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They would still have to defend Jump City against the other villains, so yeah, they ended up back there. They got the T-ship and Kishar can teleport them, so It's not a big distance to them. But that's where they got their equipment. I'm sure Robin would be low on discs, while Cyborg would want access to the Tower's systems. They were soundly beaten, and until they can think of a way to win, it's as good a place as any.
To be clear, it's not Trigon's domain that Kishar would eject. She can't do that since she wants to keep him in his prison. Rather it's the ward that Adonis created, and will try to empower. If that happens then it would disrupt the prison wall, and Trigon goes free. So, if she thinks he has a chance to empower it, she would eject the ward brutally enough to cast it into space by creating a supervolcano.
Time: The next morning.
Awakening,... Adware,... Trigon's Plan,... The Assault,... The Caravan,... Decision,... A Fiery God,...
Warmth. Comfort. Love. They surrounded her, filling the entirety of her being. It was only with great reluctance that the violet-eyed girl slowly opened her eyes, and looked around. "I feel asleep, didn't I." She said, gazing at the boy whose arms held her in a gentle embrace.
"Guess when Rage goes on a rampage it really drains your batteries." Beast Boy grinned at her.
"Hump. I've going to have a little talk with her about going overboard." Raven muttered, sounding displeased.
"Don't be too harsh. I understand exactly how she felt."
"Well, since I'm her, and she's me, so do I but ..."
"Raven?" The boy whispered in her ear.
"Huh?" She lost her concentration, suddenly aware of just how close her boyfriend was.
"Sometimes you talk too much." He nibbled on her ear, and his hands started to roam.
Raven gulped, agreeing wholeheartedly with him. Twisting her head, she eagerly pulled him close more forcefully than she'd meant to. Lips bruised, but not caring, she sought only to quench the need that burned within her.
When the alarm sounded, she growled, unable to stop her power from running wild. In the shape of a giant black hand, it scratched the steel walls, leaving deep furrows in them with a nerve-wracking screech.
"Okay." Spoke a voice that sent chills down the spines of the three Titans already in the commons room. "This had better be important, or I won't be held accountable for my actions."
"Umm." Cyborg gulped nervously. "I was keeping track of what's happening in Africa, and things have changed. Robin and I thought it best to assemble the group for a meeting."
"Oh." The half-demon girl sighed, taking a seat. "What's happening?" The fury vanished from her face to be replaced by a mask of impassivity
"Billy Numerous was used to build a road to the nearest highway. After that he cleared the area around the ward, or the stone, or whatever..." The titanium-clad teen shrugged. "If I didn't know better I would say they're expecting a rather large number of people."
"How many?" Beast Boy asked.
"Hard to tell. The area he cleared is around a half mile in diameter. Depending on how long they're staying for, that's enough room for a lot of people."
"We're rested, and have had a chance to think about the last fight." Robin spoke up. "While we still don't know what he's up to, or how to beat him, we do have a target; the road."
"Billy Numerous didn't just beat us last time." Raven intoned. "He trashed us, and sent us flying with a flick of his finger."
"While I hate to be a downer, friend Raven is right." Starfire said. "If we attack, then what is to keep this Billy Numerous from giving us the flick of his finger again?"
"The road is ten miles long." The leader told them. "We'll try to find a point that's not guarded, and take it out. If nothing else it'll delay their plans for a few hours."
"Strange." Cyborg muttered, frowning as he turned to look at a computer screen. He went to work typing before glancing back to them. "A virus, or rather some adware, just tried to infect the Tower's systems. It's worth watching." The boy hit the enter key, and turned back to the screen.
"Greeting my friends." Spoke a smiling man, whose blue eyes cheerfully sparkled. Standing at six-foot six, with black hair and a muscular build, he was the very embodiment of the Greek idea of perfection. "My name is Adonis, and I have a message for those of you who wish to stand above the pity dealings of this world to grasp the future with your own two hands." He spread his arms wide, clearly offering a welcome to those who listened. "In the distant past our race emerged from the savannas and jungles of Africa. We were the apex of evolution, but alas that cold mistress never stands still. Now, in our ancient homeland a new race will soon be born. A race with the power to defy any and all who would try to stop us."
