Hey ya'll! Hope you are all ready for yet more Teen Titanic awesomeness, because here's a new chapter! In this new chapter, the time has come for both the final clash against Blackfire's forces and the effort to rescue Starfire. How will things unfold? And more specifically, just what will the titans have to deal with while they sneak through Blackfire's ship to rescue their captive team mate? Sound exciting and worth finding out? I certainly hope so! I also hope very much that you read, enjoy, and review! And all that said, onward with the fic!
A/N: But first, let me remind you know that I do not own Teen Titans or anything else DC-based. NOW, onward with the fic!
Chapter 13:
This Means War!
The very next day, the entirety of the combined Gordanian and Tamaranean army's fleet of starships were gathered in the vicinity of Tamaran, waiting for Blackfire and her forces to arrive. Robin, however, was much less patient in his waiting compared to everyone else as he and the other titans waited in the T-ship from their position in the very back of the fleet.
"Are you sure we wouldn't have been better off going out and actively searching for them?" Robin asked.
"You heard what Galfore said," said Cyborg. "The note specifically stated that Blackfire and her army would meet us within the vicinity of Tamaran. With how far away from Tamaran Umbrosia is and how Blackfire could easily be holed up Lord knows where else now that she apparently has her own ship, it would be wiser to wait for her and her forces to arrive here and then sneak onboard Blackfire's ship while the rest of the alliance's army is busy battling with the Umbrosians."
Robin sighed, and slumped in his compartment's seat. "Well ok, that is true. But I'm just so worried about Star. From what the note said, and past history would indicate, something horrible could be happening to her right this very moment."
"If that is in fact happening, we'll put a stop to it when we find her," said Cyborg.
"Yeah," Beast Boy added, "and we'll make whoever's responsible for it pay!"
Raven nodded silently, just as eager as the boys to save her friend.
Their comms went off, and Robin answered first. "Yes?"
"Robin," said Galfore's voice, "do you read me?"
"Yes."
"Good. I have received word from our scouts that Blackfire and her army are getting close to our location and should arrive soon. You remember the plan?"
"Yes, I do." Robin nodded his head. "Are you sure you don't want any of us to stay outside to help you?"
"We'll be fine," said Galfore. "Besides, we have no idea who or what might be on Blackfire's ship alongside her. As long as we don't know for sure, it is wise to err on the side of caution. Believe me, you will be wise to have all the help you can get from having all your friends alongside you when you go on board that ship."
"If you say so."
"One more thing." Galfore seemed to take a deep breath. "Whatever happens today, you and your friends had better get yourselves off that ship with Starfire alive and well. You hear me? If you depart Blackfire's ship without Starfire for any reason, then by X'hal, there will be no distance or god that will prevent me from making sure you pay for doing so."
Robin gulped, and nodded his head nervously. "Understood."
"Good. I will sign off now. I must be ready to lead my army in the coming conflict. Good luck. Do not fail." Galfore ended the transmission.
Cyborg whistled, having overheard the entire conversation on his comm. "Hooboy, Star's old man has got you down pal."
"You do know Galfore's not Star's dad, right?"
"Yes, I know that BB, but as far as Rob's concerned, Galfore might as well be Star's dad."
"This is an important conversation right now?" Raven dryly asked.
"Quiet guys," said Robin. "We need to keep watch so we know when it's time to initiate the plan."
"You've got that right," said Cyborg. "The sooner we get on Blackfire's ship, save Star, and kick some hostile alien butt in the process, the better."
"I hear you," Beast Boy agreed. "Let's not forget how that arrow thing Taryia and Karras gave us ought to make things a heck of a lot easier."
Raven nodded, and lifted up the arrow in question from her compartment's dashboard. This arrow, made from a native Phosphorian metal, was designed to instantly kill any Umbrosians it pierced; an ability that would be especially useful if they encountered any Umbrosians on Blackfire's ship. For as Taryia and Karras had explained to them, Umbrosians were apparently able to possess freshly killed dead bodies as a means to shield themselves against any light that wasn't specially designed with their physiology in mind.
"Don't get to confident, we still need to be on guard for potentially encountering Ulragor and his men. If Greerak is correct in his suspicions, Ulragor may have given away the information Star's kidnapper needed in order to find her yesterday in exchange for him and his men joining forces with Blackfire."
Beast Boy snarled, and flexed his fingers together. "Oh don't you worry, I'm looking forward to seeing him again, if only for the chance to kick his ass! Blackfire and her crew can't get here soon enough!"
"You can say that again," said Cyborg. He pointed towards the front of the fleet. "Because we've got company!"
The titans all looked in time to see a swarm of the glowing red lights of the Umbrosian ship 'eyes' heading in the fleet's direction from within a giant vortex of shadows.
"Get ready team," said Robin.
"Don't need to tell us twice," said Cyborg as he, Raven, and Beast Boy prepared themselves alongside their fearless leader.
