Black Parade

No songfic for you!

Manik

Nik

Author

Titan's Tower...

With a nice large bruise on his face, Pride still snickered as Robin typed furiously.

"You bastard! If you ever pull some shit like that again, I'll ensure that you never see your daughter again, damn it!" Robin roared.

The snickers were stifled with all haste.

"Now, has there been any other plans that Taokii has employed?" Robin asked, his demeanor suddenly lighter.

"Several. One time he set it up so that when the Dragon Leaders all died, some energy came up and devoured everything. It was really good, as a plan. Oh, but don't worry. That won't happen here. He has to have a few years to set up the energy. Plus, water is the antidote to the energy. Most likely, he's gotten something or someone planted in a position of power. There's been a few other plans that never worked the first time. Once a plan fails, Taokii doesn't use it again, except for this plan. It can provide enough deviations to be dangerous." Pride answered.

"So this should be an easy win?" Robin asked.

"Well, then there's always the army of Shadow Walkers that'll come in soon." Pride responded.

Robin shrugged. There has been plenty of other invasions before. This one will turn out the same.

Keystone City...

Flash and Kid Flash saw the myriad of Dragons swarming the city. A split-second later, they were in action. Kid Flash ran up the side of a building, leapt off it, towards a Dragon. With incredible speed, he burst through the Dragon, and a few after it. They moaned pitifully and disintegrated before they hit the ground. Kid Flash noted the oddity that they didn't explode, but couldn't discuss it yet. He'd tell Robin later.

17 Dragons remained, and they weren't happy. They folded up their wings as they spewed fire all about. Flash and Kid Flash were unable to get passed the onslaught. There was definitely something strange here. As soon as they hit the fire, they were knocked back.

In the dark, the fire lit up the lifeless city. Flash contemplated the situation quickly, then an idea came to mind. It was obvious, and it had to work.

"Small tornado, Kid Flash." Flash ordered.

Kid Flash nodded as they called upon the Speed Force and summoned a small tornado. The fire was sucked away into it, several Dragons with it. The tornado was carried into the nearest body of water, where it ceased, killing off 11 of the Dragons. With six Dragons left, the Flashes knew that the battle was theirs. The six were unable to provide a sufficient shield of flame.

Flash ran up one's abdomen and stepped hard on its neck, cracking it. Kid Flash repeated this procedure on a different Dragon. The next Dragons were unable to defend themselves from it, but the final two managed to knock them away before the attack succeeded. Speed Force went active as fire was sprayed about at the speedsters.

Flash sped by an alley and picked up a few trash can lids. He handed two to Kid Flash, who looked at him, confused.

"Chunk these at the lizards. Let's see if we can't knock 'em dead." Flash smirked.

"Alright!" Kid Flash shouted.

The trash can lids flew through the air at the Dragons. Most were shot down, but more were thrown at the Dragons as the Speed Force users shot through the city to find more. Several got through the barrage, successfully crushing in the red Dragon's skull. The other Dragon, a blue one, roared in anger, allowing several fireballs to jettison from his throat.

The speedsters dodged every one of them with ease. However, the barrage had not ended. In a surprise move, a fireball exploded at their feet, sending them into the air, getting pummeled by the asphalt shooting through the air. They landed on their butts, groaning.

The Dragon was ready to fire off another one, when electricity surged through its body, causing intense burns within it, killing it efficiently.

"Woah. I thought Godzilla was extinct. I guess this is that one that survived, huh?" Static asked, swooping by.

"Hey Static! Aren't you supposed to defend Dakota?" Flash asked.

"Gear, Rubberband Man, and She-Bang are holding up fairly well. A lot of the other Bang Babies are helping out, too. I figured I could swing by a few places to help out." Static explained, flying off.

"Thanks!" Flash shouted.

Titans' Tower...

"Yo, this is Static! Keystone City's covered. No Dragon left alive. From what I heard, most other heroes have their ground held pretty well, too. Well, a few metas aren't able to fight, but I've been doin' some serious cross-country scouting. Gear upgraded my board. Hyper speed, baby!" Static reported.

