Souls Entwined
Disclaimer: I don't own Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver or Teen Titans. (Sue me, I'm lazy ).
Hands of the Puppeteer
"A nip here, a tuck there,"(1) sings a whiney little voice as the sounds of scissors reverberate throughout the dark little room, a small candle providing the only light. With an exaggerated wave of his hand he raises the small object into the air as he cackles maniacally to himself. "Soon, the Teen Titans and everything they represent will cease to exist! I will succeed where all others have failed and take Jump City for my own! HAHAHAAHA!"
T-T-T
"Please Raziel, do you not wish to do the 'hanging out' with me? I wish to experience more of Earth culture," Starfire beams as she floats behind Raziel like a lost puppy.
"I don't 'hang out,'" he retorts dryly, hoping his umpteenth rejection would finally dissuade her.
"Pleeeeaaaase?"
Unfortunately for Razel, that naiveté combined with her dreaded puppy dog stare™ was enough to break even his iron will; the goth teen finally nodding in assent.
"Glorious!" she giggles as she latches on to her relatively newfound friend. "I could not find Robin, Beastboy or Cyborg. I believe they are doing the 'male bonding' I have heard people talk much about."
Raziel gives a sigh of defeat as the girl begins to cut off circulation to his left arm. 'Thankfully my Reaver is on the right,' he muses mirthlessly to himself. "So, where exactly do you...?" he begins before being cut off by Starfire.
"Oooh. We must ask friend Raven to join us. I am sure she will be most happy to join us in our 'hanging out'." Dragging the unwilling teen behind her, she flies towards the commons area where she knew her best female friend would be waiting as always.
Best friend in question sat in quiet contemplation, her mind one with the cosmos as she hovered meditated on the previous day's events. While Trigon was no longer an immediate threat thanks to Raziel's help, she still needed to rebuild her mental defenses to prevent him from gaining a foothold again. Hovering several feet above the floor, she chanted her trademark mantra which helped maintain her extreme mental focus. That focus was broken quite spectacularly as a shrill voice shatters her little reverie.
"RAVEN!" Starfire gleefully shouts as she flies into the room. "Will you not join us for the 'hanging out'?"
As the goth teen picks herself up from the floor, her blood pressure suddenly shoots through the roof as she notices the object Starfire was currently attached to; the floor beneath her suddenly spawning several small cracks. Fighting to control the massive twitch that was developing, Raven silently tries to calm herself down. 'Peace, quiet, tranquility. Find your happy place, Raven,' she tells herself.
'(Riiiight,)' drawls a voice in her head. '(Your 'happy place' currently has Starfire attached to it,)' the voice quips sarcastically.
'Shut up!' Raven counters, mentally putting up several walls between her and 'her', unaware of the strange looks Starfire was giving her.
"Umm...Raven? Are you unwell? Are you experiencing the 'constipation?'" she asks, her arms still wrapped around Raziel's arm. 'His arm is surprisingly...firm,' she notes to herself, feeling her cheeks blush slightly.
Raven, however, notices Starfire's reaction and could only scowl at Raziel's apparent obliviousness to it all. "I'm fine, Star, and no it's not 'constipation.'" she responds dryly. "I wouldn't want to impose on you two so you go ahead without me."
"Are you sure?" Starfire asks as her friend begins to resume her meditation pose, oblivious to the obvious sarcasm in Raven's statement. She did, however, sense that the discussion was over and began to walk towards the door when Cyborg bursts through with a large box, knocking her and Raziel into Raven.
"MAIL CALL!" yells Cyborg as he, Robin and Beastboy enter the room. Unable to see past the large box he was carrying, he hears a loud crash followed by several moans of pain. Setting down his load, he sees the three Titans in a compromising position which causes the metal Titan to grin in amusement. "Ménage à trois? And here I thought you just meditated in your spare time, Raz."
Scrambling to their feet, Raven and Raziel both scowled at their cybernetic friend, the two sporting matching blushes on their pale skin but Starfire, not quite having a full grasp of the English language, merely looked confused. "Ménage à trois? Is it something enjoyable? May I partake in it?" she asks in all innocence.
Robin, who had just entered behind Cyborg nearly burst a blood vessel as soon as he heard Starfire's statement, little visions of things he shouldn't be thinking about dancing about his head. 'Starfire...Raven...' he starts to daydream, the blank look on his face not going unnoticed by the resident goth girl.
"Well, if everyone is done," Raven begins sourly, "maybe you can all tell me what was so important to interrupt my meditation over."
"Dunno if it's that important, really," Cyborg answers. "I just found this box outside addressed to the 'Teen Titans.' Weird thing is we almost never get any mail."
"Must be from one of my adoring fans. You know how fans can be," Beastboy brags, whipping out a mirror as he checks himself out.
"Better check it in case it has explosives then," Raziel deadpans as he walks over to the couch, lazily plopping himself down in front of the idiot box. After facing a demon lord like Trigon, small things just somehow failed to excite him anymore.
Suppressing the urge to giggle at Raziel's comment (lest she blow something up), Raven joins the rest of the Titans gathered around the box as Cyborg breaks open the top. Peering into the crate, she raises her eyebrow as she identifies the contents. "Well, that's certainly not something you see everyday," Raven says out loud as she reaches for one of the items.
"Aww, how cute. It's a little wooden Cy," the metallic Titan coos as he pulls out his marionette version. "Looks like a complete set."
Starfire reaches in to find a 'tiny wooden replica of Starfire' staring right back at her. Giggling in delight, she notices that there seemed to be one doll short of the supposed set. "I do not find a wooden replica of Raziel," she comments, glancing at Raziel who seemed to give a nonchalant shrug at that revelation.
"Well, he did just become a Teen Titan recently. Maybe the one who made it doesn't know about Raziel yet. You sure it doesn't it say who it's from?" Robin asks, ever the detective as he examines the puppets for any suspicious signs. "Wow, these things sure are accurate," he adds, pulling a little grappling hook from his puppet's utility belt.
"Speak for yourself," Beastboy scowls after looking over the puppet. "This looks nothing like me!" An evil gleam in his eye, Beastboy suddenly sets his puppet on Robin's, kicking its proverbial wooden butt. "Haha! My puppet's totally beating your puppet!"
Robin returns his green friend's gleam as he counters the attack with a 'flying kick,' knocking puppet Beastboy into puppet Cyborg.
"So that how y'all want to play it, eh?" 'Cyborg' retorts, raising his wooden arm in defiance. Pretty soon the whole fight turned into a wooden bitch slap contest as the three boys gave off Bruce Lee sounds, causing Raven to shake her head in shame and annoyance.
"Would your tiny wooden replica like to do battle with my tiny wooden replica as well, friend Raven?" Starfire asks, shyly raising the little doll in a mock fighting pose.
Raven gives her friend an incredulous look, not quite sure if Starfire was being serious. "Knock yourself out," she replies, handing over puppet Raven to a somewhat disappointed Starfire who decides to watch the three boys in their 'fight' instead of moping on the situation.
"Are you sure you don't want to play dress up as well?" Raziel comments jokingly as Raven takes a seat on the opposite end of the couch, earning him yet another glare from the goth girl. "I hear it's the new 'in' thing nowadays."
"You're just jealous because you didn't get a little dolly to play with," she counters dryly as she makes herself comfortable on the couch.
"How very droll."
'Just like clockwork,' she thinks silently. It had become somewhat of a ritual between the two of them ever since Raziel had become an honorary Titan; one of them would make some snide remark about the other, a small discussion-slash-argument would follow and then both would just sit together quietly, seemingly just ignoring the other. For Raven, she had actually begun to welcome his presence; it was the most time she had ever actually spent with one person aside from Starfire. Sneaking a glance at the stoic boy, she couldn't help but wonder at his reasons for acting the way he did. Raziel didn't seem to care about any of the events that happened in 'Nevermore' and continued to treat her as he normally did (albeit infuriating her with his sarcastic comments from time to time). Although Cyborg and Beastboy, both of whom had survived her mindscape, were a lot more understanding of the way she had to act, they still acted guardedly around her after finding out she was basically the daughter of Satan. Seeing that Raziel had noticed her staring, she closed her eyes and tried to resume her earlier meditation, trying to hide the fact she was staring.
