Titans X Chapter 11: Arcane the Arcade; The Heroes; The Second Battle

When the dust settled, there would be nothing left of one Maria Cortese Alono, nor would there be anything of Death Sheloth, other then the reminders that she had left; both in the city and on the Titans. Battle scars.

Danny's left hand dropped to his side, as he fell to the ground, detransforming back to Danny Fenton, knocked out. Peter got up, slower then normal, favoring his right arm, his mask sliced open so that the majority of the left side of his face was visible.

June wasn't far behind, though she was in better shape then Peter, she still wasn't in the best of shapes. Ben, in human form, was already over at Danny, applying pressure to try and make one of his more grievous wounds stop bleeding. Jake was just, holding his head in pain and slightly hunched over, standing off to the side.

"Didn't know you knew anything 'bout first aid, Ben," Peter commented, groaning in pain.

"Yeah, well, you learn a thing or two when you're grandfather is a P.L.U.M.B.E.R."

"…plumber?"

"I'll explain later. Oh, look, our fans…" Ben commented as the media finally drove in.

They, for their limited, LIMITED credit, didn't start off accusing anyone, or asking mundane questions, or any such thing. If they had…they might not have lived. And so, they filmed as Kim approached her team, and the battered Titans headed off to the Tower.

A Few Days Later…

Everything was getting back to normal. Danny was still in the hospital, but he'd only be in there another few days so that his wounds would properly heal, not to mention the fractured bone in his right arm. But the rest of the team had recovered quickly, Peter and Kim were back to squabbling over bathroom rights, June and Ben arguing over every little thing, and Jake just being in the middle of whatever major prank was to be pulled.

The media, surprisingly, never verbally crucified Danny for killing an innocent, and announced a funeral for her to be held on the third.

In a lot of ways, life was returning to normal. No crooks, no robberies, no uberfied demon ghost things out to kill everyone…

In other ways…it wasn't.

Kim knew something was up. She had been doing some research on Weapon. Who Weapon really was, Kim didn't know. It was like she never even existed…and she never made it back to the police station.

That bugged her. Majorly bugged her. The police never reported in on anything odd. The two officers checked in, checked out, and were back to leading happy lives. No damage to their car, no mentions of an escape, nothing. It was like Weapon had just VANISHED. Just like her human identity. And Kim did NOT like that at all. No one can just show up and EXIST without a past. It wasn't…

'Wasn't what, Kimmie? Wasn't NATURAL? Was that it? None of this is natural. You're just a fifteen year old girl who's really good at cheerleading. And you're a self-employed secret agent…thing. Why should the other problems in your life be any different? So she has no past, no sych. You just aren't asking the right questions. If Wade was here…' Then Kim stopped. If Wade was here…she missed Wade, and his constant beeping in…Ron and Rufus, always goofing around…her mom…her dad…the tweebs…

'No. NO. I choose this. Kim is still there. It's just…not me…' she thought to herself, then, for some inexplicable reason, she was immensely saddened by that thought. There was still a Kim in her life…who wasn't her. Someone else was running her life. 'But it IS me…sorta.' "But I wouldn't have to deal with this if I was me…I'd have to, at the most, stop Drakken from hurting HIMSELF, or Ron from guessing a major goof…or…" And though she wanted, she wished she could, much like she couldn't stop the rain from falling, she couldn't stop from crying.

She missed her family. She'd have to be some heartless monster if she didn't. She knew the others missed their families as well. She…sometimes heard things. Just, odds and ends. Whenever she'd wake Ben up, he start yelling at her calling her 'Gwen' then quickly hush up once he got a good look at who he was yelling at. If she ever asked him, he'd just mutter something about his cousin and walk off.

June, poor June. Sometimes Kim would catch her just starring at her bracelet, as if expecting it to go off…and always having this heart wrenching look of sadness when it didn't.

And Peter…he hid his the best of all of them. The only times he had mentioned his family were when he first showed up, calling her 'MJ' and then mentioned how he missed his aunt the last time she really sat down and thought about her family.

Finally, there was Danny. Danny was…odd. Even with this crew, Danny was STILL odd. He never mentioned his family outside that one story about how he had split himself in two…it was rather unnerving in some ways. At least with Ben, June and Peter Kim KNEW they were still thinking about their families, but Danny seemed…cut off. In some ways, it was kind of creepy.

But Kim wouldn't stop to think on the issue any further. No. She had to get up, she had to lead. Danny was injured, there was a villain that didn't officially exist in any records, not even recent police files, on the loose, and her sitting around moping about her family wasn't going to change a thing.

Luckily, or not so, for her, the alarm started ringing as she got up.

What she saw nearly disgusted her almost as much as seeing Weapon's face.

