense of the word, Jauhn tried to dodge out of the raging fire. What ever he went through, the fire melted and stayed on his skin. The fire kept his whole form engulfed in itself and gave him no way out. He was going to have to materialise again soon. "Just give it to me and no one -"

Shayera's mace sliced through the fire and caused it to turn crimson red on contact "Shriaakrgh!"The fire formed back into a shape that had vague resemblance to a man, the creature still consisted of white fire, but it seemed to be bound by gravity again. "What was that, fallen?" The creature looked up, its posture emanated hate and threat. The air also smelled like snow and ice. Jauhn materialised behind Shayera, breathing heavily.

"You okay, Jauhn?"

"I was counting on that… Thank you." Jauhn said and then went over to check on Superman. Du'grel stepped towards Jauhn, but Shayera sliced him with her mace again. His form exploded again into crimson flames and then gathered again a few feet away from Shayera. She grinned sadistically. "That really hurts you, doesn't it?"

Du'grel just looked around, like he was looking for a way out. Then he finally set his gaze on Shayera. "Do you know the location of Batman? I was looking forward to meeting him. He did not take part in the attempt to stop me and this troubles me deeply and truly. I took him as the persistent type…"

Shayera was a little thrown off by that. Why would he be worried about where Batman was at a time like this? What kind of mind would think about Batman when she was threatening him? Was he retarded or -

Shayera's mace was almost thrown out of her hands when the fire's whole mass slammed into her body, carefully avoiding the mace and direct contact with her. Didn't it know it was the mace? It probably thought that it was her. It had not bothered to turn back into the wildfire and Shayera only got some burns on her wrists, where it was holding her hands back. Jauhn could fix those in a heartbeat. It hissed and growled at the same time and spat on her face. It burned her skin and scorched her clothes. It acted like an animal with rabies. It definitely was crazy, but it was not as strong as you would think. Its hold was easy enough to break and she drove her mace straight through the inhuman being. It screeched again and exploded into crimson flames. Shayera was caught in the midst of the flames and she could not see anything but red and a fluttering image of the outside world. The fire did not burn; they were actually cold as ice. She also heard something. Whispered words that she could not understand, but that were said over and over again, like a prayer or a spell. She could only understand one word: "Raven" She whispered the word under her breath and the words intensified as the fire fluttered and started relapsing back in to its humanoid form. The fire started to burn her and it was also getting hard to breath.

Shayera flew up and prepared to strike down on the thing's next inhumane incarnation. She stopped before her mace was even raised. There was a well-built teenager there where the deep red flames had raged just a second ago. He had white hair and very unusual eyes… And he was completely naked. He looked confused and was visibly shaking. The shaking intensified and the kid lost his balance. He fell down on the floor and curled up in a feudal position. He took in huge shaking gulps of air and whimpered between breaths and trembled on the floor. He was clearly in terrible pain. Shayera dropped her mace cautiously, you never knew if it was a trick, but she could not make herself believe that anymore.

Du'grel Desham was back, restored from madness through trials of fire. He had never been in so much pain and could not stop the whimpers escaping from his mouth. It was like his body had frozen solid and was now shattering into tiny bits. Every little movement was like the cells in his body were cracked apart into sharp splinters. His muscles shuddered from the cold and made his existence into a constant roller coaster of pain. He knew that he had died and was now reincarnated somehow, but still he wanted to die if this was the cost of life. The pain was too much to bear.

His mind was much clearer now; he remembered his purpose, his mission. "Raven…" He whispered too silently for anyone to hear it. The pain started to fade slowly. The name slid out of the depths of his subconscious and floated through his conscious mind, tainting everything with it: Protect Raven, Save Raven, Love Raven, Serve Raven, Obey Raven, Never hurt Raven, Follow Raven, Never Leave Raven. He had been given his life back, but he had also been given this purpose. Whoever had given his life back to him was a cruel person. He was bound to Raven in more than one way. He was bound to serve her and stay near her; it was hard for him to keep his mind together if he was on orbit. Once he arrived on this planet, he was bound to stay. He was also blood bound; His life was entwined with hers, but her life was not entwined with his. If Raven died; He died. If he died; Raven lived on. He served the woman he hated most in the world. It was better when he didn't remember this, he could just follow his instincts and not ask that many questions.

Still, he did not know who he was. The martian seemed to know and it seemed that he had not been able to force it out of him (His time as the fire was all blurry in his mind). He was too weak to fight them, so there was actually no choice.

"I… I give up! Lock me up or shoot me down to earth, do what ever you do up here, but I would like to have some pants now." He was still breathing heavily and his body hurt all around, but now it was not as mind-numbingly painful as it was during the first minutes. He looked up to a sea of legs. The heroes had surrounded him while he was shaking on the floor. They were ready to pounce on him if he tried anything. He noticed that he was looking up into Batman's eyes. "Hello, Bruce, I was wondering where you were. Your weakness is an advantage. I could not track you as well as those other guys. I am ready to answer any questions you might have."