Raziel on the other hand had turned to the goth girl not because he had noticed her staring but because he had felt the need to see her face. Like Raven, he had come to enjoy their 'playful' banter, if it could be called that. With her being the most mature in the entire team he found a sort of kinship to her. Still, the events last night puzzled him and as much as he denied it, he needed answers to them. As the sounds of mock fighting continued behind them, Raziel decides that now would be as good a time as any to ask Raven (given that the others would be too preoccupied to overhear anything).
Sensing something was out of place, Raven opens her eyes to see Raziel staring back at her. "What?" she asks bluntly, never one really for long conversations.
"What does your father want with you?"
That immediately got her attention as she narrows her eyes at the boy. "Why do you want to know?" she asks guardedly. 'So much for not caring I'm half-demon,' she thinks bitterly.
"From what I can tell, it's no big deal. So you're a half-demon. I don't see all the fuss he's throwing about to get you," he replies, giving a slight shrug, recalling things much worse than a half-demon.
"No...big...deal?" she chokes out, her face developing a nervous tick. 'I'm not sure whether I should be relieved or insulted,' she thinks to herself. As she opens her mouth to answer his question, a small part of her was hesitant to reveal everything. Since when had she started trusting him? Was it really ok to open up to him?
Seeing her tense up, Raziel realizes she still wasn't ready to say more and holds up a hand before she could continue. "It's all right." 'For now,' he thinks to himself. "I won't force you to say anything you don't want to." With that, he resumes channel surfing while trying to ignore the 'children' behind him.
As Raziel turns away from her she couldn't help but feel saddened somehow, like an opportunity was missed but she couldn't quite fathom what it was. Giving the teen one last look, she resumes her meditations which kept her powers and her father at bay.
T-T-T
Afternoon soon gave way to evening as the Teen Titans got tired to the mock doll fighting. As he watched his friends retire for the night, Raziel headed towards the training room, his mind in turmoil with the words Trigon spoke off when they fought in 'Nevermore.' The instant Raven's blast struck the demon, it had roared angrily in his mind as the link to his daughter was weakened by their combined power.
"(yOu cannOt stOp mE, vAmpIre. My daUghteR wilL pAve the Way for me, As iS hEr dEstinY.)"
While the demon faded from that plane, his words regarding his true nature still worried Raziel. Try as he may to deny it, the evidence seemed to indicate the accusation was true. 'My unnatural strength, these thoughts about blood...hell, even my pale skin all point towards that fact!' Slamming his fist into Cyborg's barbell, it left a deep indentation that could not have been caused by any normal person. Slumping down on the floor, Raziel gives a bitter sigh of frustration as he debated his options should the demon prove to be correct in his assumptions. If worst came to worst, would he actually turn on his new found friends? 'Since when have I started thinking of them as friends?' he smirks mirthlessly.
Tiredness setting in, he begins to slowly nod off but the light pitter patter of tiny feet running somewhere in the tower catches his attention. Focusing his senses, he hears the sounds again this time coming from the floor below. 'Rats? No. Footfall's too heavy for a rat; too regular as well.' Pushing aside the need for sleep, he silently makes his way through the tower in search of the sound. Something about it just didn't seem right.
A sudden flare of power was all it took for him to start rushing towards the source, his cowl barely making a sound as it whipped behind him. Rounding a corner, he sees Cyborg step out of his room with a blank expression on his face. "Cyborg? Did you sense it...!"
Faster than the eye could see, Cyborg's metallic fist lashed out at him with no warning. Only his enhanced reflexes saved him from a caved in face as he dodged the heavy blow, rolling a few feet away from his attacker.
"You had better have had a good reason to do that, metal man," Raziel threatens, eyes now glowing eerily before noticing the blank expression on his 'friend's' face. He doesn't have time to think about it as Cyborg continues his attack. Each strike was capable of shattering concrete so he wasn't exactly eager to find out what they would do to his skull. Smirking at Cyborg's inability to hit him, he doesn't notice the green bull slam into him from behind, knocking him across the hall. As he gets to his feet, knees shaking from the impact, he turns around to see the same blank expression on the young shape shifter.
'Beastboy? What in Nosgoth is going on!' he mentally shouts, ignoring the pain that tore through is body as he was sure he suffered some internal injuries from that blow. Realizing that if Beastboy and Cyborg turned against him, it would be a safe bet that the other Titans might do the same. With that, he bolted through the dark corridors of the tower, hoping he wouldn't run into any of his former team mates. While somehow he knew that he could probably take them on if he went all out, going all out against them was not an option. As he rounded a corner, he slammed into dark figure, the two collapsing in a twisted heap.
"EEEK! Someone's claws are on my grebnacs!(2)" yells a distinctly female voice.
Raziel, who recognized the voice and what the distinctively squishy 'grebnacs' were, immediately tried to dislodge himself from the girl but found himself further entangling themselves. "My...apologies, Star..." he begins, his voice trailing off as he got a clear view of her neck, the smooth skin somehow beckoning him closer.
"Raziel? Umm..." Starfire begins, feeling herself blush from their closeness. Somehow the two had gotten entangled in his cowl, wrapping them in what would be considered an intimate embrace. With her Tamaranian strength she could have easily broken free but something seemed to be distracting her. Of course it didn't help that their position placed his head a scant inches from her own, his warm breath on her neck, caressing her and sending shivers up her spine. 'What is this feeling? It feels most...pleasant,' she thinks vaguely as she feels her body starts to heat up, her mind in a semi-haze of pleasure.
"Are you two done yet or do you need an extra hour?" Raven deadpans with just a hint of vehemence, ignoring the voices in her head grumbling about a 'lucky Starfire.' Yanking the boy's cowl and untangling the two teens, she fitfully taps her foot as if waiting for an explanation.
Shaken out of his earlier trance, Raziel looks back at Starfire with hidden horror, ignoring the girl's own semi-wistful looks at him. 'Did I just...try to bite her?' he thinks worriedly. Hearing Raven's incessant tapping quickly reminded him of a more present danger as he hears something cutting the wind behind him. Grabbing the two girls by their waist, he leaps forward just as several explosive discs strike the floor where they were standing. Whirling around in mid-air, he sees Robin staring back at him, a handful of discs waiting to be thrown.
"Robin? What is wrong? Why do you attack us?" Starfire asks as she and Raven were set down.
"I don't think that's Robin in there, Starfire," Raven answers, her senses finding no trace of humanity inside the boy wonder. Before she could explain further, a low growl from the shadows catches her attention. Squinting in the darkness, she makes out the form of a very hungry looking velociraptor. "Beastboy?"
Snapping jaws rush at her, nearly taking her head off had it not been for a hastily raised shield of dark energy. "I don't want to hurt you, Beastboy," Raven states as she continues to raise shields against the dinosaur's powerful head butts. "But the way you're carrying on, you're going to make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
As she blocks another attack, she sees Raziel launch himself at Robin just as Starfire desperately tried to shoot down all the discs thrown at her. At first the gothic teen seemed to be able to hold his own against the Dark Knight's protégé but soon experience won over instinct as a well placed blow to the abdomen knocked the wind out of Raziel. Although Robin's attack was weak compared to the pale teen's inhuman endurance, Raziel was still human and had the same vital points just like any other person; his enhanced strength no match for biological limitations.
"Raziel!" Raven shouts, her opponent momentarily forgotten as she watches him drop to his knees gasping for air. That created enough of an opening as her foe swings his large tail, easily smashing through her defenses and into the arms of a waiting Cyborg.
Starfire, who had seen what had happened to her friends, vainly attempted to shoot down the explosive discs Robin threw at her but sheer numbers soon overwhelmed her, the shockwave of the blast knocking into Cyborg's outstretched arm. "Robin! Cyborg! Beastboy! Why are you doing this? We are friends!" Starfire pleads as she struggles in her captor's arms.
"They're not your friends any longer, but my servants," chuckles a whiny little voice as the sound of tiny feet can be heard stepping out of the shadows. As he steps out of the shadows, the voice reveals itself to be a little three-foot puppet with an apparent regal complex as it was wearing royal regalia. The crown on top of its head just further cemented the image. "These are your friends," he taunts, raising three small puppets in his hands. As the puppets dangled in his hands, small please of help could be heard coming from their tiny mouths, proof of his statement.
