This is the big chapter, I hope you enjoy it! Sorry it took so long, but I've been really busy and my laptop has been screwing up, also the title of this chapter comes from a song by Coheed And Cambria which has inspired me during writing this chapter.
It was frightening how quickly the fight had started.
No-one had said anything as Dr Alan had brought out his four destructive super soldiers. They had all instead readied themselves for any possible attack. The old man had smiled his oh so sinister smile, then ordered his four soldiers
"Bring me the subjects, then eliminate the rest of the slime"
That's when the chaos started.
The four robotic soldiers had complied and instantly leapt into attack with their human counterparts. At first, The Seasons and The Renegades were unsure of what to do. Mysteria was about to give the order to help and protect the subjects in their fight, until she was interrupted by a whack from a vine on the back of her head. She knew too well who that could be and sharply twisted round to be met with the last face she wanted to see right now.
"Your fight is with me sis" he blankly stated. If it had been anyone else, Mysteria would had shrugged it off and used her shadows to whisk herself away. But The Ringmaster was a different story. Unable to control her emotions, she instantly shot a dark shadowed ball at him, plunging straight at his chest. He growled deeply and dragged her off with a vine, their petty sibling fight quickly escalating into a full blown fight of near pure hatred.
Knowing The Ringmaster all too well, Ember set out what would have most likely been his orders if he had got around to saying them. Too quickly for her opponent to react, she flung out a wire which latched on to Burnout, sending a bolt of electricity straight into the man's chest. Burnout screamed out in pain and dropped to his knees as his muscles contracted. There was no way he was giving up the fight though. Burnout raised his hand, and a ring of fire, red hot as the highlights in Ember's hair ignited itself around Ember's feet. She hissed as her movement was blocked. Raising her head the trapped villain went to call out to her fellow member Blind Spot. She cursed loudly as she noticed the other villain had already gotten herself into a fight.
The muscular girl whipped out a throwing knife from her holster, launching it at her target: Gun Slinger. Thankfully, the younger girl had blocked the knife with one of her guns. In retaliation, Gun Slinger fired several shots back. She grinned but her smile turned into shock when she noticed her target hadn't been hit by any of the bullets. Her opponent smirked arrogantly.
"How the hell did you dodge all of them!" Gun Slinger exclaimed with annoyance. She didn't receive a reply. Instead, her assailant seemed to disappear from her vision, leaving her confused. While she stood in her confused state, Blind Spot, or rather her fist, reappeared quickly in front of her face. She was knocked backwards onto her back, blinding pain bursting from her face. Not wanting to give in, she went to stand up again. However, she was quickly knocked down as a horse sprinted past her.
Arrow sprinted towards The Ringmaster with an evil and eager look. Her horse Aztec and her wolf Dagger shared the same look. The Ringmaster looked up from his sibling brawl when he heard the sound of horseshoes of pavement. Fear instantly swept over his face as he saw Dagger bounding straight at him. He actually screamed. The wolf would have torn him to pieces. That is, if Mysteria hadn't have pulled him away just in time. His black haired twin quickly summoned the shadows of the evening, surrounding the both of them and taking them to a safe place where they wouldn't be harmed, which happened to be an empty room in the abandoned laboratory.
Dagger looked confused as his prey suddenly disappeared into the darkness. Arrow lost her temper.
"Freaking Harkens! I'll kill them!" She yelled.
Her anger was short lived. A powerful blow bashed the back of her head. She clung desperately to the reins on her horse to stop herself from falling off. Motion clenched her teeth. It seemed it was going to be more difficult than she imagined to knock this girl down. She steadied herself as the horse was turned round. Arrow and Motion met face to face.
"You want a fight? I'll give you a fight" Arrow hissed darkly. For once, she let herself down from Aztec. Dagger took the horse's place by her side, but unusually Arrow ushered it back.
"One on one then" Motion breathed out. The reply she received was a punch to the chest. Regaining herself, she matched this move. Arrow growled. With her reactions she was able to dodge it but over and over her opponent matched her moves expertly. Motion continued to fight however, not caring that she was getting nowhere.
'Lys…I just hope I'm buying you enough time here'
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The subjects were not having the best luck over with the super soldiers.
"Of course, they were designed with our powers in mind, to surpass us" Stryke yelled out, yet again dodging another beheading from her robotic counterpart.
She had given her fair share of slashes, though most of them had not caused much damage. Obviously, Stryke mark 2 was built stronger than she was. Her own body on the other hand was bearing several bleeding wounds. The blood loss was wearing her down. Crimson mixed with sweat. She gritted her teeth and stumbled back clumsily, avoiding another near fatal attack. She couldn't keep this up.