It was a tall man…inhumanly so. And it seemed to be made up of different pecies of different bodies. One arm was shorter then the other, the upper right half of his face being black, as with the lower left half, with the other two parts being white, he was, more or less, a living tapestry of human flesh sewn together. It had half of a beard growing, long and white, while it also had half of a full head of hair, long and black. Then, its face split into a horrific grin, as it laughed manically, screaming out somewhat familiar words, "Titans! I Arcane the Arcade! Challenge! YOU!"

Kim pulled out the their communicator. "Titans! Trouble!"

Kim stopped in front of the man who had introduced himself as 'Arcane the Arcade'.

"OK guys, be careful. This guy is obviously some kind of magic user…"

"Oh, and why do you say that?"

"His name is Arcane! And since Arcade is added to his last name, I'm betting he can, uh…magically control videogames?"

"Gee you ARE stupid!"

"Why you…wait a minute…" Kim actually took a moment to see who she was talking to. Arcane waved at her, smiling an impish smile.

"Hiya." Then his fist ripped off of his wrist and slammed into Kim, sending her flying into Ben, who was still trying to decide what alien he'd become. Luckily for Ben, it hit the sign for XLR8. However…

"Oh DARNIT! Not Upgrade!" Upgrade moaned. "And would you get off of me? I'm not a pillow."

"You're fluffy like a Pillow though…" Kim pointed out before jumping off of him.

"OW! HEY!"

By the time they finally got back up, Arcane was standing five meters away from them. "OK Arcane, what do you want?"

"Uh uh uh! That's OUR secret, missy!" Arcane laughed, wagging his finger at her.

"Better question is why do you call yourself Arcane? I mean, dude, it's kinda…"

"Hey, I LIKE my name! Though it don't make much sense now that I think 'bout it. Ah well, I don't care! If I did, I'd probably get matching jaws!" Just then, his jaws separated.

"Aw dude, that's just sick," Jake complained.

"Sticks and stones love."

"Dude, are you gay?" Peter asked, half amused.

"Why YES! Would you like to see just HOW gay?" Arcane asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Peter couldn't even seem to reply, making sputtering noises underneath his mask.

"OK, this is weird…" Kim muttered.

Spider Man recovered quickly however, by swinging in at Arcane…and missing him completely. "What?!" he cried out, before having a fist slam into his back. Hard.

Hard enough to send him into and through a wall. Arcane's body pulled itself back together, the stiches in the middle reattaching themselves, as he grinned at the other Titans. "Come on. I could use the LAUGH!" Then his arm elongated, smashing into Jake, punching him into the river, before pulling Arcane himself over there as he parried blows from Kim, almost half heartedly.

Now during all of this, you may be wondering just where June was at that moment. The answer folks? On guard duty. Danny was in a vulnerable position. Kim knew that they couldn't all go and leave him unprotected, so she assigned June the job, much to June's complaints.

So that leaves a Titan team with two members missing, one virtually useless, another knocked out, and the last with actual powers stuck in the river, up against a new and rather insane enemy. Fun huh?

However, Upgrade was only virtually useless…he still had SOME powers to his name. Like, for instance, laser beams. One of which scorched Arcane's right shoulder.

He immediately turned around. Somewhat. His upper torso and head did. His legs staid where they were.

"You little eunuch! I'll make you SCREAM like a quire boy!" Then, as he started to lunge towards Upgrade, a webbed fist slammed into his face, sending him reeling backwards.

"You must think you're really funny, huh?" Spider Man asked, as Jake joined in, fresh (Sort of) from the lake. They grouped together in front of Arcane, who hadn't looked up yet.

"No, not really." A voice answered. It was…almost sorrowful. And it was coming from Arcane. "But…" his head snapped up, his eyes possessed with white light, "When you're something like MEEEE! THINGS LIKE THAT DON'T MATTER ANYMORE!" Then, from his right eye, came forth an oncoming blast of utter chaos.

Runaround the Merry-go-round

Peter had managed to get Kim out of the way before the blast came in, due to his Spider Sense…the rest of them, sadly was caught in the blast.

The road was totaled, and the other Titans were thrown across the scenery, with Jake being buried underneath ruble, Peter laying INSIDE the car he had been tossed into, and Ben thrown through a wall. Then with a flash, Ben was normal again.

With a cracking noise, Arcane's head swung around to look at Kim. "'Ello love. How'd ya like the light show? I think that it was a SMASH!" Then he started giggling. Then an explosive disk flew into his face.

Sort of.