"Let them go," Raven growls, feeling anger and mortification at being defeated by such a tiny opponent.
"I don't think so," he retorts. "I have big plans for all of you, you see. The Teen Titans are going to take over Jump City with no one knowing that I, the Puppet King, will be 'working your strings.' Can you imagine a more ironic situation? You will be taking over the city you were sworn to protect!" he laughs maniacally. "And now," he adds, pointing what appeared to be a small puppet control stick (3) at the two girls, "I will..." His monologue is interrupted by a weak chuckle which soon erupts into full blown laughter. Whirling around to face the one who insulted him, he sees a pale teen beneath Robin's boot currently laughing his head off.
"You? A cheap Chucky imitation, take over the city?" Raziel taunts, smirking at his captor. "I've seen old men scarier than you," he deadpans in all seriousness. His insult has the desired effect as the Puppet King shakes with rage causing him to momentarily lose control over Robin which allows Raziel to power out from underneath the boy wonder and launch himself at the Puppet King. Before he could even get close though, a huge green fist grabs his head and slams him face first through the wall.
Starfire screamed in horror at what she believed to be Beastboy committing cold-blooded murder, her eyes shut tight as she feared the worst.
Raven couldn't turn away, both in morbid curiosity and utter shock. While they had fought their fair share of villains, none had ever resorted to outright brutality like this. As the gorilla's meaty paw removed itself from the wall, a limp Raziel collapsed bonelessly to the floor, his face severely bruised but otherwise intact. "Starfire, he's ok," she whispers, hiding her own elation that he was still alive as the Tamaranian began crying anew, this time with tears of relief.
"This one is stronger than I thought. You may prove useful, after all," the Puppet King says to no one in particular. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a small featureless puppet similar to the ones artists use for posing. "And now you belong to the Puppet King."
Raven watches helplessly as he points the control stick and the doll at Raziel's form. After he uttered a few short words, she could see Raziel's soul being forcefully torn from his body. "Stop it!" she cries out, not really caring if her emotions were to run rampant. Her eyes widen in shock as Raziel slowly rises to his feet, the Soul Reaver manifesting itself in his hand.
"I serve no one," Raziel threatens, raising the Soul Reaver at the Puppet King even as he felt his life force slowly draining into the puppet. Pulling off his cowl, his eyes begin to glow brightly as his soul suddenly begins flowing back into him.
This shocked the Puppet King. No one had ever been able to resist the soul binding spell before. Not only was this person resisting it, but it appeared he was actively fighting back the spell. Also, the killer intent radiating off the teen right now frightened him immensely. Fighting the shaking in his knees, he pours more power into the spell which just barely overpowers Raziel's act of defiance.
As the pull towards the doll gets stronger, Raziel grits his teeth as the power of the Reaver and the control device clash causing a gale-like wind inside the tower. However, he knew that the stalemate wouldn't last long and that he would be on the losing end of the battle. Deciding on an all-or-nothing attack, he rushes the Puppet King, sword poised in a killing strike.
If he could, the Puppet King would have wet his pants as he saw the evil grin on Raziel's face, cold and calculating. 'Are those fangs?' were his last thoughts as the blade neared its target. Luckily for him the spell had finally overpowered whatever was resisting it before the boy was able to fulfill his intent, sucking his soul into the featureless doll.
From the side, Raven watched in morbid fascination as Raziel's soul was split from his body. His body collapses bonelessly to the ground but soon rises back to its feet, its eyes glowing with the same green light that was in the other possessed teens. For a brief instant, she thought his soul looked like it had bat-like wings coming from his back. Dismissing it as her eyes playing tricks on her, she continues to struggle against her captor's grasp, human strength unfortunately no match for cybernetic implants.
"Don't worry," sneers the Puppet King as he faces the two remaining Titans. "You two will be next." Tossing aside the doll, he then points his control rod at the girls, twin beams of energy striking them as the spell began its course.
Raven's body starts to spasm as she feels her own soul being ripped from her body.
('You will pay for what you have done to Raziel!') a voice in her head shouts, her eyes taking on a reddish hue as her mouth starts to move of its own volition.
"Azarath...Metrion...Zinthos!"
Now it was the Puppet Master's turn to become surprised as a wave of dark energy knocks him and his minions to the floor, interrupting his spell and shorting out the hallway's electrical systems, cloaking the hall in darkness. As the two souls returned to their bodies, Raven and Starfire took the momentary distraction to escape and hopefully find a way to restore their team mates.
As Starfire scrambles to her feet, her foot hits a small doll. Without thinking, she scoops up the doll and chases after Raven, following her into the one of the access corridors which lined the Titans Tower. Trying to keep as silent as a mouse, she clutches the doll tightly to her chest as her possessed friends run above them.
"Find them!" the Puppet King yells in the distance. "They mustn't escape!"
As the voices and footsteps finally grow fainter, Raven releases her breath, shivering slightly as it feels unusually breezy.
"Oh Raven, what has happened? Our friends have been turned into dolls and now they fight against us!" Raven hears herself moan. 'Did I just say that?' she thinks to herself. 'Since when did I talk so...wordy?'
"Remain calm, Starfire. Let's think about this rationally first," she replies calmly, hoping to placate the nervous Tamaranian and not really noticing the higher pitch of her voice. Reaching up for the light switch, she finally realizes that her voice seemed to pitched higher than normal. As the light comes on, Raven freezes as she finds that she was standing face to face with herself. "Starfire?"
Starfire gasps as he sees her normally cute face staring right back at her with a dry expression. "Raven? Why are you me?" Looking over her body, she sees a familiar blue cloak and pale hands instead of her normal appearance. Gasp "Why am I you?" With that, a bolt of black lightning jumps from her body and pops the single light bulb.
"This is not good," Raven deadpans.
T-T-T
Screaming in pain as he felt his soul torn from his body, Raziel felt a strange sense of disorientation as he was projected into the lifeless doll, his senses suddenly cut from the outside world. All sight, sound, and touch no longer seemed to function. All he had left were his thoughts.
'What happened? Am I dead?' he thinks briefly before regaining his senses. 'No. I remember the doll...the bastard put me in the doll!'
Looking around proved useless as everything was just pitch black. Sensory-deprived, he couldn't feel his body much less the passing of time and it was starting to irritate him. 'This feels strangely...familiar,' he thinks to himself, flashbacks being trapped in something surfacing. 'I don't like it.' Wondering if the other Titans were experiencing the same sensation didn't help except buy him a few moments of distraction. He hoped Raven and Starfire were able to escape as he felt Raven's power suddenly flare up before everything went black. 'Sighing' to himself, Raziel did the only thing he could think of to alleviate his stress.
'Azarath...Metrion...Zinthos...' he chants, not really aware of the trials the two girls were undergoing.
T-T-T
"This is most horrible!" Boom "Our friends are captured," Crack "we have no idea where they are," Smash "and I may be stuck looking like this forever!" Starfire moans, completely oblivious to the random objects being destroyed. While they had escaped the tower using the sewer system and made their way to the streets, they knew that their former team mates would not be far behind and silently made their way through the sleeping city. However, not possessing Raven's extreme mental focus, her current body's powers simply lashed out at everything and anything and their journey was anything but silent.
"Calm down, Starfire, or they'll find us," Raven admonishes, placing her hand on her...Starfire's shoulder hoping to calm the girl down. "We'll get the boys back, and get them and ourselves in our proper bodies." As Starfire gives a hesitant smile, Raven notices her clutching something within the folds of her cloak. "What do you have there?" she asks.
"Oh, this? I believe it is Raziel. I picked him up when we escaped," Starfire answers as she reveals the featureless wooden doll, a sad expression on her face. "I could not reach the others...they were too far away. I am sorry, Raven," she sobs softly.
"It's...ok Star," Raven replies, not quite sure how she should comfort the Tamaranian. "We should..." she stops mid-sentence as she hears a hawk's cry high above them. Eyes straining in the dark, they widen as she notices the hawk's greenish hue. "Move!" Grabbing her friend, she dashes into an alley as zombie Beastboy swoops down on them, pretty sure the rest of the zombie crew would follow. 'Come on! Fly, already!' she mentally wills her body, eliciting no response whatsoever.