As they watched, a sizable number of small Umbrosian ships came flying out of the vortex . . . a considerably larger number then they'd expected for that matter.
"Holy moly, that's a lot of ships," said Beast Boy.
"You don't say," said Raven.
Right as the arrival of smaller Umbrosian ships finally started to wind down, the titans and the rest of the combined Tamaranean and Gordanian army found further reason for concern when a comparatively smaller number of gigantic ships began to emerge from the vortex as well. It took one look at these particular ships for the titans and Tamaraneans to recognize them as the exact same model as the ship that had originally forced the Titans and the Tamaranean royal starship to land on Gordania.
Beast Boy gulped. "And I thought we had trouble staying alive against just one of those things."
"I hear you buddy," said Cyborg. "Man, I sure hope Galfore and the rest know what they're doing."
"Me to Cy," said Robin. "Me to."
After the last of the giant Umbrosian warships emerged from the portal, one final other ship came slowly flying out of the vortex. At the sight of this ship, the entirety of the gathered forces couldn't help but feel both terrified and awestruck. It was easy to tell that whoever had designed this ship had taken inspiration from the appearance of the Tamaranean royal starship. This ship, however, was bigger, longer, and also more ostentatiously decorated. Instead of having an orange head with black stripes, this ship was entirely purple all over. The back end of this ship was longer and more obviously reminiscent of a tail. It had four wings altogether, multiple fin-like extensions all over the ship's back and tail, and several wickedly sharp looking curved claw-like extensions sticking out from the sides of the wings in lieu of the fin-like extensions that were on the undersides of the royal starship's wings. Instead of settling for merely a pair of fang-like extensions underneath the nose, this ship had its entire head carved into the shape of what looked to the titans like the head of a saber-toothed lynx-like creature.
Beast Boy whistled. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm willing to bet cash money that that's Blackfire's ship."
"Get ready," said Robin. "Raven, as soon as the combat starts, you're going to teleport us to behind that ship."
"Acknowledged."
. . . . .
Galfore narrowed his eyes at the sight of the gobsmackingly vast fleet of enemy ships before him and his own fleet.
"Are you sure that we can handle this?"
Galfore sighed upon hearing this question. "For Koriand'r's sake, our people's sake, and the sake of X'hal knows who else, we'll just have to try."
Both pilots gulped, and nodded their heads. "If you say so."
Galfore nodded, and accessed his communicator. "Attention, this is your Emperor speaking. Are you ready?"
"Yes your Excellency," came the resounding shout of everyone in the Tamaranean portion of the army.
"Good. Get ready to attack. The enemy will be in position soon."
Greerak, meanwhile, was similarly glaring with narrowed eyes at the approaching enemy fleet, and he accessed his own communicator transmission.
"Everyone," he hissed. "This is your king speaking. Do you read me?"
"Yes your Majesty," said all the Gordanian soldiers.
"Good." Greerak nodded his head. "Ready yourselves. The time to attack is nigh."
The enemy fleet came to a stop, both sides staring each other down. Then the red 'eyes' of all the Umbrosian ships started to glow.
"Attack now!" Galfore yelled
"Fire!" Greerak roared.
All the Tamaranean and Gordanian ships immediately opened fire, taking out 50 of the Umbrosian ships before the enemy finally began to fire their own blasters. In the maelstrom of blaster fire that ensued, not a single being on board the actively fighting ships noticed the one orange spaceship amongst the bunch suddenly getting engulfed by shadowy energy and vanishing from its post at the very back of the combined Tamaranean Gordanian fleet.
. . . . .
Starfire thrashed and writhed where she stood, struggling desperately to free herself from the three cuffs and shake off the inhibitor headband. She hissed angrily as she did so. "X'hal curse you," she thought to herself. So far, her cuffs remained tightly clamped across her wrists and feet, and the headband remained securely clenched around her forehead. "If I just had my star bolts or beams, I'd already be out of here."
She clenched her fists and hung her head, growling in rage. "I hate this!"
At the sound of footsteps, she lifted her head, eyebrow raised as she wondered who was coming. Then the door opened, and her eyes narrowed in rage. It was Ph'yzzon. "You," she snarled.
Ph'yzzon raised his eyebrow, seemingly not concerned about Starfire's current tone. "Good day to you to."
"If you've come here to gloat, make it the zipped. I am not in the mood. Where's Blackfire?"
"In the pilot chamber. She believed that would be her best vantage point to watch the conflict outside and adequately judge when, if ever, she'd need to use her summoning marble to call upon the Black Entity for help." He directed a look outside a nearby window. "Though judging by the current odds, I'd say it's unlikely that the Black Entity's involvement will be needed."
"As a former general, you should not be so quick to dismiss the chances of the very army you used to serve," said Starfire.
