Chapter Nine: That's Got to Be Titan!
True to form Clark, Raya, and Kara recovered after several hours. Granted it was a few more hours longer than they wanted to do.
"Each Phantom escalates the threat level," Raya whispered. "It's almost like the longer that they're on Earth, the more dangerous they are. And the tougher they are to put down."
Kara frowned. "Do you have any idea why this is happening? Or are we just guessing?"
"I have theories just as much as the next person," Raya admitted when she crossed her arms. "But I don't really know exactly why."
Clark got up and paced around. There had to be an easier way to take these Phantoms out. The young man paced around and looked like a bit of a caged rat. His eyes turned towards the girls who frowned at him.
"You're really obsessing about this one, aren't you?" Kara asked her cousin. There was a second where he blinked and nodded. "Don't obsess, please, don't obsess."
"That's what he does, I'm sorry."
Chloe showed up and she walked over towards the group. She felt like she was the fourth wheel here somehow. This was information that Clark needed to know.
"Please tell me that you have something that we can use to get the final two Phantoms," Clark said. He looked worn and ragged. Chloe never thought that to be possible.
"Sorry, we don't mean to put pressure on you," Kara said, getting to her feet and facing the blonde. "After all you've done, we never want you to feel like we're pressuring you to do more."
"No pressure, I did this work on my own, and…..well you might want to look at this," Chloe said, handing the printouts of the police report.
Clark saw the police reports in front of him. It was from an underground fight club that was busted up. He frowned deeply when he looked over the reports.
"The patrons were found mauled and the guards as well, and that's not what happened to the competitor that this guy fought," Clark commented. "He went on a rampage. He says that he'll rip up anyone who is in his way."
"The police couldn't handle someone like this," Kara whispered. Each autopsy report made the aftermath of major wars look quite minimal indeed. She felt sickened to her stomach.
"And while I was recovering, this guy blew through twenty opponents, and several of the people there who thought they were hard enough to pick a fight," Clark said, cracking his fingers. "We got to find him."
"Well, it's not like they advertise these things," Chloe commented and she raised her eyebrow. "You know, because it's one of those kind of underground fight club things."
Clark nodded and Chloe thought that she said the most obvious statement in the world.
"And they keep moving these things every night," Clark suggested and she blinked and nodded.
"Okay, here's the last three locations that they busted up, and the feed…..well there should be some kind of feed coming on tonight," Chloe told him.
The young man frowned deeply.
"Why don't you try and figure out what to do on your end and we'll figure out what to do on our end?"
Chloe wondered what they had in mind. She figured that they were ready enough to move and they wanted to get back into the action. It wasn't like she could stop them.
"Just be careful out there, this guy looks like he means business," Chloe said and there was a second that Clark corked his eyebrow.
"You know, so do I."
There was something about Clark's words that almost intimidated Chloe. He had been focused but nothing like this.
"I let them out, I've got to put them back in, that's my responsibility."
"Yeah, I know that," Chloe said. "But I think that sometimes you take too much responsibility for everything."
That was a statement that caught Clark unaware. He wondered if Chloe had a point. His eyebrow lifted when he looked at her. The blonde gave him one of those looks. It was one of those looks where he knew that she was right and she wasn't going to say anything more other than that.
"Maybe I do, but this is one thing that I can't worry about someone else doing it."
There were two more Phantoms left. The group needed to get through this. He turned to Raya and Kara.
"Are you two ready?"
"Yeah, about as ready as we're ever going to be," Raya said, more shaken than she thought.
This caught her completely and utterly off guard. She knew that this wasn't going to be a game when she went out. This was reinforced instantly.
"I'm glad that you're okay," Lara told the trio when they returned back to the Fortress. "But you were lucky to get out of that alive. The fact that you worked together managed to get you through that."
Lara longed for a day that she could rest easily. Unfortunately that day was a long time to come. With two Phantoms out there, the danger was still out there.
"We're glad that we're okay as well," Kara said, turning around.
"Your mother would be very proud of you for how you've handled this," Lara told Kara.
There was a second where Kara's smile broke out over her face. She was glad for this reassurance in ways that Lara would never believe.