She flashed a quick look at her fellow struggling subjects. She was able to catch a glance at Seether and Riley. The poor redhead was shaking violently, standing not far behind Seether who seemed to be doing the fighting for both of them, in wolf form. It was wolf against wolf at the moment. It was a full on scrap, blood and oil oozing from cracks and wounds. Seether bared his teeth, a rabid look filling his eyes. He bit down ferociously down on the counterparts shoulder. There was no scream of pain. The larger wolf reacted by biting back, then throwing him to the ground. Seether landed by Riley's feet. The younger teen immediately fell to his knees and pulled his partner into a hug.
"Seether! A..are you o...okay? Say something!" he stammered in blind panic. He closed his teal eyes, a few frightened tears slipping out. They shot open again as he felt something touch his tear stained cheek. He looked down at the bruised, bloody face of his partner. He watched as many of the cuts, particularly the bite on his shoulder, rapidly healed themselves.
"Hey, stop panicking. Don't worry, I'll be fine" Seether assured him. They shared a tender look, but as their faces leaned together they were cut off by a blinding thunderbolt. Energiser and Lykaon mark 2 closed in for the kill. Riley froze again. Seether tried to move but groaned in pain. Instead, he shifted so he was in front of the Brit.
From a distance, out of sight of Death Breath mark 2, Flick watched his surrogate brothers and sister struggling and suffering against their opponents. He face was sad but also…angry. So angry. Silently, several others dropped down and appeared next to him.
"So, what now Flicky?" Artemis asked, readying her bow.
"Now we turn the tables" he stated. He turned his attention to Robin. The boy wonder nodded back, pulling out several pieces of paper. He handed them to Flick who spread them out of the floor. The young teen then bit down hard on his index finger until he felt his teeth break the skin. His finger hovered over the papers, letting blood fall on each one. In an instant, the drawings on said papers became real in an instant. A few of the team exchanged looks of surprise. Nonetheless, aside from Red Arrow, Artemis, Zatanna and Miss Martian, the team members picked up the weird looking guns that Flick, or Death Breath had created. Even so, there was still one left, which Flick didn't pick up.
"Aren't you going to use one?" Aqualad asked. The young subject shook his head. Flick directed his attention instead to the middle aged café owner who was standing not too far from them. Luckily, Jared turned and faced him. Flick chucked the gun at him, which the man caught easily.
"Thanks, but…what the hell is this kid?" he asked.
"Try it and see" Flick stated. Kid Flash was the first to respond to this. He shot straight at the robotic Death Breath. Upon impact, whatever he had fired caused a great explosion, damaging its back. Ink spilled everywhere. Flick clapped his hands in delight.
"Now this is much more fun!" he exclaimed. They all gave him weird looks.
"…Right. Anyway, we should initiate Operation Death Breath"
Everyone complied. Red Arrow, Robin, Superboy and Flick charged at Flick's robotic counterpart. Zatanna, Artemis, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Aqualad on the other hand went to help the other subjects and break up the fight between the heroes and villains.
Jared Laker watched wistfully as the 'youngsters' as he called them charge head on into a fight. It reminded him of his army days. The whispering behind him suddenly caught his attention. Dr Alan and the professor seemed to be discussing something. They were the ones that caused this; they caused all the pain. He looked down at the gun he was handed, then back at the scientists. He leaned down and placed his hand in the dirt. He painted two camouflage marks onto his cheeks with the dirt.
Then he aimed the gun.
X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X
The fighting became more serious between the Seasons and Renegades.
Burnout was finding himself losing against his electric opponent. Flames encircled the two of them, so at least she couldn't escape and hurt anyone else. However, that did mean that Burnout was taking the full force of her power instead. She had pulled out many different pieces of random technology designed to shock and incapacitate him. He was struggling to stand; his muscles stiff and sore from the shocks. Ember was just waiting for his next move, now holding a Taser. It wasn't like she had come out completely unscathed either. The swirling flames and licked and danced on her skin, causing burns that were extremely sore to the touch. The flames licked at Burnout too.
"Why are you still fighting? Your leader isn't here, he didn't issue orders. Why did you even come here?" the male hero shouted in a desperate attempt to try and stop another attack. For a moment, the girl paused.
"He's not my leader" she replied.
"But you came here because he did"
"I did not!"