If he was any other villain, it would have hit him in the middle of the face, possibly killing him…however, he was NOT like other villains. His head split open, allowing the disk to fly through and pass harmlessly into a nearby car, making it explode. Then it reattached, as he wagged a finger at Kim. "Naughty naughty little girl! I'd make a crack about what I do to naughty girls, but I don't swing like that. So I'll just kill you. Heh," Arcane shrugged, before his shoulders as his right eye started glowing black…

It was interrupted, however, by a fist slamming towards the back of Arcane's skull, sending him flying forwards. "June!" Kim yelled out.

"Hey! FREAK! Shut up and put 'em up!" June said, before focusing on Arcane. Who had just gotten up, his back snapping forward first, his legs following.

"Ah. A magic user. Well, screw mah sideways and screw mah front ways. You've got yerself some mighty fine magikial CHAOS runes on yer pretty little person, don't cha?" Arcane asked, in a bad southern accent. "What do ya be a' thinkin if I added some ORDER to 'em?" As he said this, his left eye started to glow white.

June's eyes widened, but she couldn't move in time as the white Order magic over took her.

Her body was racked by explosions, tossing her backwards into the river.

"JUNE! NO!" Kim yelled out, rushing towards the water…and being slammed down into the road.

"Now, if I let you help your friend…what kind of enemy would I be? No, no, no, Kimmie," he said, picking her up by her throat. "You and I, are going to have one HELL of a time!" he laughed, as both of his eyes started glowing black and white.

Kim was thrown into a nearby wall, slamming into it hard enough for her to nearly black out. Kim was then picked up by her hair, and slung into the ground.

"So, little redheaded bitchy-witchy, do you still wanna play with the big boys?" Arcane asked, sneering at Kim. Kim's nose was bleeding heavily, as she spat blood into Arcane's face…and into his awaiting mouth.

"MMM! You're blood tastes GOOD! Too bad you're not a guy, otherwise I'd SO bite your tongue off…heh, I might with your little friend, Peter…" Arcane continued, half of his face splitting away to look at Peter…

Only to find weblines cocooning his head. Arcane screamed out in frustration, letting Kim drop to the ground…where Jake, in dragon form, grabbed her up quickly. Then launched fire fireballs directly into Arcane's form. Flames enveloped Arcane's body.

"Yeah Jake! You got him good!" Ben cheered, groaning a second later, holding his right arm. Then the flames went out. Not in a gradual way…but all at once like someone had turned off a light. Arcane didn't look happy.

"Jake, mind taking me back to the Tower? I have something there that might be able to put this guy down…" Kim said, coughing at the end.

"Sure, Kim." Jake then began to fly, holding Kim gingerly in his arms.

"Oh, where do you think you're going, my new pair of boots?!" Arcane asked, his left eye glowing white…then he was interrupted again by Peter lashing out a blow towards him. He avoided it this time, via splitting his body in half.

"Doesn't matter where they're going. You've got ME to deal with…"

"AND ME!" June yelled out, catching Arcane by surprise with a swift kick to the throat, then a follow up kick to the chest, forcing him to stumble back.

Her costume was torn and burnt in a lot of areas, and she herself had some injuries…but a white aura surrounded her, healing her wounds. All of her chaos based magical talismans and runes had been destroyed…but her ones based upon Order, however, were perfectly fine.

"You little bit-" he was cut off by having his mouth webbed shut.

"Watch what you say, Gay Man." Spiderman ordered, tensing his body.

"Fine." Arcane spoke, after ripping off the webbing. "I won't speak. But I will show you something: do you know what happens when you introduce Order into Chaos?" As he said this, both of his eyes started BURNING with their respective powers…

Two orbs of power levitated out of his eyes, and mixed together…

"Well? Do you?"

It turned pure RED, with black cracks within.

"Destruction."

Then it shot out, obliterating the roads and charging head first into the two Titans.

Kim tore through the weapons vault, looking for…something. She found what she was looking for…but with one rather large problem: a door was between her, and IT. A door with a password that only Cyborg of the Teen Titans, now the Justice League, knew. "Oh you have GOT to be KIDDING ME!"

Peter had gotten them out of the blast area in time…almost. His left leg had been grazed by the blast. Which meant that it was a step above being mangled and useless. And not that big of a step either. "Peter!" June cried out, reaching for her healing talisman…only to find it broken. "What?!"

"After effects, love." Arcane said, picking his fingernails clean of dirt. By lifting his finger nails from the finger. "As it was made from both Order and Chaos, the effects…uh, effected…your remaining runes the same. So sorry. Oh wait…NO I'M NOT!" He then slammed his foot into June's face, smashing her through the roof of the building they stood on, Peter going down with her.

"HEY, YOU!" Ben yelled. "Time to play with a REAL hero!"

He then set the dial up on Heat Blast and…

Was slammed into the nearest thing by a severed hand.