"I know she would be," Kara said. She switched to business. "So is there any luck with the Phantom? Or are we just guessing?"
"Well, we're getting closer to finding where he might be, if that's what you're asking," Lara commented to her niece. "And this one is a dangerous one."
"Doesn't that go without saying?" Clark asked his mother. He tried to keep himself less intense and obsessed with this. It was hard to do that but he tried.
"Yes."
Lara cycled through the database in the Fortress and tried to bring him up. The large and hulking bald figure dressed in a red and black overcoat showed up on the screen.
"His name is Titan, and he's not good news," Lara said and she pressed herself on to avoid being told that her statement was obvious. "He has no concept of pain. He has no concept of morality. He's extremely dangerous and will rip the heads off of anyone who gets in his way."
"Oh, he sounds like some really good news," Kara said with a shudder.
"He was sent to the Phantom Zone and didn't go quietly," Lara continued to explain. "He has been searching the entire universe, looking for the greatest warrior the universe has ever seen. He wants an enemy that will satisfy his blood lust."
"He wants to die in battle," Clark said, reading the information.
"And anyone who is not worthy enough to do this will be killed instantly," Lara said in a cool voice. "There will be no exceptions to this rule."
Clark wondered where he could find this Phantom. He didn't trip off any of the sensors yet. That fact alarmed him. He wasn't a Phantom, he was completely corporeal and would have to be killed, he would have to be destroyed.
"I'm going to have to go after him."
Lara wondered if her son was ready. She realized that he was the only hope left out there. As a mother, she couldn't stop herself from being worried, it was in her nature.
"The problem is we don't even know where we can start," Clark whispered underneath his breath.
The man's arms folded calmly and he turned towards the computer. Raya shook herself out of her thoughts.
"If you want to sit this one out, Kara and I can more than handle it," Clark told Raya. Raya smiled and nodded.
"I can help you in other ways, although I'm not sure how much use I'm on the field," Raya said. "But all we have to do now is follow the carnage."
The carnage, that was a loaded word. Clark didn't know what to expect. There was a hissing and also a humming that echoed through the back of his head, into the depths of his mind.
"Okay, let's see if we can find where the next fight club is," Kara said. She didn't know anything about this places.
"If he's as ready and willing for competition like he says that he is, he isn't going to back down for a challenge."
"Especially if it's from a Kryptonian," Raya added, bringing up the information. She watched Kara and Clark leave the area of the Fortress.
Kara wondered how more dangerous this was going to get. The first couple of Phantoms seemed like a cakewalk compared to these creatures. She didn't want to worry herself or Clark about this.
"Just breath, Kara, that's what you've got to do, just breath."
Clark placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I know what you saw in there, but…sometimes you just got to let things go," Clark said. "I blamed myself for the meteor shower and all that happened and…"
"Do you still?" Kara asked Clark crisply. Clark didn't say much of anything. "Clark, do you still blame yourself for something that you had no control over?"
"Always," Clark said. "I'm the worst person to give you this lecture…."
"Maybe," Kara said with a frown on her face. "Or you could be the best person, you never know."
"I suppose that I could be," Clark told her. He didn't know what to say. "What did happen…"
"I heard the screams, I couldn't make it there in time," Kara responded gently. Clark placed his hand on the top of her hair. "The city was gone. I don't know what happened. It was completely gone. That's the last time I saw my mother. She gave me something before I left…..but how could she know that something was going to happen? And if she knew, why didn't she save herself?"
Clark wasn't able to answer the questions Kara gave him. He really wished that he could.
"You know, your mother must have been a remarkable woman to have a daughter like you," Clark said. "Is it….another crystal?"
"No, it's this," Kara said and she looked at it. "Your mother created the crystal to work with the Fortress. Mine….didn't. She didn't even know that you would be born. It isn't even a crystal, it's some kind of disc. And before you say anything, it wouldn't be read by any computer on Earth."
Clark figured about that much. He thought that it was remarkable how much Kara held things together. He might have been losing his mind in a situation like this.
"You know that it's all going to be okay, don't you?" Clark asked her and Kara smiled.