"Raven? Why are you flapping your arms?"
"How do you make this thing fly?" she asks as they continue to run through the alleys.
"You must...EEK...feel the joy of flight!" Starfire responds, dodging a sudden bird-a-rang from behind.
"...Riiight...Starbolts?"
"Righteous...dodge...fury!"
'I don't like where this is going.' "I know I'm going to regret this but...evade...super strength?"
"Boundless confidence!"
"That...could be a problem, Starfire," Raven deadpans, avoiding a small green flying squirrel as it nearly nips her ear. As they round a corner, Raven comes face-to-face with the one person who she didn't want to fight against. "Raziel..."
'Raziel' stares at his targets, eyes glowing with a pale green glow as his face twists into a snarl. Launching himself at 'Starfire', he swipes at the girl who barely dodges the attack. Several hairs were not as lucky as his hands, curled like claws, slashed through them like a knife through butter.
"Ah! My hair!" Starfire yells as she sees the strands fall to the ground.
"Starfire, I think your hair is the least of our concerns," she retorts, her eyes still on her opponent. 'Why isn't he summoning the Reaver?' she ponders.
"Raven, I think we should leave now," Starfire pipes up worriedly as she backs away from Robin and Beastboy, the former now a huge tiger and the latter with several bird-a-rangs drawn.
Raven wasn't having any better luck against her fellow goth, his slashes forcing her to back up against a wall. 'This just isn't my day. All that we need now is...' Her train of thought is cut off as two metal fists smash through the wall behind them. 'This REALLY isn't my day.'
Now surrounded by their former friends, Raven grabs Starfire's hand like her life depended on it. "Starfire. Since I can't fly, you have to levitate. You remember those words I always use?"
"Oh, yes! Azarath, Metrion..."
"Wait, Star! You have to concen..."
"ZINTHOS!"
Raven hung on for dear life as Starfire shot into the air like a bullet, traveling faster than she'd ever traveled before. Normally, whenever she would fly her mind was always in a complete state of focus and control, allowing her to fly at a controlled pace. However, Starfire's natural state of mind was more wild and free like her namesake, the result of which caused an explosive release of her body's powers. Biting back her scream, she closes her eyes and waits patiently for the end to come. 'Not exactly how I pictured dying, but I guess one more disappointment in my life won't matter.'
Zooming randomly around the city, Starfire tried valiantly to regain control of her flight but having been used to flying with a different emotion, it only caused her to spiral uncontrollably. Unfortunately, the violent movements also caused her to lose her grip on the wooden doll. "Raven!" she screams, hoping that her friend could react fast enough.
Raven's eyes shoot open as she hears the panic in Starfire's voice. Having shut them earlier as her life began flashing before her eyes, she was hesitant to open them again but something about the way he friend screamed seemed deadly important. Her fears were confirmed as she sees Raziel slip out of Starfire's grasp and plunge to the pavement below. Too little too late, she reaches out with her free hand but they were simply flying too fast.
"Raven! We must go back for Raziel! How do I stop?" Starfire yells frantically as they continued their erratic pattern.
"Look down and..." Before she could finish her instructions Starfire does look down, causing the two of them to go crashing into a pile of garbage. Knocking the wind out of her, she is both surprised and relieved she appeared to be in one piece. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, she sees Starfire already crawling out of the pile of refuse, her expression one of worry and panic. Hearing the familiar hawk's cry above them, she grabs her friend and pulls her back under the stink pile, holding her hand over the Tamaranian's mouth.
Starfire's scream of surprise is muffled as Raven's hand clamps down on her mouth. Realizing something must be amiss, she complies and keeps as still as possible. As if on cue, the possessed Titans appear in the alley searching for the two girls. Being mindless and only following orders, they didn't bother to do a thorough search of the alley and ignored the pile of garbage beside them.
"Keep searching! They can't have gotten far," the Puppet King commands as he steps out of the shadows. "They landed here so they must be close by. Spread out and search." As his zombies fan out, he begins to chuckle to himself as he heads off in another direction. "My Titans. It has a nice ring to it."
Once hey are finally alone, Raven takes her hand off her friend's mouth and lets out a sigh of relief, finally realizing she had been holding her breath. Her relief turns to irritation as Starfire begins crawling out again without any regard for stealth or caution. "Starfire!" she hisses. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I have to find Raziel! Who knows what has happened to him?" she answers, not bothering to look back. A yank on her cloak stops her mid-stride as she falls backwards on her rear.
"And what will you do if you encounter them? It's not as if you can fight in your condition. You'll be a danger to everyone around you!"
"And you have a better plan?" Starfire snaps back, black energy lashing out at a garbage bin and crushing it instantly.
"See? You have to calm down. Worrying will get us nothing. What we need to do is find out what the Puppet King's plans are. Raziel...will have to wait," she retorts, finding the last statement somewhat hard to say.
"Wait! Do you not even care what happens to Raziel? What if the doll is broken! What will happen to him then? Did you even think about that!" Starfire shouts back, not really caring as a black aura starts to grow around her. A sudden slap to her face shocks her briefly but soon here anger is back to the forefront. Staring down Raven, she readies herself to strike back as Raven's eyes begin glowing bright green. What stops her is that although the glowing eyes would normally indicate righteous fury, she could see twin trails of tears flowing down Raven's face.
"Don't...ever...say I don't care," Raven bites back angrily, fighting to hold back the tears. "Do you even know what I have to go through everyday so that you're all safe! Do you understand why I have to remain calm! You don't have any right to say I don't care!" she shouts. Somehow, being in Starfire's body caused long unused emotions to come rushing forth, overwhelming her as she collapses to her knees sobbing. "You don't know me," she almost whispers.
Seeing a side of Raven she had never seen before, Starfire's anger dissipates almost as quickly as it came. Kneeling beside the now emotional Raven, she wraps her arms gently around the girl and gently rocks her friend. "You are right. I...we...do not really know each other even if we have been team mates for quite some time." Allowing her friend to let out her emotions for once, she looks around to be sure that there was no sign of the possessed Titans. "Perhaps...it is time we do get to know one another," she says out loud.
Raven, who more or less had gotten a handle on her emotions again, wipes her eyes as she gives Starfire a small nod. "You're right. If we're going to save the boys, we need to understand each other."
"Then I believe I will start," Starfire begins, making herself comfortable on the pavement. "Since I came to Earth I have adopted the name Starfire but my real name is...Koriand'r, second born of King Myand'r and Queen Luand'r of the planet Tamaran..."
T-T-T
'How long has it been? A few minutes? A few hours? Days!' Raziel began to feel agitated as his meditation could only go so far, not having the same amount of mental discipline that Raven had. 'There must be some way to get out of here.' Remembering how he 'willed' himself through the doors the other day, he concentrates his power and tries to will himself out of the doll. A few minutes seemed to pass but soon his 'eyes' started to focus, faint details making themselves known. Elation at his discovery, he continues to summon more power, each passing second making his vision clearer. As his vision started to clear, his other senses also started to reawaken as well. Strangely enough, they were telling him he was falling.
Forcing his 'eyes' to open, he suddenly sees the pavement rushing up to meet him. Still unable to move his body, he could only stare and watch as he 'felt' it smash on the sidewalk, pretty sure his body would have shattered on impact. Facedown, he was in no better position than he was earlier as he still had no idea what was happening around him. Frustration turns to worry as he hears heavy panting in the distance. 'Dog,' he thinks mirthlessly.
The said dog had already started to approach him, curious at the broken object it saw. Being a dog, it categorized things it saw under 3 headings: for eating, for fighting, or for play. Seeing as the doll was not something it could eat, nor was it something that it fought, it only meant it was the last category. Checking to see the surroundings were empty, it then proceeded to bite into wooden doll.
By now, Raziel was more than pissed off to say the least. First was Trigon's statement about his true nature, then some little megalomaniac thought to imprison him in a doll (why did the other Titans get replicas while he got a plain one?), and to top it off he was now the chew toy of some stray dog. 'I am not your chew toy!' he mentally growls, spewing out curses in every language he knew. All of a sudden, a pink bolt of energy strikes the pavement near the dog, frightening it and causing it to drop him and flee.