"That army has done nothing for me. They certainly didn't do anything to help me during the two years I spent searching for you, or in the subsequent three years I spent figuring out how to get you back after I finally found out where you were. And considering how the war with the Gordanians only ended via a ceasefire brought about by some beast amongst our people choosing to sell you to them, I very much doubt that even the might of our people's army combined with that of our former enemies will be enough to fight and defeat the military power of Umbrosia.
"As for those unworthy Earth friends of yours," he chuckled. "Don't even mention them. It would take a miracle for them to even hope to defeat the multiple Umbrosians and defected Gordanians on board this ship, let alone defeat me."
"Your arrogance is most unbecoming," said Starfire. "As I will gladly tell you from experience, you don't know the half of how powerful those same friends you casually dismiss as harmless truly are. Do trust me when I say that, contrary to your doubts, they will save me."
"You're right about one thing," Ph'yzzon snorted. "I don't know their power. But I do know my own. Trust me Kori, you are wrong." He chuckled, went over to a nearby computer screen, and typed in a code. "Nonetheless, I will enjoy watching them trying futilely to prove you right on the security cameras of this ship."
He accessed the security cameras, specifically making sure to directly access the ones designed to view the outside of the ship while setting the interior camera feed aside to watch later. "And don't even think about trying to call on a certain entity to bust you out." He pointed to his right at a large dome that contained none other than the very crystalline orb that Starfire had been given by the Prime Entity. "That thing will only react if you say the necessary words while touching it, and the only way to open that dome is for exclusively my palm to touch the button designed to open and close it. So face the facts Kori. Unless by some miracle I am defeated by those worms, you're staying where you are."
. . . . .
The T-ship emerged from a shadowy portal directly behind Blackfire's ship. Robin narrowed his eyes. "Ok team," he said. "Right now, all we need to do is figure out just how we're going to get on the ship."
"Couldn't I have just teleported us all onto there instead of behind it?" Raven asked.
"Too risky," said Robin. "Considering how much we'd potentially be mistaken for Umbrosians before fully emerging if we tried that, and the deadly nature of the ship's interior to Umbrosians without vessels, teleporting us onto the ship's interior would draw too much attention from the get go. If there's any way we can get on without running as much risk of instant attention being drawn to us, then I'm willing to find out what it is."
"Considering how worried you were not too long ago about Star's wellbeing, and the threat Galfore has sent against you if we fail, you'd best hope that this method doesn't take too long to figure out," said Cyborg.
"I know, I know," said Robin.
"Wish granted."
Upon hearing Beast Boy say this, the other titans looked in the direction the shape shifter was pointing just in time to see what looked like a pair of opening hangar doors near the base of the ship's tail.
"Well talk about lucky," said Cyborg.
"Titans, activate the cloaking technology!"
All four titans pressed the necessary buttons, with Robin hurriedly entering in a supplemental code into his compartment's computer. In a flash, with what looked like a holographic flicker, the T-ship turned invisible, and then flew directly towards the open hangar doors from above right as a small swarm of Gordanian battleships flew out to join the Umbrosian attackers.
Beast Boy's eyes narrowed as he got a look at a strange marking he saw on the backs of the ships in question. "That sigil," he whispered, "I saw it on Ulragor's armor during that council meeting we attended."
"Well that definitely confirms the rumors of him and his men turning traitor against us," said Robin. He shook his head. "To think that he accused all his fellow nobles of being cowards and casting aside their honor by doing the exact same thing he's just done."
"What a hypocrite," said Raven.
"Let's keep moving, we don't want to still be out here when those doors close."
The other titans did not need to be told twice. They picked up the pace of the ship's flight. Thankfully, they made it through the hangar doors, passing right above the very last ship to depart in the process. By the time the hangar doors had closed, the invisible T-ship had landed upon the hangar floor. After several minutes, and the strokes of several keys, the ship's cloaking technology was deactivated, and the four teenage heroes disembarked.
They looked around the room. "Ok," said Cyborg. "Where's the nearest exit?"
"I see it, right there," said Robin, pointing at a nearby door opposite the hangar doors. "Come on."
"Wait."
The boys paused immediately upon hearing Raven. She lifted her hand. "I sense that there are enemies present on the other side of that door."
Beast Boy tilted his head as if listening with his right ear in the air. "I can definitely hear something in there now that you mention it. Surprised my instincts didn't pick up on it before."
Cyborg then noticed what looked like a computer attached to a mechanical extension poking out of a nearby wall. He walked over to it. "Let me see if this thing can help us here." He pressed on multiple keys as he proceeded to attempt to hack into the device. After about a minute, he'd successfully hacked into the machine. He shook his head in bemusement. "You'd think that advanced alien tech like this would be harder to hack into."
"Don't begrudge your own good luck," said Beast Boy.
Robin walked up to Cyborg. "Anything useful on there?"
"Checking, checking, oh, security camera footage; that could be useful."
"Get into that," said Robin.