"You keep saying that Clark, just keep saying that, and it will come true," Kara said. She shook her head. "And we've got to take out a Phantom and this guy….he's far more dangerous than anyone else we've ever fought."
Clark understood that. He could hear Chloe in his ear and that brought him back to life.
"Yeah, Chloe, what do you have?" Clark asked.
"I think I found him, but you really got to move quickly because I don't think that he'll be here for long," Chloe commented to him. "He's going to have an open challenge tonight, every hard ass in Kansas would jump on this one if they found out about it."
Clark gave a grimace at the thought. He figured out about as much.
"So, we got to get to him before he causes some real trouble," Clark muttered. This statement was given more to himself to Chloe. "And if we don't track him down soon, there's going to be trouble."
Kara frowned. She could tell that Clark's obsession was getting strong. Not that she blamed him because she didn't. It did terrify her something fierce. She held onto his wrist and turned him to look into his eye.
"Are you…"
"Kara, I'm fine," Clark told her. Kara frowned. She swallowed the lump in her throat when he spoke to her.
"If you say that you're fine, you must really not be."
"Not to break up your little argument, but I got something," Chloe told him through the headset.
Clark's interest was grabbed.
"Okay feed it to me."
Titan sat in darkness. He wasn't going to sit in darkness much longer. His arms twisted around and folded over his chest. His eyes flashed into the darkness.
There was a knock on the door. Titan's head twisted towards the door. He gave a non-committal grunt.
The person on the other end of the door opened it up. He was pathetic. It wouldn't be worth it to rip his head off.
"Yes," Titan growled. He spoke one word but that one word inspired plenty of terror.
"They're….they're coming, some of them are ready to go into the cage," the aide said. He shivered when he spoke. Words failed him completely and utterly. "If you want to….well I just came to….."
Titan rose to his feet. A chilling gaze passed over the aide. The aide stepped backwards an inch. His chest inhaled and exhaled.
"I'll be out there," he whispered in a low growl.
"Yes, yes."
The Phantom Zone prisoner walked forward. Each step was long and took an immense stride. He kept walking himself into the arena.
He sensed that there was someone extremely dangerous. Titan paced down the hallway. The cheering of the crow didn't get to him. The heckling in the crowd got to him even less. It bounced off his head and kept yelling loudly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, are undefeated champion makes his way to the ring. He has a bodycount of a hundred and sixty three and counting. What challenger will be added to his record? Or will someone bring him down? All we can do is wait and see ladies and gentlemen!"
Titan took a stride down the ramp. Security walked next to him, protecting the rowdy observers from Titan. There was a large biker type in the real. He snarled looking at Titan.
"You don't so hard," the biker said. He cracked his knuckles.
Titan motioned for him to move forward. The biker rushed him and tried to punch his head in. Titan blocked his hand and hoisted him up into the air.
The biker took flight and slammed hard into the back of the cage. He grimaced when the top bars of the cage impaled him. Titan lifted his hand and choked him hard. His throat crushed in his hand.
The biker flopped down to the ground. Titan lifted his foot up and crushed his chest with one fell swoop.
"Are there any other challengers?" Titan asked. He snarled with fury.
From the rafters, Clark and Kara arrived.
"Too many people around, aren't there?" Kara asked. She grabbed Clark's hand to get his attention. He spun around to face her.
Clark looked down. There were a few problems with being seen by that many people. And no doubt there were many millions more watching through an illegal stream on the Internet.
"The first thing that we need to do is kill the camera feed and also the lights if possible."
Kara blinked and nodded. She looked around and allowed her observational skills to sink in. She returned to look at Clark.
"Leave that to me, and then you can worry about me," Kara said. She stole a quick kiss.
She hopped over the railing but the crowd didn't even bat an eye. Kara saw where the web camera was set up.
Kara noticed a pryo display right next to it. She squinted her eyes and sent a blast of heat vision towards it. There was a miniature explosion that went off.
Now the web cam exploded and the lights dimmed, Clark could make his way down there.