"Get lost, ya mangy mutt," a familiar voice snaps.
Hearing the person approach him, he feels her pick him up by his cloak. 'Cloak? Since when did I have a cloak?' he wonders.
"Ewww. Dog drool," the girl states disgustingly.
As he feels himself being wiped by a tissue, he couldn't help but finally notice where he was. 'I know this alley.' When the girl turns him around to face him, his suspicions were confirmed.
"Heya, cutie," Jinx grins, looking like the cat that ate the canary. "Although you're not exactly cute now," she adds. "I swear, I never knew you had such a colorful vocabulary."
'You can...hear me?'
"Well, duh! I'm surprised no one else came running here with that sailor language," she retorts, a smirk on her face. That smirk turns into a frown as she starts to hear the murmurings behind her.
"Mommy, is that girl talking to a doll?" "Shh. Don't look her in the eye." "You think she's...you know..."
'It would appear you are the only one who can hear me,' Raziel guffaws, causing Jinx's eyebrow to start twitching. If it wasn't for the fact that it wouldn't be worth her effort, she would have hexed those people already.
"Don't laugh, goth boy. You'd still be a chew toy if it wasn't for me," she whispers threateningly yet playfully. Bounding up the building walls with little effort, she leaves behind the staring civilians who put it down to just normal meta-human behavior.
Landing on the roof of one of the buildings, she places the doll on the floor as she makes herself comfortable beside it. "All right, Raziel. Spill. Explain to me why one, you're a doll," 'although you were already a doll before' she snickers to herself. "Two, why such a...unique...looking doll?"
Raziel started to answer but Jinx's second question piqued his own curiosity. 'Wait. What do I look like?' he asks.
Reaching into her pocket, Jinx pulls out a small compact and flips open the case. Holding it in front of Raziel, she could almost swear he heard him gasp.
Looking at his reflection, he was surprised at the current state of the doll. For some reason, it was no longer the featureless marionette that he had originally been imprisoned in. The plain wood texture was replaced by a rough bluish texture almost organic in appearance. The doll's jaw was gone, most likely shattered when he struck the pavement earlier. His body also looked...frail...for lack of a better term but retained features similar to what his costume looked like, down to his boots and cloak. His hands and feet were a different matter though, both appearing more claw-like than their original shape. The two, from what he could surmise, tattered wings on his back were something else entirely which he couldn't even begin to explain. 'That was...surprising,' he murmurs to himself.
"Well? You still haven't answered my question," she states impatiently.
'Scowling' as much as he could at the girl at her impatience, he couldn't help but find her something of an enigma. While it was true she was part of the Hive, something about her didn't seem to fit the 'super villain' theme. He supposed that if she were translated into one of Beastboy's games she would probably fall somewhere between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral. Deciding that he needed outsider help (specifically hers) to get his body back, he opted to tell her of the current situation he was in.
A few minutes later he regretted that decision as Jinx was rolling with laughter.
"So let me snicker get this straight," she says between giggles. "the Titans get a gift of some giggle dollies which turn out to be the trap of some guy called mrph 'The Puppet King.' He then traps all of you in these dolls and now is going to take over the city?"
'Pretty much.'
"BWAHAHAHA!" By now Jinx was laughing so hard she was crying. "Mammoth and Gizmo are gonna have a fit they lost to a puppet! They sooo wanted to defeat the Titans but if they find out they were beaten to it by a puppet...HAHAHAHA!"
'You do know that the Titans did beat all of you, you know,' Raziel retorts monotonously. 'You know what that means?' he adds with a smirk.
"That's only because you were the unknown factor," she huffs, slightly miffed Raziel had to bring that up. "Of course, I really wasn't trying either," Jinx adds playfully, running a finger along Raziel's wooden body. "Maybe next time you can try me on for real."
'If I had my body back I just might take you up on that offer,' Raziel retorts. 'So will you help me?'
"Now why would I want to help the Titans?" she responds in a sing-song voice as she places a finger on her chin in a thoughtful manner. Sensing Raziel silently fuming brought a cat-like smirk to her face. "All right," she replies. "I'll do it for a favor from you."
'What favor?' Raziel asks, somewhat suspicious of owing someone anything.
"Oh, don't worry. You don't have to do anything illegal," Jinx replies while grinning. "Scout's honor."
'Somehow I doubt you were ever in the scouts,' Raziel responds dryly. 'Fine. We need to find out where the Puppet King went...stop laughing.'
mmph "Sorry. It's just that name is just so...lame! Buwahahaha!"
'It is lame, I suppose,' Raziel replies, amusement clearly heard in his voice. Try as he might, it was nice to see Jinx laughing instead of her melancholy state when they talked last time. As Jinx picks him up, she takes a look at him and her two hands for a few seconds before sighing loudly. Without warning, she suddenly places him in the collar of her blouse nestled between her breasts.
"Don't get any ideas, woody," she scolds monotonously. "I need both hands for this, but I also need to be touching you. Your body is saturated with whatever power he used and I should be able to trace it." Placing her hands together in an intricate pose, her eyes begin to glow a pale pink as her power spreads throughout the city, searching for any disruption in the planet's lei lines. After a few minutes of concentration she suddenly looks to the east. "Found him," she smirks. "Hang on!" Leaping from building to building, she easily crosses the gaps in jumps that would have made Robin envious.
As a doll, each jump Jinx made caused him to become further nestled in her bosom. If Raziel could blush, he would probably burst into flame at his current predicament. 'I swear she's doing this on purpose,' he thinks to himself. 'Although it wouldn't be such a bad way to go,' another part of him thinks.
"I heard that."
T-T-T
Trailing their former friends had proven somewhat difficult as they apparently were ordered to keep watch for them. Still, they were able to track them to an abandoned warehouse, curiously owned before by 'Puppet's 'R' Us.' Only Raven seemed to appreciate the irony of it all as she lifted the two of them to the roof.
"Azarath...Metrion...Zinthos."
The locks around the roof entrance break apart in a small shower of dark energy as Starfire gives her new powers a road test. "I did it!" she cheers, causing the doors to blow open loudly.
'And there goes the element of surprise,' Raven sighs to herself. "Good work, Kori." It looked like Starfire got the hang of her powers faster than she had anticipated. 'Which is more than I can say for myself,' she thinks morosely. So far all she had been able to do was fly. The rest of Starfire's powers where just out of her grasp. She is shaken out of her reverie as her friend beckons her to follow.
Silently making their way through the abandoned warehouse, the two switched Titans search for their missing friends before the spell could be made permanent. Strangely enough, the warehouse seemed a bit too quiet for anything to be taking place. However, an eerie glow coming from the center of the building gave more than enough indication that something was definitely amiss. Giving Starfire a silent signal, the two split up to different corners of the building as they prepare to deal 'death from above,' so to speak.
As Raven creeps along the catwalks, she notices the Puppet King dropping a fine powder into a bonfire, the flame taking on a greenish tinge. In his hands lay their targets: the puppets which contained the souls of their friends. Struggling against her body's natural instinct to jump in starbolts blazing, she continues to watch, waiting for the correct opportunity to strike. However, as soon as the flame changes color, a wave of pure power seemed to emanate from it which brings the goth girl to her knees, her whole body suddenly shaking with fear. Glancing towards Starfire, she could see that even the Tamaranian was having trouble keeping steady as she visibly shivered. Most likely it was because her true body was already saturated in magical energies and may have reacted to the power below. Forcing herself calm, she maintains her observation of the scene before her although she could swear she could almost hear two voices below.
The Puppet King looks at the flame almost reverently as he kneels before it. "Master, I have three souls for you this time," he states, head bowed as he does so.
"(Excellent, my good and faithful servant,)" a voice seems to radiate from the flame. "(However, you promised me more, did you not?)"
"There was a...complication," he responds shakily. "There was someone else with the Titans..."
"(I care not for your excuses!)" the voice booms. "(HE has begun targeting this world. If he and his progeny come to power, the Wheel will cease to turn. I need those souls in order to prepare for his coming. "
Head nearly touching the floor, he shakes with fear at the anger his lord was displaying. "Do not worry, master...they will be delivered soon." Eyes shifting towards the roof, he raises the control stick into the air as it glows brightly. "Titans, GO!"