Cyborg did so, a massive number of video feeds popping up onto the screen immediately afterwards. The other titans watched as Cyborg looked through each video feed square to see if he could find one that would give them an idea of what they were up against in the room immediately behind the door they wanted to go through. Then Cyborg's eyes narrowed at one tiny detail within one of the video feeds. He looked towards the door, then back at the camera footage, and then at his friends. "I've found the room we're trying to get into." He stepped aside so that the other titans could look at the video feed in question. "Here's who we've got on the other side of that door."
Beast Boy silently whistled upon sight of the two beings that currently appeared to be fast asleep on swivel chairs positioned in front of a desk with a giant array of tv-screen-like devices showing security camera footage. "Hoowee, I was not expecting to see Jaguaro and the Gator Ghoul on this ship."
Robin's own eyes narrowed upon sight of the humanoid alligator and saber-toothed cat headed ape-like figure on the screen. "I guess these two must be vessels for Umbrosians."
"Those two aren't the only ones," said Cyborg. He allowed the other titans to have a look at the various other camera feeds. "There's God knows how many more elsewhere aboard this ship."
The other titans noticed. "There sure are a lot of Umbrosians guarding the interior," said Robin.
"I'll say. Judging from the look of their vessels, they had quite a variety of different species providing dead bodies for them to possess too," said Beast Boy.
"Makes one wonder how many graveyards had to be robbed to account for them all," Raven droned.
"They're not the only guards either," said Cyborg. "Looks like Ulragor's still on board, and so are all of his men who didn't feel like going outside to do battle today."
Robin rolled his eyes, and turned his head to face the door, his eyes narrowing once again upon sight of a keycard receptor on the wall to the right of the door. "Apparently we require a keycard. Wonderful."
"That shouldn't be too big of a problem, at least not for this door anyway." Cyborg pointed at an onscreen tab for a different program. "I can probably hack that door open, and then we can take out those two sleeping guards and swipe a keycard off of one of them."
Robin thought to himself. "Sounds good."
"We should probably figure out just which way to go to get to Starfire now," said Raven. "While we're still under the radar."
"Good thinking," said Beast Boy.
Cyborg looked through the camera feeds, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Ok," he said. "I think I've got a basic route planned out." He proceeded to explain, using various appropriate security feeds as a visual aid. "Once we get through these two punks in that security room, the door opposite them leads into a simple hallway. The door on the opposite end leads into a large chamber filled with multiple interconnecting catwalks. From there, we just go straight up a stairway, straight forward across the resulting catwalk, then go down another stairway, and we can access what looks like some sort of computer room. We could probably hole up in there long enough for me to hack into the ship's mainframe and get all the security gadgets and other onboard technology to help level the playing board even further in our favor."
"Don't forget we still have this," said Raven as she held up the phosphorium arrow.
"Right," said Cyborg. "That should also prove handy during our time in that computer room. Not to mention, considering how we'll almost certainly have to deal with more guards on the way to that computer room, that arrow will definitely come in handy even before we get there."
"Sounds like we've got a plan then." Robin rammed his left fist into his right palm. "We hack our way through that door, use the arrow to take out those two guards, and get a key off of them. Then we make our way to this computer room, fighting off any guards we encounter on the way as needed. Upon reaching the computer room, Cyborg uses his hacking to get the ship itself to take out as much of the opposition for us as it can alongside the arrow. Once we've gotten the odds lowered to as far in our favor as we can possibly manage from in there, we make our way straight to where Starfire is." He raised his eyebrow. "How do we reach Starfire from there?"
"From the computer room, we enter another hallway, take a right, then a left, pass by three alternate hallways, then go across a catwalk over what appears to be a pit full of lava, then go up this corkscrew-shaped ramp. And at the very top of that ramp, we go through a door, and voila! We've reached Star."
"Perfect. Ready guys?"
"Just a second."
Beast Boy hurried over to take a look at something that had caught his interest on the computer.
"What are you doing?"
"Just a minute, ah-ha!" He pressed another onscreen tab. "Nice! This ship has an onboard radio and setlist! And it looks like Blackfire even managed to somehow include some Earth songs! I know just the one to play!"
The other titans raised their eyebrows incredulously. "Why is this important?"
"Well, with what we're about to do, I thought, why not take the opportunity to have a little fun while we're doing it?"
. . . . .
The two sleeping Umbrosians were suddenly awakened and caught quite off guard when they heard what sounded like music suddenly blaring from the ship's intercom system.
"What the?" asked one of the Umbrosians, who happened to be possessing the dead body of a Bastetian robber. "Where's that music coming from?"
"The onboard radio," growled his partner, who was possessing a deceased Suchonian gangster. "It's coming from the hangar. Probably some wiseass trying to pull a prank. Come on."
The two got up from their seats, the Suchonian vessel drawing out his key card and opening the door to the hangar. They both took five steps forward before they both reared back in surprise at the sight of none other than the four friends of the Tamaranean they were holding prisoner standing right there next to the hangar's computer. But the sight of the golden arrow floating above them thanks to a ring of black energy around the center that matched the similar energy glowing in the cloaked girl's eyes caused them both to step back in fear. "Oh shi . . ." the Bastetian vessel managed to whimper.