Turning, he pointed, and images appeared on the wall behind him. "See the power of the new ones." Selected images of the Titan's humiliating defeat played on the screen. The only thing different was that the man speaking was the one who was doing the defeating, rather than Billy Numerous. The video stopped, and the cheerful Adonis turned back to his audience.
"See. Even those who can easily cast you down as you are now, will not be able to stand against the new ones. Those who've violated their flesh, such as Cyborg, will be as toys in our hands. Those, such as the witch Raven, who was born of dark forces to destroy the world, will be as mere children. Aliens, such as the one called Starfire, will no longer be able to make claims of being superior." The man beamed another smile, eyes once again sparkling. "The one called Beast Boy was as nothing to my power he gloated. See how easily he was handled." A fragment of the video ran again, showing the shape shifter being knocked back by a salvo of debris. "The world renown hero called Robin did no better." Once again the screen showed the defeat of the Titan's leader.
"If you wish to seek the power to dominate, to define your own fate, then return to your ancient homeland, and become one of the new ones. Create the future as you wish it to be. The choice, and the power to do so, is yours. I Adonis, will bid you welcome, and together we shall be transformed."
"There were hypnotic suggestions in the video." Cyborg told them, turning off the screen. "I filtered them out of course, but it would give the people who listened an instinctive knowledge of where to go, as well as creating a desire to do just that.
"We take out that road, now!" Robin stated.
"I printed a map of the area so we could plan the attack." The titanium-clad Titan spread it out on the table.
Raven frowned, peering at the diagram. When the others crowded her, she used her power to push them back. "What's this?" She asked, frowning furiously as she pointed at several lines on the printout.
"Roads." Cyborg shrugged. "No idea what they're for. They don't seem to go anywhere, and given how rough they are I would never drive my baby on them."
"It's part of a circle for a demonic ritual." Beast Boy told her, staring at them. "Though what sort I don't know."
"I do." Raven swallowed, going pale. "It's for a sacrifice to create a ward against Kishar. That monster gets however many people he can inside the outer line there." She pointed. "And then chants a ritual. They die very painfully, and their power is used to charge the stone." She clenched her fists. "The whole clearing is nothing more than a huge circle."
Robin frowned. "So he created the circle, and then sent the virus to tell people how to get to it. He's enticing them in with offers of power, and then he's going to sacrifice them to Trigon?"
"I wish." The violet-eyed girl shook her head, unable to completely hide her terror. "If I got this right, then if the sacrifice was to Trigon it wouldn't do much. He would still be in his prison, and it wouldn't help him at all. However, if that stone is charged to create a ward, then it'll punch a hole in his prison wall. He'll get free." She studied the map some more. "But that would take millions of people. I felt Kishar's power, and she's maintained that prison of his for a very long time." She looked up at Beast Boy.
"A very long time." The boy agreed, also looking pale. "But he doesn't need to create the ward, just send the power through the stone." He gulped, frowning as he studied the map. "If he gets enough people then there won't be a hole, but it'll weaken the wall enough for Trigon to break free. He only needs it to last for a second. A hundred thousand people sacrificed in the same instant would ..." The shape shifter paused. "It doesn't need to be permanent." He explained.
"Oh." Raven clenched her hands, and focused on her emotions, needing to calm them.
Around them the world blinked, and changed.
"I see. So that's his plan." Kishar said, clenching her teeth. Looking weary, she sat on the ground.
"We'll stop him." Robin assured her.
The demon shook her head. "Don't you see? It was never Trigon's plan to break free using Adonis. Even if I hadn't requested your help, I would've sensed that many people gathering, and cast the ward into the void."
"What is his plan?" Raven intoned.
"Just to cause as much suffering as he can." Kishar shrugged helplessly, looking pitiful. "He knows I would never allow something like that to be created within my domain. He wishes to force me to decimate the human race, and to condemn me to feel the guilt of doing so forever." She leaned against her son when he knelt beside her, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Our goal at the moment is still the same." Robin told them. "We put off his plan for as long as we can by taking out sections of the road."
"Can't you destroy the road?" Beast Boy asked, holding his mother.
"No. It's been warded against me."