A scream from Starfire catches Raven's attention as she sees the Tamaranian slam into a wall, her body burned from what appeared to be small explosives. Before she could rush to help, blue beam of energy hits her from above as Cyborg drops from his hiding place in the shadows. Barely regaining her senses, she manages to concentrate just enough to fly to safety as the metallic Titan crashes into where she once stood. "Starfire! Concentrate!" she yells.
Hearing Raven's voice, the Tamaranian shakes the cobwebs from her head as four bird-a-rangs halt in mid-air barely an inch from her face, the objects surrounded by dark energy. "I do not wish to fight you, Robin." As the zombie Robin steps out of the shadows, the bird-a-rangs do an about-face and fly back towards their owner. "But I will if I must." Levitating into the air, she readies herself to fight just as 'Robin' deftly avoids the flying projectiles.
Raven sighed with relief as Starfire looked like she was holding her own against the boy wonder. Too bad the same couldn't be said for her as she had to contend with both Cyborg and Beastboy; all she could do was avoid their attacks as she struggled to bring out her body's abilities. 'I really hate my life,' she thinks dryly just as a small bat nicks her cheek. Putting her hand up to where she was hit, she feels something warm trail down her face. Looking at her hand, she could see a small amount of blood which had come from the wound. "You did not just cut my face," she growls. Eyes glowing brightly, she zips towards the now simian Beastboy and gives him a powerful uppercut, knocking the Titan several feet back. "And I still haven't forgiven you for entering my room."
Outside, Jinx had stopped a scant meters away from the warehouse, her senses telling her to run away. Looking at the current form Raziel was in was enough to remove any doubts she had. She wouldn't wish to be trapped like that on her worst enemy. 'Well, maybe Raven,' she chuckles to herself. 'But only for a week or so.'
'Is this the place?' Raziel asks. While he could sense Jinx's power 'comfortably' nestled where he was, he could not sense anything else outside of a few feet away and relied on her magical senses completely. Of course, he couldn't move at all so even if his powers were at full capacity he doubted they would have been of much use. He was grateful the girl had decided to help him, given her animosity towards the Titans in general. Still, why she had decided to help still puzzled him to no end, the favor she had asked of him still a mystery as well.
"Yeah, we're here," she replies, trying to hide the uncertainty in her voice. 'Brrr. Whatever's in there, I don't want to know what it is. And people wonder why I don't want to be a hero.'
'All right. If I'm not mistaken, our best bet would be...'
"The roof, right?" Jinx interjects. "Hey, I am a thief, you know," she smirks. Using the old lamp post as a springboard, she easily jumps onto the rooftop with grace that would make a gymnast proud. Looking at the skylight, she sees that the padlock had already been forcibly opened. A bit curious, she touches the lock and the signature power behind it was unmistakable. "Looks like blue-girl is already here." A loud explosion which shakes the building's foundations is enough to confirm her statement.
'Something's not right,' Raziel interjects, the power he was feeling now seemed old, almost ancient. It radiated a deep hunger that he couldn't even begin to fathom. 'We need to get inside now.'
The urgency and worry in Raziel's voice caused her some concern. If it worried him, she wondered what that meant for her. 'I can't believe I'm actually helping the Titans,' she sighs to herself. As she made her way through the building, the sounds of battle continued to reverberate throughout the abandoned structure, the creaking of steel causing her some worry.
Raziel was completely ignoring the vibrations that shook the warehouse. His main concern was the presence that seemed to permeate the air. As he and Jinx enter the main hall, his anger rises at the scene before him. 'Raven' was squaring off against Robin, her cloak singed and tattered in several places as she blocked several explosives with a black forcefield. 'Starfire' fared no better as she had her hands full grappling with Cyborg on her right and a green gorilla on her left.
"Go, my minions! Defeat them!" yells a voice from the floor below.
Jinx turns to the source of the voice and sees the Puppet King, and gives a short snicker. 'That's the Puppet King? Oh this is too rich!' she giggles. "Wait a minute..." she trails off as she realizes something. "I count five..." She freezes up as a wave of killing intent, for lack of a better term, materializes behind her. Diving forward as a pair of arms nearly grab her, Jinx does a mid-air spin as she lands a few feet away from the figure. Catching a glimpse of her attacker, she is hardly surprised when she sees it to be Raziel (or his body, in any case). Her heart nearly skips a beat as she realizes that he didn't have his cloak covering his mouth as usual; his pale yet somehow regal face staring back at her impassively. 'Hmm. Helping Raziel just got a lot more interesting,' she purrs to herself.
'Jinx, why are you grinning like that?' Raziel asks as the girl suddenly shifts her stance.
"Let's just say you really owe me after this is over," she answers cryptically.
Before Raziel could ponder on that, his body charged at Jinx, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. 'How did...? I never moved that fast!' he thinks worriedly. Not only had the Puppet King taken possession of his body, apparently he was also able to enhance its abilities further. Given how Jinx fought against him the last time, he wasn't sure how she'd fare now. His worry turns to surprise as she easily dodges the attack, crouching low before launching a powerful spinning kick at his head. As he staggers, she follows up by leaping over him, landing with a handstand on her opponent and using the momentum to toss him like a rag doll.
'That was...impressive to say the least. So sorcery isn't your only skill, then,' Raziel comments approvingly.
"Heh. I told you I was holding back. I've got a lot more skills that I could show you,' she winks suggestively. Seeing her opponent rise again, the humor from earlier vanishes as she gets into a different fighting stance.
Getting back on his feet, 'Raziel' growls at the girl as he charges at her once more; throwing punches and kicks left and right which all fail to connect with their target. With each passing second, his movements become less human and more primal, crouching on all fours as he an inhuman growl rises from his throat.
Sensing something was amiss, Jinx decides on a strategic retreat as she runs across the catwalk, trying to put some distance between the two of them. "C'mon, big boy. You want a piece of this?" she taunts, giving her rear a playful spank. As she expected, 'Raziel' takes chase, unexpectedly leaping high and scurrying along the wall like a spider. 'Ok, I wasn't expecting THAT but at least he's following,' she thinks as she charges up her hex powers. As soon as he was at point blank range she lets off a plethora of blasts which all slam into the goth teen, causing a small explosion. If Raziel could sweat, he would be right now at the sheer damage those could have caused.
'I'll thank you not to injure my body too much,' Raziel says dryly, wincing as he was sure to feel that once he got his body back.
"I'm sorry, next time I'll just let it attack me!" she retorts sarcastically. "Here I am, going out of my way to help and you're complaining?" Not really expecting her target to be getting up soon, she was caught unawares as a hand suddenly shoots out from the smoke and grips her throat, lifting her lithe frame off her feet and slamming her into a wall. "Me and my...big mouth," she rasps as she struggles against her attacker, her vision going black as her oxygen was being cut off. Realizing that she was beginning to pass out, she releases a desperate area-effect hex-bolt, causing the catwalk they were standing on to collapse. It worked as she had hoped, loosening his grip around her neck as they fell.
Raziel felt nothing but helplessness as he and Jinx plummeted, the sorceress unmoving as she fell. Time seemed to slow down as the floor zoomed closer and closer. As the two of them neared the floor, he began to feel a distinct spiritual pull. Acting on instinct, he allowed himself to be drawn in, the whole world blurring for an instant before becoming clear again.
Jinx on the other hand had expanded too much energy in that area-hex and could barely move a finger. 'Heh. Guess this is what I get for trying to play good girl,' she thinks bitterly. Glancing briefly at the doll nestled between her breasts, she gives a sad smile as she wonders how Raziel would have done if he made it in H.A.E.Y.P. Just before she blacks out, the doll begins to emit a strange gas before it begins to glow.
The next few moments seemed to be a blur. All Raziel could remember was that one moment he was falling and then that odd sensation of displacement. The next moment he had the sorceress in his arms and had twisted in the air in such a way that he slammed his body into the floor below. Knowing it would take more than that to take 'himself' out, he spares a brief glance the girl in his arms before setting her down a few feet away. Looking at 'himself' get up, he pops a few kinks in his neck before grinning evilly. "Now, let's have my body back."