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," said Raven as she proceeded to send the phosphorium arrow flying through a nearby wall. It then burst out of the wall behind the security camera footage screens. The Bastetian vessel turned around to look behind it just in time for the arrow to plunge into its chest and straight through its heart before it did a single loop de loop, rocketed through the Suchonian vessel's back and heart, burst out of its chest and flew straight into Raven's lifted right hand; all while the song Beast Boy had selected was just starting to play the first of its lyrics.
With a puff of dark energy, the two Umbrosians burst into nothing, leaving the two now empty vessels teetering on their feet, the Bastetian even miraculously managing to turn itself around to face the wall where the computer was located, before they both fell to the floor on their faces. Robin wasted no time, getting down on his knees and swiping the Suchonian's keycard out of its hand.
He rushed over to the door and opened it with the keycard. The four titans confidently entered the security chamber, Beast Boy even turning into a lion and growling in anticipation while Raven kept the arrow floating along in the air behind them.
. . . . .
In the room where she was being kept imprisoned, Starfire raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?" she said, quite uncertain as to what was going on, or where the music she was suddenly hearing was coming from.
Ph'yzzon was similarly confused, and he turned his head away from the video feed from the micro security cameras attached outside the ship, only for his eyes to widen in horror at the sight of what he ended up seeing on the video feed for the interior security cameras.
"By X'hal! I thought they were still outside!"
He hurried over to a nearby intercom system, pressing the transmission button. "They're here!" he yelled. "The other titans! They're on the ship!"
Upon hearing these words, Starfire's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped in half shock and half joy. Meanwhile, as Ph'yzzon saw on the video feed, all the guards on the ship hurriedly proceeded to either pick up their weapons or charge up their shadowy energy blasts.
"Go!" yelled Ulragor.
. . . . .
As the song continued to play over the intercom, the four titans continued to proudly slow walk down the hallway they'd entered, Beast Boy with an apparent smug grin plastered on his lion form's face while the other three titans kept stern and focused looks on their own faces.
From the hallways to the left and right of the door they were heading towards, came a large squadron of Umbrosian vessels that began to run headlong straight towards the titans. Remaining perfectly calm, the titans kept walking towards the approaching enemies while Raven simultaneously sent the arrow flying straight towards the group.
The attackers had just enough time to skid to a stop with horrified looks frozen on their faces before the arrow plunged into the chest of the humanoid wild boar-like figure at the very front. No sooner had the arrow gone through this vessel's heart and exited out of its back when it then began to rapidly zoom along in loop de loops while thrusting its way in and out through the chests, hearts, and backs of each of the vessels in the group. The last three to be summarily dispatched in this fashion were first a greenish gray cloak-like figure, then a chartreuse skinned zombie-like being, and finally a green humanoid pterosaur.
The titans continued walking through the hallway, completely unphased as the myriad vessels collapsed to the floor as the Umbrosians that had originally possessed them evaporated into black mist and departed from their now useless host bodies. With all the immediate opposition thoroughly taken out of the way, the titans reached the desired door with no trouble.
They entered the next room, a large chamber of catwalks just as Cyborg had said. What looked like a humanoid praying mantis turned its head and pointed its left arm at them from a catwalk above them. "Down there!"
Without a word, Raven sent the arrow flying off to take him out, as well as all the other Umbrosian vessels that came charging into the room immediately after this shout. With almost ludicrously swift speed, every single Umbrosian that entered the room was slaughtered where it stood, leaving their now twice dead vessels to collapse on their faces, or sometimes even fall over the side of the catwalks. One Umbrosian that had possessed what looked like a humanoid rat got a particularly ignominious death in that it was only 3 seconds after he entered the area before the arrow came flying through his backside and out of his chest, prompting him to let out an emasculating scream of shock before the Umbrosian evaporated and the now empty vessel fell over the side of the catwalk it had been standing on.
Eventually, Beast Boy happened to turn his head to his right, and his lion eyes narrowed at the sight of a very nervous looking Gordanian standing on an upper catwalk looking down towards him and the titans before it turned and started to run away. The Gordanian had enough time to look back and scream when he saw a green vulture fly up to the catwalk fence he'd been leaning against. This vulture reached the area where the Gordanian had originally been standing before morphing into a Utahraptor in midair and chasing after the Gordanian immediately after landing.
The Gordanian, too terrified to even remember he could fly, was too slow to outrun Beast Boy, and the green raptor leaped upon his back, pinning him face down on the catwalk. The Gordanian lifted his head, and screamed at the sight of Beast Boy's Utahraptor face snarling savagely at him while looking down at him.