Batman looked at him silently for a moment. He tried to make him squirm under his eyes, but it didn't seem to work at all, it had always worked before, especially on his age group. Actually Batman was getting nervous under that relentless gaze of those weird glowing eyes. The kid didn't blink at all and he knew his name somehow. He hated telepaths, he had very little defences against them.

"Oh, don't worry; I got your name from theirminds, not yours. I keep hearing this annoying tune from yours. Now, could I get something to cover myself with? I can't make anything for a while myself."

Batman made a commanding gesture and someone threw a blanket at his head from the crowd and he immediately wrapped it around himself and got up. This happened in a fraction of a second, Batman noticed the speed and was sure about one thing: This kid had killed Flash. He had seen it on the surveillance tapes just a minute ago, but this proved it without question. This kid was some kind of power absorber, either by magical rituals or by nature. It would be pointless to fight someone with Flash's speed and with an ability to turn into living fire. He couldn't freeze him because he was too fast for that. Du'grel shivered and shook his head to clear it.

"Now I understand why he was so chatty. This feels like being extremely high!" He looked at the angry faces around him. He shrugged and zipped behind Batman. "Are we going or not? You are going to interrogate me, or something?" A glowing green fist collided with his face and he fell down. He didn't get up, but turned his head to stare at Green Lantern.

"You done yet? Or would you like to do something else you will regret." His voice was a low growling hiss. Batman saw how the ground beneath Du'grel frosted. Guess freezing him wouldn't have worked anyways.

"You killed Flash!" Green Lantern made a green sword and held it on Dugrel's throat. Du'grel smiled and his eyes flashed a little brighter than usual as he said: "Yes, I did. Would you like to join him?" Green Lanterns ring fluttered and the green sword dissipated like smoke. He tried to use the ring again, but it was no use. "Here I thought that the ring was just a way for you to use your own power. Boy, how wrong I was! It was the ring that had the power; you were the one using it… Interesting…" He closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep. Everyone looked around, unsure on what to do. This kid had apparently killed Flash, immobilised Superman and drained Green Lantern's ring. After all this, what did he do? He fell asleep. Sure, he had to be tired after all that, but it just seemed so inappropriate.

"Let's kill him. He has to pay for his crimes." Wonder Woman said while kicking his sleeping form. His body slammed into the wall and then slid down slowly to the floor. No one didn't bother or didn't dare to stop her. Anyways, now they had to figure out what to do next. Everyone started talking at the same time.

No one stopped to think about the reason why they had not said a word just a minute ago, when Du'grel was still awake. Every one was too busy in thinking of ways to imprison and punish him for his crimes. They all wondered what kind of Powers did he have beyond the ones he stole from Flash. They knew that he could turn into conscious flames: that's one. He

Had Flash's speed; that's two. He could stop Flash long enough to kill him and Batman had noticed how the ground froze under him when he got agitated, while he drained Green Lanterns ring; So he could drain energy or control it. Superheroes that had scientific experience started to make a cell that could contain him based on these assumptions. Batman took it upon himself to notify Flash's family. Superman was rushed to the infirmary.

And what about Du'grel? He knew nothing about his own physiology and thus did not know how his powers worked. His body had some interesting traits, especially in the way his powers worked. His powers were bound into his ability to see; yet that was not bound to his body, but his body was bound to his powers. The fire was his power and his power created his body and he saw even without a body. So why did he have a body at all then. He didn't know and there was no one alive that knew that. He turned into cold fire when he lost control of his emotions and he burned away everything it touched. Breaking it down to pieces and taking what it needed and wanted.

The fire was his power and it adapted to every new situation incredibly fast. That was how he could absorb meta-human powers. The fire especially adapted to new kinds of energy presented to it and if exposed to enough of the same kind energy, it started producing it within itself. And most of meta-human powers were based on producing and controlling energy…

So why did Du'grel shut down? Like everything in the universe, even his powers had limitations. Too many different kinds energy signatures surrounded him and his instinctual drive to adjust drove him out of his mind. At least that's what he thought and he knew there were some major flaws in his theory, but he didn't have another way to explain it. He only knew of this instinct and he had almost pieced together the fire's goals. He felt like there were a dozen other people inside him, all of them fighting for control.

He pieced these things together only later. Now he slumbered in this world.

And went to another one.

…

AN: I am not sure on where to send him and if you have any suggestions please tell me. I'll shed some light on Du'grel's past on the next chapter so you have time to send me a message or submit a review or flame me and then go and slit your wrists in a bathtub filled with hot water

Oh, how red the water will be! Go, my children, do it and then sue me for telling you to do so! (Seriously speaking; Don't listen to me.)

Crazy laughter