T-T-T
Startled by the sudden crash behind her, Raven nearly looses her 'boundless confidence' but quickly regains her senses enough to land a powerful split kick on Beastboy and Cyborg, knocking the two away from her as Starfire continued to block Robin's strike's with black shields. Turning to see what exactly happened, her eyes widened at what she saw. Standing with nary a bruise was 'Raziel', or rather his possessed body. He seemed to be acting in an almost feral manner, nearly on all fours as he approached his opponent.
Raziel's opponent stood several feet in front of an unconscious Jinx which caused her to worry. 'The HIVE? Here? This isn't good.' They were barely holding their own against their teammates. She knew they wouldn't be able to handle the HIVE as well and if Jinx was here, tweedle-dee and tweedle dum wouldn't be far behind. Taking a closer look at the person standing over Jinx, she first expected it to be Mammoth or Gizmo but started to stare in morbid fascination at his appearance. His body, for lack of a better term, looked decayed and fragile; sinewy muscle clearly seen where skin should have been. The unnatural blue color also gave it an unearthly appearance the likes of which she had only seen in her dreams (or nightmares as the case may be). Its three-clawed talons added to the demon-like appearance of the creature, eyes glowing with an unearthly light. However, one particular detail stood out which caught her attention and that was the blood-red cowl he wore around the lower half of his face.
'No...it couldn't be!' Before she could confirm her suspicions, a powerful blow slams into her from behind, knocking her to her knees. Eyes glowing with 'righteous fury', she catches the huge metal fist before it has a chance to hit her again. "Sorry, Cyborg," she says out loud as she lands an open palm strike, knocking him into Robin. Hearing a growl from the shadows, she turns and faces the same green velociraptor that she fought back at the tower. "Now, where were we?"
T-T-T
"Thank you, Raven," Starfire responds as her opponent is buried beneath Cyborg's huge frame. She really didn't want to hurt Robin despite the words she said earlier. Sensing something amiss, she sees the Puppet King slowly approaching the altar with the three dolls. Remembering his tirade about a 'sacrifice', her eyes glow with dark power as she telekinetically yanks the dolls out of his hands causing him to simmer with anger.
"No! You will not deny my master!" he yells. Pointing his control rod at some rags, a beam of light strikes the discarded articles animating them into soulless puppets which charge at the neo-gothic girl.
"Eeep!" Wishing she had her starbolts, Starfire frantically dodges the dolls' swipes as they nick her cloak, their hands easily tearing the blue fabric. She gets a reprieve as 'Raziel' flies through the air and crashes into the dolls. Turning towards the direction he came from, she gasps in shock at the ghoulish figure approaching her. As it walks in her direction, she raises her hands in a tentative defense, hands surrounded by a dark power. What stops her is when the figure speaks with a familiar accent she thought she wouldn't hear again.
"If you'll excuse me, Raven, I have a body I need to take back."
"Raziel? Is it truly you?" she blurts out loud, not quite believing what she was seeing. Any doubt was removed as a glowing sword materializes in the ghoul's hand. Before she could call out to him, several marionettes descend from the roof, dog-piling her as they claw at the pale teen.
"EEEK! No clawing please!"
T-T-T
As the Reaver materializes, Raziel feels a strange sense of déjà vu as he faces himself, as if this scene had already played itself out so long ago. Filing away his musings for later, he charges at 'himself', intent on ending the fight immediately. However, a telekinetic bolt slams into him, knocking him several meters away. 'I never realized how much those things actually hurt' he groans as he gets back on his feet. 'So, it can use my telekinetic blasts. How the hell did I get so powerful?' His musings are cut off as several more bolts hurl towards him. Only his quick reflexes saved him as he used the Reaver as a make-shift shield, the ethereal blade absorbing some of the energy released by the attacks. Still, the energy that got through was enough to make him stagger as he falls to one knee. Suddenly feeling very exhausted, he takes quick look at his surroundings and sees 'Raven' and 'Starfire' also having a much harder time dealing with their opponents compared to earlier. Focusing his senses, he picks up something powerful in the direction of the Puppet King, the control rod raised high in the air. The device itself was glowing brightly with an unearthly power which seemed to match the glow in the possessed Titans' eyes. 'Maybe that's why,' Raziel growls silently.
The Puppet King was laughing maniacally as his Titans proceeded to "beat the stuffing" out of their opponents. "Yes, that's it. All who oppose the Puppet King should be destroyed!" If he couldn't have all the Titans to control, at least he could still offer their souls to his master. His rant is cut off as a body flies in front of him missing him by mere inches. It crashes into the wall leaving a teen-sized indentation. Looking at who tossed the teen, he sees a ghoulish figure slowly approaching him, a promise of pain in its glowing eyes. "Who...what are you?" he stammers, his whole body quivering with fear all of a sudden.
If the Puppet King could see Raziel's face (and if Raziel still had a jaw), he would have seen it twist in an evil sneer as if laughing at some private joke. "How could the 'maker' not know his own 'son'?" he answers.
As the Puppet King raises the control rod in a feeble defense, a clawed hand snatches it away before he could even utter a single word. As he is lifted up by his collar, he stares into the blue demon's pupil-less eyes as they seem to bore straight into his soul.
"Now then, what was it you said to me before? Ah, yes. 'You belong to the Puppet King,'" Raziel sneers vehemently. "Call off your dolls now."
"I...I need my control rod," the Puppet King answers in a weak voice, pointing to the device in Raziel's hand.
Raziel gave him a glare which said 'Do you take me for a fool.' He was about to retort angrily when a swipe from a marionette nearly takes off his head. Easily punching a hole in its head, he levels his gaze back at the Puppet King with promises of pain.
"I can't control them without my rod!" he nearly stutters, his body now trembling with fear.
"Raziel! Help!" 'Raven' yells as the dolls claw at her, unable too move as they had her pinned down. She was already bleeding from numerous cuts and more continue to appear on her as they continued their attack. 'Starfire' was unusually quiet but was in no better shape, a bird-a-rang sticking out of her shoulder as she lay against the wall breathing heavily. A large bruise was already forming on her face, most likely from Cyborg's fist.
Gritting his teeth in frustration as he realizes the doll may be telling the truth, Raziel reluctantly hands over the rod to the Puppet King but pulls it back before he could touch it. "No tricks."
"Of course," he nods nervously.
As soon as the doll touched the control rod Raziel knew he had walked into a trap, ethereal energies lashing out at him as a gale-force wind suddenly fills the room, knocking back everything around them.
"Fool! I will never surrender the Titans!" the Puppet King yells over the howl of the wind.
Reacting purely on instinct, he lashes out with the Reaver and, by luck or coincidence, pierces the control rod, destroying the said object. The backlash of energy released was so great that everything simply went white as the two powers reacted violently. If people were outside at this time of night they would have thought the sun was rising on the horizon. As he feels his consciousness slipping, Raziel could hear the Puppet King wail in agony.
"No! Without my control rod I'm just..."
T-T-T
"Raziel? Wake up," a familiar voice almost pleads as he feels someone shaking him. Slowly opening his eyes, he sees Raven kneeling over him, the barest hint of concern in her eyes as she gives a weak smirk before scowling at the teen.
"When we get back, you have a lot of explaining to do, 'blue boy'," she whispers tiredly before collapsing on top of him.
Catching the unconscious girl in his arms, he looks worriedly at her but a gloved hand on his shoulder interrupts his train of thought.
"Don't worry. She's just exhausted from healing all of us," Robin says, pointing towards Starfire who no longer sported any injuries at all. The boy wonder waved at the Tamaranian who was bouncing around hugging herself, all the while singing 'I'm me again!' like a mantra. "Man, Raziel you sure can hit," he adds, rubbing his shoulder unconsciously.
Feeling himself sigh with relief, he looks back at the gothic girl, noticing for the first time how peaceful she looked as she slept in his arms. "Stupid girl," he whispers without any malice. "Tiring yourself out like that."
"Idiot," the girl whispers back, blissfully unaware of her current position which causes Raziel to raise an eyebrow.
Smirking to himself, he suddenly remembers Jinx who he had laid down earlier. His eyes dart around looking for a sign of the sorceress but sees that she was already gone. "Robin, did you see J...anyone here when you woke up?"
"No. We were the only ones here. Why?"