Titan looked into the darkness. He didn't care, he was born in darkness. The fire spreading through the arena was like home. It was like the Hellfire and Brimstone he often walked through.
"Maybe you didn't hear me!" Titan snarled. He was about ready to walk into the crowd. "If you don't come to me, I'll come for you!"
The door broke open with a fist and Titan saw a whirling fist catch him in the face.
The punch connected into his face. The monster fell down to the ground. He tasted something that he never tasted before.
It was blood. Not only was it blood, it was his blood. He never was more excited than he was now. He trailed his tongue over his lips, licking them drying.
"Competition, finally," Titan said. He spread his arms and gave a mighty bellow when he looked into the darkness.
Clark walked out. Titan recognized the features and the wave he moved.
"A living breathing Kryptonian," Titan said. With one solid swipe, he pulled a bone spike from his outfit. "Soon to be a dying Kryptonian. FIGHT ME!"
Titan rushed Clark. Clark dodged. He hit a series of rapid fire punches to the kidneys.
Slowly the monster turned around. His red eyes glowed in the dark. Titan grabbed Clark by the throat and hurled him up high. He crashed into the cage hard.
"Weak," Titan growled. He rushed him.
Clark slid underneath his attack. He shot a blast of heat from his eyes. Titan bent over and screamed in agony.
"I don't think that was too weak," Clark commented. Titan turned towards him. His eyes focused on him.
Titan raised his hand over the top of his head. He slammed his fist down onto the top of Clark's head.
Clark dodged his uppercut punch. He caught Titan's arm and snapped him down.
"GET THE LIGHTS BACK ON!
Kara made sure to take out the security guards before the took the lights back on.
Clark was trying to get Titan in position to do what Lara showed him to bring him down. He aimed his fist hard towards him.
Titan grabbed both of his arms. A loud snap echoed when he dropped down onto the ground.
Clark breathed. Blood drew from him. Titan kicked him in the face when he was down on his hands and knees.
His fist nearly took Clark out. He rolled out of the way and Titan punched through the canvas. His hand stuck into the canvas. He struggled to free himself.
Clark hammered his enemy with a series of jabs to the side of the head. Each shot weakened Titan. He aimed one shot to the side of the neck.
He connected with one might have been an artery. The thick muscles on his neck blocked him from taking him out.
"Try harder."
He wrenched a large metal hook out from underneath the ring. Security swarmed the cage and he swung the hook wildly. The lights flickered back on, in time for security to drop down onto the ground.
Titan raised his hand and tried to smash Clark with it in the face. He dodged each attack. The hook smashed into the canvas over and over again. There was no way to escape the pull of the hook.
The cage wall fell down and slammed on the back of Titan. He looked like a wounded animal trapped underneath a fence.
Clark took a deep breath. Did he take down the monster or not? There was a heavy breathing.
Titan ripped his way through the cage and got up to his feet. He approached Clark with rage dancing through his eyes. The monster tried to grab Clark around the throat and throttle him.
A blast of heat vision caught in in the shoulder. He wasn't as protected as he would have liked.
Clark raised two fingers above his hand and rammed it into the throat of his enemy. He flew backwards and he slammed down onto the ground.
His chest inhaled and exhaled. Then he got back to his feet.
Clark picked the bone spike off of the ground and lobbed it at his head at the speed of light.
The monster dropped to one knee. His breath became ragged. Blood spilled from his mouth when he tried to lift his head off. The weakness enveloped his body. For the first time he fought someone who he perceived to be a worthy enemy and he relished that moment.
Titan looked up to face Clark. Blood oozed from his mouth. The monster wasn't going to go down that easily. There was a second where he stared Clark directly in the eye. His madness flashed through his eye.
"Good fight," Titan whispered, grabbing onto Clark's arm. "Good fight."
Titan collapsed down to the ground, blood oozing from his body. Clark almost expected that he would sit up in a half of a second.
"We got to get out of here," Kara said. Her eyes nervously looked at Clark. "And get him out of here as well."
Clark lifted Titan off of the ground. He was almost four hundred pounds of dead weight.
There was only one thing to be said. If their calculations were right, there was only one more Phantom to go.
To Be Continued.