"Good to hear. I've gotten a lotta' good reports so far. Gotham, Metropolis, Keystone, Bludhaven, and a lot of other areas are clear. I think this invasion has been successfully countered. Keep up the good work, Static." Robin ordered.

"Yes sir!" Static mock-saluted.

The line cut off and Robin sighed.

"So how long will this invasion last?" Robin demanded.

"It's about eleven right? In about... hell if I fucking know. If sunrise hits, it's definitely all over. So, it'll probably be until dawn. You should probably get some sleep, Robin." Pride said.

Robin decided to ignore the smartass comment. It was actually about 3 o' clock.

"Can't sleep, Pride. I've got a job to do. Caffeine patch will have to do overtime for me." Robin replied.

"You humans can't go for very long without sleep. You'll go insane what with all the stress and lack of sleep. Get some sleep. Cyborg's been charging for the passed few hours. He could take over for you. Hell, Savior is probably already insane. Use him. You get some rest, though." Pride said.

Robin yawned widely, failing to stifle it.

"See? What'd I tell you. Go to bed. Only Cyborg, Savior, and Raven are awake right now. Cyborg's fully charged, of course. Savior's a nutcase, as I said. Raven's just reacting to all the psychic energies shooting about." Pride said.

"Excuse me?" Robin asked, standing up and stretching.

Alertness and a steady body were hard to keep at about 3 o' clock am.

"Dragons have some limited psychic abilities. Just enough to tell each other where to be." Pride lied.

Robin nodded and headed up to Cyborg's room. The ability to detect lies is hard to pull off about 3 o' clock too.

Cyborg walked down the stairs, looking about.

"Alright, what do I need to do?" Cyborg asked.

"Since Robin was about to go unconscious right in the hallway, he probably didn't say anything, eh? Well, you'll need to read the file Robin wrote up on everything I've told him, along with what else has happened during this invasion. While and after you do that, wait for reports to come in from the other heroes fighting off this invasion. All the Titans have come in, including Terra, so don't worry about them. Other reports should come in soon, though." Pride answered.

Cyborg sighed as he sat down and began carrying out Pride's instructions.

Alright, with Robin gone, it's time to search for it.

I've already found it. It's in our Granit Minor.

Clever. Put it in the organ that stimulates pain.

Apparently, he studied our body at some point. I could count how many people on Earth know the physiology of a Shadow Walker on a crocodile farmer's hand.

Robin's smart. He'd know where to put it, of course. Don't do anything to it for now.

Excuse me?

The Lightning Orb can detect shadow energy, remember? For now, don't do anything. In a few hours, however, steadily put an INCREDIBLY small amount of shadow energy into the orb. Do this every... 30 minutes until an hour from sundown. We have to ensure it doesn't detect the energy, as it goes on high alert at night.

Smart, for a human.

I'll tell you when to activate the shadow energy and rip the orb out.

How will it not detect the energy beforehand?

In such small doses over a long period of time, it will adjust to the amount, steadily. The orb doesn't have a high enough brain function to limit the amount of shadow energy that can be contained within it. It resets every few minutes. At least 20, but at the most 27. A design flaw that's not easily recognized, for sure.

Gotcha. I'll be on standby.

"Hey, Pride, one thing isn't clear about the invasion. How come it hasn't come in massive swarms? It's more like a…" Cyborg trailed off.

"A black parade? Yeah. It's odd. I guess it's a variation, or else it's just a lack of force. A few times there's been enough Dragon's that the skies were blotted out. A few other times, there's been enough that there's close to ten to a continent. It's odd, yes, but it always depends on resources. Guess he just doesn't have 'em." Pride said.

"Oh, by the way, Pride, Robin gave me a quick order. You'll be allowed to see your daughter as soon as this invasion is over." Cyborg said in an offhand manner.

Pride's jaw dropped. He quickly assessed the situation and made a demand.

"Let me out of this cage. Turn off the Orb."

"No."

"I am going to end this invasion myself if I have to."

"It's almost four o' clock. Your daughter's not a bat. This invasion will be over soon, right?"

"I despise you and your kind."

"You'll get over it, shadow boy."

"Kiss my ass, Stone."

REIGN