"Nothing. Must have been my imagination then," he answers.
Robin opens his mouth to ask more but is grabbed by Starfire who whirls him around like a toy.
"How glorious! We are all back!" she cheerfully sings-songs, completely oblivious of the fact that Robin had fainted from the g-forces of her turning.
Wondering if he should tell the Tamaranian of Robin's condition, he decides that he should just let the girl have her fun. Feeling his whole body ache from the injuries he gave himself, he gives a groan as the day's events finally take their toll. "Looks like I really did a number on myself," Raziel says out loud, not quite realizing Starfire was within earshot.
"What? You are still injured Raziel?"
'Oh no...'
T-T-T
Getting up to his feet, the Puppet King looks around at the twisted surroundings that was once the warehouse he fought the Titans in. Kneeling before some unseen entity, he bows his head as a deep voice speaks loudly.
"(So, my good servant. You have failed.") The voice seemed to rumble from everywhere and nowhere, irritation clearly heard as it spoke.
"It wasn't my fault, master. This...demon interfered..."
"(Explain.)"
As the Puppet King tried to recap all that happened that night, one could almost sense the curiosity emanating from the presence. The Puppet King continued in his story, describing as best he could everything that happened up until the control rod was shattered and he lost his hold on the physical realm. "Master, send me back. I'll can still get you the souls you require..."
"(Enough! You have served you purpose.)" the voice commands, the Puppet King screaming as he disappeared for parts unknown. Now 'alone', the voice rumbles with rage as the place trembles with his voice. "(Once again I am prevented from fulfilling the cycle. If it were not for the fact that something is blocking by presence in this realm I would take care of the interloper myself. No matter, in time the Wheel will turn.)"
Elsewhere:
"This is not good," the figure speaks as she opens her eyes, squinting as the sun peaks through the leafy branches of the tree she lay under. "Events are moving too quickly and I am limited in what I can do." Sighing as she gets back on her feet, she looks towards the sky, eyes seemingly focused on some distant object. "I pray he will be ready when the time comes." With that, she disappears in a swirl of snow-white feathers, the only indication she was ever there were the footprints where she stood.
-To be continued-
Notes:
(1) Just something I remembered from TV. Somehow it felt right to use it here.
(2) Don't know if 'grebnacs' actually means those but I think so (Not that I'd ever grab her grebnacs, nope, not me... ;;; )
(3) I have NO idea what you call that 'thing' used to control puppets
Omake 1:
Looking at who tossed the teen, he sees a ghoulish figure slowly approaching him, a promise of pain in its glowing eyes. "Who...what are you?" he stammers, his whole body quivering with fear all of a sudden.
Raziel picks up the puppet by his collar and glares at him with a look that could have frozen over hell. With his cowl flapping in the wind and eyes glowing brightly he answers the question.
"I'm Batman."
(I couldn't resist)
Omake 2:
Allowing her friend to let out her emotions for once, she looks around to be sure that there was no sign of the possessed Titans. "Perhaps...it is time we do get to know one another," she says out loud.
Raven, who more or less had gotten a handle on her emotions again, wipes her eyes as she gives Starfire a small nod. "You're right. If we're going to save the boys, we need to understand each other."
"Then I believe I will start," Starfire replies, slowly approaching Raven.
"Umm, Starfire, what are you doing?" Raven asks hesitantly as she sees a certain look in 'her' eyes.
"Why, I'm getting to know you better," she answers huskily, not noticing Raven's now panicked expression.
"Eeep."
Omake 2.5:
Unable to find the two girls, the Puppet King worriedly heads back to his 'hideout,' unsure of how his master would react to his failure. As he approaches the warehouse, a girl leaps out from the shadows and grabs his legs. Surprised, he whips out the control rod and points it at the person but is surprised to see 'Starfire,' her hair in disarray and dressed only in her underwear.
"Please! Put me in a doll! Make me a zombie! Anything! I don't care! Just keep me away from her!" she yells, eyes frantically darting around as they search for some unknown thing.
"Oh Raaaaaven," a voice sing-songs from the distance. "Where are you?"
"AIIIIEEEE!" The girl runs off, a trail of dust in her wake leaving the Puppet King alone with his thoughts.
"What the hell just happened?"
Omake 3:
'Raziel's' opponent stood several feet in front of an unconscious Jinx which caused her to worry. 'The HIVE? Here? This isn't good.' They were barely holding their own against their teammates. She knew they wouldn't be able to handle the HIVE as well and if Jinx was here, tweedle-dee and tweedle dum wouldn't be far behind. Taking a closer look at the person standing over Jinx, she first expected it to be Mammoth or Gizmo but froze as soon as she got a good look at his appearance. Its body, for lack of a better term, looked bloated and grotesque; a light fur covering its entire body. The unnatural purple color also gave it an unearthly appearance the likes of which she had only seen in her dreams (or nightmares as the case may be). The huge jaws which could easily snap a man in two grinned evilly as it bore down on the gothic teen.
"Hyuk hyuk! I love you!" yelled the purple dinosaur as it proceeded to beat the stuffing out of the possessed teens.
Raven screamed as she shot up from her bead, her hair in disarray along with her room. Feeling a migraine coming on, she mentally reminds herself never again to let Starfire and Beastboy into the kitchen at the same time.
Omake 4:
"EEEK! Someone's claws are on my grebnacs!" yells a distinctly female voice.
Raziel, who recognized the voice and what the distinctively squishy 'grebnacs' were, immediately tried to dislodge himself from the girl but found himself further entangling themselves. "My...apologies, Star..." he begins, his voice trailing off as he got a clear view of her neck, the smooth skin somehow beckoning him closer.
"It...is all right, Raziel," she responds. "Do you wish to consummate our matrimony?"
That immediately shocked him out of whatever thoughts about her neck. "Excuse me? Matrimony?"
"Oh yes! It is written in the book of Tamaran law that in choosing a spouse, he must be able to grab onto the female's grebnacs and hold on for one minute. And you have passed all that!" she adds cheerily, treating Raziel to a patented Tamaranian Glomp™.
"..."
Omake 4.5
"Are you quite done?" Raven adds coldly as she watches the two 'lovers' on the floor, her heart feeling quite shattered at that point.
"Oh Raven, I am so happy!" Starfire beams, picking up her new 'husband,' who seemed more catatonic than happy at the news. "Raziel was able to fulfill the Tamaranian matrimonial ceremony!"
"What, you mean this?" Raven snaps, grabbing Raziel's hands and placing them on her own 'grebnacs.' She smirks when she sees Starfire's eyes widen in shock at her actions, no longer caring about letting her emotions loose.
"Co-wife!" Starfire finally responds cheerily after about a minute.
Not quite the reaction she was expecting, Raven freezes on the spot, Raziel's hands still on her 'grebnacs.'
Raziel, who's brain had shut down earlier, now had a trickle of blood running down his nose.
Elsewhere, a pink-haired girl suddenly got the feeling she was missing out on something but couldn't quite determine what.
Moral of the story: Life is like a pair of grebnacs. If you grab it, they will come.
Not quite Omake 5:
"Lights out!" yells a voice over the PA system as students rush back to their quarters.
'Stupid curfew,' the girl thinks as she takes off her clothes and puts on her nightgown. 'If it wasn't for that I could have stayed longer,' she grumbles, feeling somewhat miserable at her horrible luck. She even got scolded for coming back without any worthwhile results. 'Well, at least to the headmistress it isn't worthwhile,' she thinks to herself. Picking up her little souvenir from her night on the town, she heads to her bed, passing her room mate who was watching her as she got into bed. Turning off her night light, her room mate gives her a weird look as she notices the object in her arms.
"What an ugly doll! What garbage dump did you get that from? That's like, 'ewww,' with a capital 'E.' Hahaha! Wait till I tell..." Her laugh is cut short as she and her bed suddenly fall through the floor, her roommate staring down the hole with feigned interest.
The room now silent, Jinx plops down on her bed and hugs the little blue marionette close to her chest, a genuine smile on her face as she closes her eyes for the night.
T-T-T
Well, finally got the chapter out. Can't wait to get started on the next one Thanks to everyone for their patience. I hope you all had fun reading it as I did writing it. Feel free to review if you like J