Beast Boy bit the Gordanian on the tail, swung him around, and then threw him forcefully down over the side of the catwalk. The Gordanian plummeted with a scream, before landing headfirst on the floor of the room and finding himself unconscious upon impact. One catwalk the Gordanian had passed by while falling was the very one Beast Boy's fellow titans were now on as they made their way up the final stairway leading to the computer room, and the changeling jumped down to that catwalk to catch up with them, shifting back to human form and landing smoothly on his feet in the process. He entered the computer room seconds after they'd already taken up positions within.
Cyborg hacked into the main computer, then set all the other computer screens to show security camera footage. At which point, Raven used her view of the video feeds to send the arrow flying off to eliminate every remaining Umbrosian vessel she could find, sometimes getting rather creative in the process. While Raven was busy with the arrow and Robin and Beast Boy watched, Cyborg hacked further into the ship's mainframe and caused all the various security gadgets installed to activate and start attacking the Gordanians on board, but making sure that they were all set to nonlethal mode. Nonetheless, he still winced when he accidentally caused one of the security laser blasters to blast a backup ship hanging from the ceiling free of its moorings and let it fall down on top of a small group of Gordanians.
"How many more are left?" Robin eventually asked.
Raven summoned the arrow back to her hand through a shadowy vortex. "I've got all the vessels taken care of." She sent it to a pocket dimension in a flash of shadows.
"Looks like all the remaining Gordanians are holing up in that one final tunnel we still need to go through," said Beast Boy.
Robin thought to himself, and then nodded. "Sounds perfect. We can take them." He turned and ran towards the door that would lead to the final set of hallways between them and Starfire. "Titans move!"
. . . . .
"No!" Ph'yzzon yelled, slamming his fist on the desk where the computer screen was located. "No! No! No! No!"
Starfire, despite herself, couldn't help but chuckle. "Like I told you," she said. "Those same friends of mine that you were so willing to dismiss as not a threat are far more powerful then you are willing to give them credit for."
Ph'yzzon snarled, and pointed his finger at Starfire. "Don't get too confident Kori! They may have killed off all the Umbrosians aboard this ship and taken out the majority of Ulragor's men! But they've still got one more obstacle to get through that could yet do them in before they can get here!"
Starfire chuckled again. "You mean Ulragor and what few of his men still remain conscious? Surely you won't delude yourself into thinking they stand a chance after what's happened to all his men who've already tried."
"Oh they won't be a challenge for those freaks. I'm not gonna fool myself into thinking otherwise." He then raised his finger, a smug grin forming on his face and his old familiar confidence returning to his voice. "But remember that lava pit chamber located not too far outside this very room? There's an especially dangerous obstacle in that pit; and I'm not talking about the lava." He chuckled darkly. "Yes, let's see if those pesky friends and that inferior replacement consort of yours can handle that."
. . . . .
A small squadron of Gordanians came rushing towards the titans immediately upon exit from the computer room. Cyborg activated his sonic cannon and fired straight at the incoming assailants, sending the Gordanian would be attackers flying backwards. "Booyah!" he yelled as the Gordanians were knocked out by the blast.
The titans reached the first intersection, and they were just about to head to the right when they heard shouting and hissing coming from the left tunnel. The boys' eyes widened upon sight of more Gordanians coming at them from the left tunnel, but Raven remained calm. Her eyes and hands glowing, she shouted, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
First a series of what looked like overhead sprinklers, and then the open doorway immediately to the titans' left, glowed with Raven's black energy. Then the doors closed, sealing the charging Gordanians in the hallway. Seconds after the Gordanians were heard shouting and banging on the door, there was a hiss, and the sound of gas filling the hallway behind the door was heard alongside the coughing and hissing of the Gordanians.
"The knockout gas hall trap," Cyborg said, having noticed the programming for this very trap during his time hacking. "Clever."
The titans turned to their intended hallway in time to see more Gordanians come rushing towards them from that way. Beast Boy snarled. "You guys need to chill." He turned into a polar bear, reared up on his hind legs, and roared savagely at the oncoming assailants. The Gordanians continued rushing towards the titans, completely oblivious and dismissive to the competent threat that Beast Boy had turned into. They soon found out the hard way how wrong this dismissal was when they found themselves slashed, smacked, knocked out, and similarly put out of commission by Beast Boy's powerful polar bear form's attacks.
He rushed over to the opening to the hallway that led straight to the lava pit, and turned around in time to see all the remaining Gordanians within tensing up and getting into battle positions. Beast Boy growled, turned into a rhino, and charged down the hall. The Gordanians, caught off guard and with no time to adequately react, were completely bulldozed into submission as Beast Boy the rhino plowed his way through them all. Robin, seeing how much progress the shapeshifter was making down the hallway, hurriedly fired his grappling gun at the ceiling portion in the very middle of the hall, swung down the hall, and landed on the charging Beast Boy's back. Riding daringly on Beast Boy while standing fully upright, he waited till just the right moment in the rhino form's charge before jumping off in time to deal one of the final Gordanian soldiers present a powerful flying kick to the chest.