"Foolish little boy. Never tattle on yourself. Now I'm gonna have to rip off your arm and…" he was cut off by a flash of green light.

You see, what Ben had been slammed into was a telephone pole that was already half way severed from previous battles. That was the last straw, as the cord fell dangerously close to Ben…who's arm fell to the ground, hitting the end of the power cord in such a way that the electricity charged up the omnitrix just as the button went down.

The result? A 6 foot 2, humanoid being. Its black hair was spiked backwards, short, unlike a certain other Fanfic character from another universe, while its skin was silver. Its eyes were pure white with black pupils, and its suit was in the same vein as Diamondhead's. It seemed to have no nose nor mouth.

"What in all Damnation…"

"Call me HARD LIGHT!" Hard Light yelled, bringing up his left hand and firing off a high powered light beam right at Arcane, who avoided it by creating a hole in his chest.

"…you should NOT be able to do that, EVER." Arcane spoke out in disdain. Then he flew down to the ground, slashing out his leg…which passed right through Hard Light.

"Can't hit light!" Hard Light mocked, then, after his arm glowed for a second, punched Arcane, sending him reeling backwards. "But light can hit YOU!" Then Hard Light started unloading light blasts unto Arcane…

Who had evaded all of them. "If you're going to DEFEAT ME, boy, you need to step up."

"Who said anything 'bout defeating you?" Hard Light spat, then started to glow all over…and transformed into a lightning bolt, slamming into, and ripping through, Arcane's stomach.

"Whoa! I can turn into a lightning-" then, with a flash of light, he was Ben. "…bolt…"

"That. HURT." Arcane said, rising, the burning hole in his stomach closing up. His eyes shown with the power of Chaos and Order…

"HIYA!" Kim yelled, aiming a well placed kick right at Arcane's spine…and missing, ending up slamming into the ground in front of him.

"What did I TELL you kids about yelling? You're never gonna…why the HELL are you smiling for?"

Kim flipped her hair back. "Because you are SO predictable. TAKE IT AWAY JAKE!"

Jake swooped in, grabbing up Arcane, and tossing him into the sky…as Kim pressed a little red button that she had concealed in her left hand.

A strange energy started to consume Arcane, who was suspended in mid air. Slowly, but surely, his entire body was consumed by the power, turning him into dust, and little more then that, he getting off one last word before being consumed… "'Eh."

"Kim…" Ben asked, looking up in awe, "What was THAT?"

Kim flashed him a smile. "THAT, my dear little tenyearold, was a special weapon designed to take care of bad things. VERY bad things. It was a miniature nuke that only effected what it latched onto. When I was taking a trip through his body that last time, I tossed it at the side of his spine as he was closing up. Cyborg created that weapon to get rid of any REAL nasty stuff. I figured that qualified. Now then, where's Peter and June?"

To answer her question, a bolder went flying over their heads as June hobbled out, Peter using her for support.

"Peter! Your leg!" Kim yelled out in shock.

"Aw, it's nothing. Give it a day, two at the most, and it'll be just fine…" then he knocked out.

In a dark place…

"Arcane failed. As we predicated." A female voice spoke.

"Titans. Variables. Unknowns." Another voice, this one belonging to Weapon, spoke up in clipped, droning tones.

"Yes my dear…we did not count on THESE particular champions to appear. Every time we have them pegged…" this voice was male.

"They continually rise the meet our standards. If they were not in our way, I would honor them." Another voice, elder then the others, with a slight English accent, commented.

"HEY! It's not like I PLANNED on them having a bloody goddamned nuke on their hands!" Arcane cried out in complaint.

"Oh hush. You say you actually FELT something. I envy you…" the original female voice scolded him.

"Yeah yeah yeah…it wasn't really a feeling. Something like…a ghost of a feeling. I think it was because I was so close to it."

"Yes. That is logical." Weapon agreed. "I 'felt," she spoke the word with a slight…uncertaincy, as if she didn't know just quite what she was talking about. "Something as I engaged the Titans."

"Hmm…interesting. We may yet gain what we seek…"

A few days later…

Peter was all healed up, and so was Danny. Life was, for better or for worse, back to normal.

Kim's injuries were all minor, as were June's, and Ben, bless him, had not yet been able to recreate Hard Light.

Speaking of Kim…

She looked at herself in the mirror. No…not herself, exactly. Her hair. Something had been bugging her. Something…

"Hey guys! Pizza's here!" Ben called out, landing outside the Tower as Stinkfly.

"I'll bring them in," Danny said, jumping up and headed out the door.

Then a beam hit him square in the chest. And in the after math, the only thing left was a pile of dust.

To Be Continued.