"…You like him don't you? The Ringmaster?" he eventually asked. It was a stupid thing to do. For a second, her face looked as though she agreed. But then it became contorted with anger. As the villain approached for another attack, he decided to use the other side of his power as defence. The light from the flames flashed suddenly. Ember stopped in her tracks. Her opponent's appearance seemed to alter itself so that Ember found it confusing. She couldn't attack now. She cursed loudly.
"Raeppasid semalf!" a female voice rang out from outside the disappearing flames. As the flames faded, so did Burnouts altered appearance. However, Ember didn't get to shock him again, because she knocked down by an arrow to the head. Burnout looked relieved.
Zatanna and Artemis gave each other a high five.
Bullets and knives shot through the air with talented aims. Only few of these actually reached their targets. Much to Gun Slinger's annoyance, Blind Spot was able to easily dodge most of her bullets. She had been able to dig a couple of them in her ankles which slowed down her movements. However, Blind Spot had got her fair share, a couple of throwing knives slicing deep into Gun Slinger's arms. Both girls were slowing down; their fight wouldn't last much longer. Blind Spot was running out of knives, as too was her opponent with bullets. Each girl came down to their last token of ammunition. Neither got to fire. An indistinguishable blur of red and yellow flashed past their eyes. Both looked down to realise their knives and guns were missing.
"Not so tough now, huh?" The cocky redhead known as Kid Flash remarked. Neither girl looked impressed.
"Hey! I thought I told you once, those are mine!" Gun Slinger complained, pouting.
"I know beautiful, and before you can get yours back…" he said, directly at Blind Spot before speeding away somewhere where they couldn't see him.
"Damn" the female villain mumbled. Gun Slinger just looked unhappy. Especially when she got knocked over by the horse again.
Arrow's horse Aztec was storming back, trying to keep out the large space being occupied by her mistress and Motion fighting nonstop. There was sheer determination in both girls' eyes. The quite muscular villainess shouldn't have been having any trouble defeating this 'weakling'. Her strength and unnatural reactions should have had her out cold within minutes. But somehow, this other girl was able to copy and match every one of her actions. It was frustrating. However, this was also frustrating to Motion. She may have been able to match Arrow's movements but she wasn't able to surpass them. Neither girl could get the upper hand; they were fighting needlessly. But still, they were both determined to take one another down.
They were not the ones to stop the fight. Arrow and Motion's movements were both stopped. The evil villainess turned to see herself being held down by the Atlantean she nearly was able to defeat back at the break in. She struggled and kicked but her movements were futile. Dagger and Aztec rushed in to help her but she shook her head, signalling them to stand down.
"…We're done here"
Motion too turned round to be met with the green face of a Martian holding her back. However, she did not struggle. She was just glad someone else stopped them before it got too far.
X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X
Stryke found herself pinned down by her robotic enemy. Using her own sharp bones, she desperately tried to hold back its arms. Her arms shook as they used all of their energy to keep back the attacker. She glanced again at her fellow subjects, at their struggles. She never wanted to be here now, defending her life in such a violent and bloody battle. But that's all she could do now. If she wanted to survive…
Stryke screeched loudly at her captor, and then with every ounce of strength, she slashed her arm across the other's. She leapt back and admired her work. The right arm of the super soldier had been cut clean off by her own built in bone weapon. A quiet laugh escaped her lips. She was strong, she could do this. She leapt at the super soldier again, one by one slicing off its other arm and legs, then finally its head. Stryke, no Lafayette, sat down in the dirt, thankful it was over.
Seether and Riley were still struggling on the other hand with their own subjects. Seether had been able to get himself back on his feet but was worried that if he ran off to fight again, then he was leaving Riley exposed to danger. So he stood his, no, their ground as the robotic soldiers closed in. But before Lykaon Mark 2 could close in for the kill, there was an explosion from behind. The two subjects looked in surprise as it fell to its side. Half of its back had been blown off completely. Behind it, Superboy and Wolf stood proudly, his arms crossed. Seether grinned at Wolf.
"I bet you'd agree that robots are no substitute for wolves" he commented with a huff. The wolf boy grinned and nodded. Superboy stepped up to the robotic wolf, then using his strength he smashed in the head, destroying it fully. Seether's heart skipped a beat however when he heard a familiar scream. He whipped round to see Riley on the floor, his face twisted with sheer terror. Energiser Mark 2 was closing in fast on the redhead, who wasn't moving at all. Instantly, Seether threw himself in front of Riley, creating a protective shield.
"See…Seether!"
"No, I am not letting you die!"
Riley clenched his teeth, then forcefully shuffled himself so he was beside Seether.
"If you die, what am I supposed to do? I can't live without you!" Riley shouted, wrapping his arms strongly around his partner. Seether couldn't say anything else.