No sooner had the boy wonder taken out the first of these warriors and Beast Boy skidded to a stop when Robin proceeded to thoroughly kick the remaining Gordanian guards' butts. He drew out his bo staff, and slammed one of the Gordanians in the head, knocking off its helmet and knocking it out. Then he turned around and threw one of his flame disks at another Gordanian, sending it flying into a nearby wall with the force of the resulting explosion. Then he turned around, blocked a swing from a Gordanian's trident with his staff, swung it free of the Gordanian's hands, and then knocked it out and away with a swift blow to its throat from his staff.
Next Robin turned around, lifted the staff in vertical position, and then slammed the bottom end down on an approaching Gordanian warrior's right foot. The would-be attacker hissed in pain, hopping up and down on its left foot, only to wheeze in discomfort and bend over when Robin's next staff blow struck it in the groin. It was then sent stumbling backward by a punch to the face, at which point it crashed into another Gordanian behind it and caused them both to fall to the floor unconscious. With an inarticulate yell of rage and determination, Robin jumped into the air, turned a complete 180, and sent another Gordanian warrior rocketing backwards with a pounding spinning kick to the face.
No sooner had he taken out this latest assailant when he turned around to face the doorway to the lava pit just in time to see Ulragor and one final warrior enter the room and start to rush across the catwalk above the lava, the sound of gongs blasting through the air within as two flying Gordanian servants banged incessantly on gongs in their hands.
"Hey!" Robin yelled as he started running after the two fleeing Gordanians, drawing the keycard back out of his utility belt in the process. "Get back here you cowards!"
The boy wonder slid the card through the reader right as the door was about to close, allowing it to stay open long enough for the four titans to enter. Seeing that Ulragor and his bodyguard would soon reach the end, Raven hurriedly teleported herself and Beast Boy to directly in front of them. Ulragor and his bodyguard skidded to a stop, hissing in surprise. They turned around to go back, only to find Robin and Cyborg coming to a stop that way.
"End of the line traitor," said Robin, miraculously able to be heard over the ringing of the two gongs.
Ulragor hissed, and drew out his trident. "We'll see about that worm!" His bodyguard drew out his own trident, and the two Gordanian warriors started firing their trident blasts at the four teenage heroes. As the titans did their best to avoid getting blasted, Beast Boy took note of several important details. For one, the two airborne Gordanians not taking part in the battle were still incessantly banging the gongs. He could also hear what sounded like discomforted hissing and shrieking coming from somewhere in the room, as well as slightly make out what looked like the silhouette of something gigantic within the lava. Finally, he could notice that there appeared to be a bag tied to the left railing of the catwalk that had what looked like fish tails sticking out at the top. He thought to himself, an idea starting to form in his head.
"Raven," he said. "Do you think you'd be able to shield yourself in a way that would cause one of those laser blasts to split in two different directions?"
"Maybe, why?"
"Just trust me on this; I need it to split so that it goes left and right, straight at those two gong men."
"If you say so." Raven hurriedly summoned a forcefield. Luckily enough, the desired effect was achieved. The resulting split beam plowed into the chests of both flying Gordanian servants, causing them to slam back first against the walls behind them as well as to drop their gongs into the lava. There was just enough time for the two warrior Gordanians to turn their attention to the servants and for the servants to regain their wits before Beast Boy turned into a smilodon and roared at the unnamed bodyguard, startling him into stumbling backwards so that his trident sliced through the rope tying the fish bag to the railing, sending it falling down towards the lava as well.
"No!" the two servant Gordanians hissed in fear and despair, extending their hands out uselessly in the bag's direction right as it landed into the lava with a splash.
Robin, Cyborg, and Raven were only confused for three seconds before the room seemed to start quaking while the lava started rapidly boiling.
No sooner had the titans, Ulragor, and the bodyguard regained their footing despite the room still quaking when a savage looking monster that appeared to be engulfed in rainbow flames began to rise out of the lava. The flames encasing the beast were too bright and intense for any of the room's other occupants to get a good look at it, but they could all tell at the very least that it had a long serpentine body that proceeded to gradually rise out of the lava multiple kilometers at a time with each flap of its two gigantic dragon-like wings. With each flap of its wings, it also let out a very unnerving pteranodon-like screech while simultaneously rising. After flapping and screeching 7 times in a row, it reared its body up even further out of the lava, tilted its head back, and let out a keening shriek, before clapping its wings together and causing the rainbow flames that had engulfed it to abruptly vanish.
With the flaming aura gone, the creature pulled its wings back to their initial position, and titan and Gordanian alike gulped at the full unblocked view they got of the creature. Its body was a brilliant yellow gold, it had a resplendent red head with midnight black horns, and it had forest green wings. They could also see its face now, and it reminded them heavily of Rodan, only with slightly more dragon-like features, a beak filled with wicked looking fangs, and a forked tongue. But what truly made the creature look scary were its eyes, two fiendish chartreuse orbs that seemed to dazzle with an almost human-like look of maniacal glee mixed with beastly hunger.
Ulragor and his bodyguard, clearly knowing full well how much trouble they'd be in if they stayed in the area much longer, rushed right between the still distracted Robin and Cyborg and towards the door that would lead back to the hallway they'd departed from. Unfortunately, the sudden movement attracted the beast's attention. It turned around to face the direction the two Gordanian warriors were fleeing, reared back, and then fired a cataract of rainbow flames from its mouth right at the door.
The jet of brilliantly colored flames struck the edge of the catwalk directly in front of the door the two Gordanian warriors had been rushing towards, leaving an impressively sized wall of flames blocking their path. As if sensing the dangerous fire, the keycard reader next to the blocked off door suddenly beeped, its signal light turned red, and the door locked tight shut with a click.
The titan boys had just enough time to gulp and realize how they themselves needed to get out of the room quick before they were suddenly engulfed by shadowy energy and expelled back into the light directly outside the door on the opposite end of the catwalk alongside Raven. As it turned out, Raven couldn't have timed this escape more perfectly. For literally the second Raven had departed from the lava pit entirely, a second blast of the beast's breath struck the edge of that very end of the catwalk, creating another rainbow blaze that both physically blocked the Gordanians' path and triggered the door to undergo the same emergency programming that the other door had been triggered into activating, effectively leaving Ulragor, his bodyguard, and the two servants locked in with the monster.
As the four titans watched through the door's small window, gasping in both fright and relief at the situation they'd just narrowly avoided, the monster started snapping its beak at the four screaming and panicking Gordanians trapped inside the room with it. Beast Boy nervously chuckled as Robin, Raven, and Cyborg proceeded to glare at him. "Uh, yeah," he said. "That, probably wasn't my smartest idea."
"Oh," said Cyborg. "You think?"
At the sound of an agonized scream, the titans looked back through the window in time to see the monster snap its jaws shut around one of the servants, who had just happened to be screaming and still flying around while engulfed in a rainbow blaze. As the titans watched, too shocked and frightened to react any other way, the monster turned its head to see the other servant banging its fists one of the walls and yelling for help, blasted the luckless servant with its breath, and then chomped him up when the now screaming and burning servant fell right into its mouth.
Ulragor and his bodyguard fired their tridents at the monster, but the blasts seemed only to annoy it, and it proceeded to blast the bodyguard with its breath, then gobble him up in one bite.
Hissing in rage and despair, Ulragor slipped his trident back into his belt and flew over to the door that the titans were behind. He slammed his fists against it, his face taking up the window space and startling the titans into stumbling away. Beast Boy fell on his backside, completely unaware of his hand landing upon a small button on the wall behind him.
"Let me out!" Ulragor yelled, the rainbow fire blazing and raging around him as he tried desperately to bang down the door blocking his way out. "Help me!"
He then screamed in agony as another blast of rainbow fire engulfed him. Then the beast snapped him up in its jaws, the top of its head slamming against the door, startling the titans further.
When the titans got their senses back, they looked each other in the eyes, finally realizing how they'd just unwittingly allowed four enemies to get killed and eaten without trying to save them. "Ok," said Cyborg. "We probably could have reacted a whole lot quicker that time."
"Too late now," said Raven.
Robin shook his head. "Come on team, we don't have time to worry about this matter." He pointed behind them, his head turned to face the spiral ramp leading up towards another doorway. "See that? According to what Cyborg said from his hacking, Starfire's right behind that door. Come on."
Putting the experience with the lava pit in the very backs of their minds, the four teenage heroes got up from where they were sitting and bolted over to the ramp, Beast Boy himself completely forgetting about the button he'd accidentally pressed.
And just like that, another chapter done! I REALLY hope you enjoyed this new chapter, and that you leave plenty of feedback (remember, I require an exact minimum of 2 reviews for this chapter before I allow the next one to be posted). In particular, I especially hope you enjoyed all the scenes leading up to the final stretch that involved the Phosphorium arrow. If any of you happen to be wondering whether or not these scenes are inspired by/a ripoff of the similar scenes involving Yondu and his arrow against the Ravager mutineers in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, I shall shamelessly admit that to be the case ^_^ (and feel free to play Come A Little Bit Closer while reading those scenes if you REALLY would like to feel the experience; particularly as that's the exact song that Beast Boy picked as far as I'd like to believe). Also, I hope you also enjoyed getting the reveal as to just WHAT was in fact dwelling inside the lava pit, and are pleased that Ulragor and his men have paid for their treachery and refusal to ally with the titans earlier in this story. All that said, again I hope you read, review, and enjoy! ^_^
Coming up Next: The titans have finally reached where Starfire is being kept. However, despite all their current progress, there is still one more obstacle standing in their path. And he is most definitely not going to let them rescue Starfire without a fight! How will this battle unfold? Find out next time!