The wolf boy and the red haired teen waited painfully for the energetic blow that would surely kill them.
They waited.
The blow never reached them.
Seether felt Riley shakily nudge his shoulder. He hesitantly pulled himself away from Riley to turn and see why they hadn't been hit.
There she lay. The horse was still standing, but over her mistress. Seether sensed as the other wolf came and sat by her too. Riley gulped nervously. The two of them peered round to the horse. To their shock, Arrow lay, breathing heavily and twitching.
"Arr…arr…wh…why?" Riley stammered. The ex-villainess giggled.
"You two…didn't…deserve this…I guess….i'm not…so much…of…a villain…huh?" she said between breaths, before closing her eyes. The two subjects fell silent. They didn't even react as Robin jumped in and checked her pulse.
"…She's still alive, but badly injured" he said unemotionally. Riley shook, but then he did something which literally shocked everyone.
Huge amounts of blinding electricity burst out from Riley's hands, launching in one thunderbolt straight at Energiser Mark 2. The super soldier blew up instantly, sparks and bolts raining down like confetti. Seether looked at his lover with surprise. What was even more surprising was that he was still standing. With that amount of electricity he usually would have passed out by now. But no, there he was standing strong, but still shaking. Seether stood up in front of him. He placed a finger under his chin and lifted the redheads face up to his own.
"You are just full of surprises, aren't you?" he said, smiling. The wolf boy pulled the teens face closer for a quick, tender kiss. Although, the younger teens warm lips went limp, along with his body as he eventually passed out in the wolf's arms. Seether laid him down next to Arrow.
It wasn't over though.
Flick saw his Superboy and Robin assist his surrogate brother's in helping to defeat their robotic counterparts. He was now stuck with his own, with only Red Arrow backing him up. While Death Breath Mark 2 was still turned away from them, Red Arrow an arrow straight into its back. Upon impact, a high-density polyurethane foam engulfed the super soldier. Red Arrow nodded to Flick who took it upon himself to finally end the fighting. His fight was quick and final compared to everything else that had happened.
Basically while his enemy was incapacitated, the ink dripped from his fingers, creating a very large inky creature that couldn't be described as anything other than a monster. The inky monster slashed its claws at the super soldier, ripping it's head clean off. Flick's enemy collapsed to ground unmoving.
It was finally over.
There was actual silence from everyone there, from the Seasons, the Renegades, the subjects and the team.
The silence was broken by one more explosion.
All eyes were on the front of the gate where the explosion was heard. The smoke cleared to see Dr Alan lying helpless on the batter path. Jared Laker had him pinned down with his foot, pointing the gun straight at his face. Professor Steven's was scrambling around with a phone for some reason but no-one was paying any attention to her.
Lafayette, Flick, Seether and Riley gathered round the helpless Dr Alan. Jared Laker saw them approach and stepped off.
"He's all yours" he said gruffly. The subjects. Stryke and Flick weren't quite sure what to do with him, this man who had caused them suffering. Thankfully, Seether stepped up but first he turned to Riley.
"You might not want to watch this" he warned his partner. Riley nodded sheepishly and turned round. Seether then transformed back into his wolf form and advanced on Dr Alan, the threatening look on his face more than enough of a warning to the old man.
X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X
'Wonder who she's phoning?' Troy though as he watched the scene outside, looking at Professor Stevens. He grimaced as he watched Dr Alan be torn to shreds by the wolf boy. He clutched at his own bandaged wound.
"Stop messing with that" a cold voice scolded him from across the room. He turned round to his dark haired twin and hissed. She turned away and looked out the window as well.
"Well, I guess we got what we wanted in the end" she sighed.
"What's that?" Troy snorted.
"At least…their free" she said wistfully.
Troy had no answer for that. He just snorted again and looked out the window again.
"But…that's all I wanted" she said quietly again. He didn't look at her.
"Yeah, and what's that?"
"You still don't get it, do you?" she scolded, her green eyes looking straight into his. He growled.
"I missed you so much when you left. Not just me, dad too. He was just like when mom died; he rarely spoke, and always served up your favourite meals forgetting you weren't there. I had to be the strong one. I promised dad I'd find you and bring you back home. So why don't you already!" she cried out, a tear escaping from the corner of her emerald eye.
"SHUT UP!" Troy screamed. Lys braced herself, expecting him to launch forward in attack. Instead she just heard a pained groan. She looked back and saw Troy kneeling down, gripping his abdomen with a pained expression. Blood was dripping down and pooling around him. Sympathy washed over her.
"…Let me help with that" she sighed, kneeling down next to him. He pulled away when she touched him at first.
But then he saw the cut on her cheek. The one he made.
She gently pulled of his red tailcoat, revealing an Evanescence t-shirt that seemed too big for him.
"Where'd this come from then?" she asked, chuckling.
"Shut up"
"I thought you were a smaller size" he said, laughing again.
"It's Hermes…" he mumbled.
"What was that?"
"I said its Hermes!" he pouted.
"Who's Hermes then?" Lys asked whilst readjusting his bandages.
"He's just a guy I met in a bar…"
"And he gave you his shirt?"
"Yeah…"
"What's he like"
"Cool, good looking…"
"You still know him?"
"Stop asking so many questions!" Troy yelled childishly. Lys rolled her eyes. Once she finished rewrapping the bandages she scooted next to him
An awkward silence hung over them.
The silence was interrupted by police sirens. Lys jumped to her feet; Troy froze and ducked away from the windows. She looked at him with concern.
"Ringmaster, Ember. We know you are in there, come out with your hands up!" a harsh voice sounded from outside. Lys gritted her teeth. She glanced outside the window. True enough, police cars were surrounding the old building. Everyone seemed to have scattered. No, wait, she saw Motion hiding with the Renegades and other Season members.
"Damn that professor…must have been who she was calling" Troy muttered from the floor.
"Why are they only asking for you and Ember?" Lys asked her twin seriously.
"We only recruited those other two recently so I'd say they're only mildly known in London" he answered in a monotone voice "damn…I can't get outta this one" he moaned.
Lys knelt next to him, her face plastered with concern and seriousness.
"You will get out of this"
"Fine I'll play along, how?"
Lys picked up a shard of glass.
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Everyone could tell that Professor Stevens had called the police. The instant the sirens had been heard everyone had scattered and hid. The four subjects had stuck together and hid behind one of Flick's inky animals which thankfully blended in with the darkness. The Seasons and Renegades had hidden together around the side of the building, out of the sight of the police cars, Jared Laker with them. Ember was at the back, seeing as she was the one they wanted. However, she couldn't understand why the Seasons were helping to hide her.
"Why…why are you hiding me?" she whispered as quietly as possible.
"This war is over now, there are no more feuds. You may not be an ally but I no longer consider you an enemy" Motion answered her plainly. Ember nodded with understanding.
"So…where's The Ringmaster?" Arrow asked dozily. She had only woken up a few moments ago. Her question was soon answered. At first, everyone looked confused.
From the front of the building, a short black haired figure who looked unmistakeably like Mysteria wandered out from the building. She went unnoticed by the police.
Everyone's expression then turned to shock.
From the top of the abandoned laboratory, a short and eccentrically dressed figure jumped down from the roof, vines sporting from their arms. They unmistakeably looked like The Ringmaster. The figure didn't last long as a gunshot echoed out. The figure fell to the floor, bleeding from their ankle. The police roughly held them down and placed the handcuffs, then pulled the figure to their feet.
During this time, everyone had ran out (keeping Ember hidden among them) and had surrounded Mysteria.
"Lys! You're okay!" Gun Slinger exclaimed happily. She didn't answer. Ember wasn't so happy on the other hand. She went up and grabbed her by the scruff of her silk shirt.
"You bitch! How could you just let Troy get taken like that! How could-"
She stopped.
Something awful dawned on her.
There was no cut on her cheek.
Everyone went quiet.
Troy pulled off the wig.
There was exchange of gasps and comments between everyone. All at once they looked at 'Troy' being led away by the police. 'Troy' turned around. They could all see the cut on their cheek.
It was Lys.
She was shoved into the backseat of the police car roughly. As they drove away, she turned around and smiled sadly at her brother. Troy couldn't smile back. He just broke down and cried. Ember knelt down beside him and placed a comforting hand on his back. By now, the other's felt it was time they left.
Jared Laker ushered the Seasons away. Jayden was crying softly, Bruno looked shocked. Stevie was expressionless. Lafayette also left with them.
After giving his goodbyes to his fellow subjects, Flick had left with the team on the bioship.
Riley kept sniffling into Seether's chest. Taking one last look at Troy, he led his partner away from the depressing scene.
The only ones to stay were the Renegades. Blind Spot stood beside Arrow on her horse, watching as her former 'leader' cried his heart out for the first time in years.
Now it was over
And that's that! But not to worry! There is still one more little chapter; the epilogue which is about a few months after showing how everyone is after this turf war. Then I'll start work on the sequel.
Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing this story, I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!