"But ..." He gulped. "Ten miles, that would take hundreds of wards."
"You mean he's already killed hundreds of times." Raven intoned, shuddering.
Starfire smashed her way through the jungle, coming in low. Her starbolts blasted the road, causing medium-sized craters across a hundred foot length. Cyborg had sneaked close, and fired up his sonic cannon. It shattered a five foot section. Immediately the titanium-clad teen went to work aiming at the next. Raven sent out her soul, and ripped gaping holes in the makeshift highway. Robin tossed several explosive discs, which did ... absolutely nothing. The minor indentations they made couldn't even be called potholes. Meanwhile Beast Boy watched, realizing just how inadequate most animals were when it came to something like this.
The hundred or so Billy Numerous clones who guarded the road retaliated. Raising his hand to his mouth, the weary looking villain spoke the phrase which would steal his life in exchange for power. Immediately his numbers grew until there was a thousand of him. While even that one-man army couldn't guard every foot of the highway, there was one every fifty feet, and the makeshift weapons they threw could travel for nearly a thousand.
Two hundred rocks came at Starfire, but they were spread apart, and the battle hardened Tamaranean avoided most of them. Aiming at a nearby clone she threw a dozen starbolts at him. Though he was knocked down, the enhanced villain struggled to his feet. Another flurry of the green energy blasts sent him back to the ground, only to vanish as he was reabsorbed by the others.
However, she paid a price for concentrating on the one foe as more than hundred jagged-edged projectiles slammed into her. Bleeding, she evaded, and tried to destroy more of the road. Another hundred foot section was pockmarked before she was forced to run for the jungle, bleeding.
Cyborg fired again, and hid behind a huge boulder when he was attacked. It saved him from being hit directly, but soon he was covered in a mountain of rocks, and struggling just to stand. Four more shots later, with twenty more feet of the road gone, he fled for the jungle, bruised and battered.
Raven ripped up another chunk of the highway, and teleported a few hundred feet where she repeated the task. The untrackable moves let her avoid most of the rocks and other debris that came her way, but her power quickly ran low. Barely able to remain in the sky, she dropped down into the jungle. Behind her she left a line of rubble that stretch for more than a thousand feet..
Robin, seeing he would be useless when it came to road demolition, tried the clones. His explosive discs knocked two of them back, doing little damage. Switching to freeze discs, he froze them. Unfortunately the ring they wore made them sturdy enough to handle just about anything Boy Wonder had, and they merely broke free of the ice. They marched on the leader who fled.
Beast Boy also charged a clone, slamming it with the massive paw of a Cheetion. Using his power to enhance the attack, the Billy Numerous duplicate collapsed and vanished. Then he himself was pelted by a hundred rocks. Reforming his body, he raced at his next foe. He downed an even dozen before they converged, and their numbers kept him from further attacks. Then he too raced for the jungle.
But the assault didn't end there. With the power of a demon on their side, their wounds vanished while their power was restored. Turning, the five teens would then march back into the fray. They were silent as they fought, nor did they speak to each other when they retreated. They were Titans, and Titans didn't kill. Yet, though each attack was brief, it still lasted two minutes or so, and each was a year Billy Numerous would never live to see.
With grim determination they demolished a full mile of the road in five brutal attacks. They would've continued even as they watch the once jovial villain age, but that was when the first of the trucks arrived.
To get through most places in Africa you need four-wheel drive, and those jeeps had that. They twisted and turned, avoiding the craters Starfire had made. When they came to rubble piles that Raven had reduce large sections of the highway to they were stymied, until the aging one-man army marched on them and carried the vehicles over the jagged ruins. The areas Cyborg had battered were reduced to little more than gravel, yet it was enough to let them make their way to the place where they hoped to become new ones, and gain unbelievable power. Perhaps such a battle would normally had made most of them flee, but they saw those clones with their immeasurable strength and resilience. They saw the power, and hungered for it. Not that there was any place for them to retreat to anyway. The highway behind them packed by those who'd also heard the same message, and listened.
The Titans retreated, unable to slaughter so many innocents. Within the caravan they saw the young and the old. There were people of every color, with clothing that came from all over the world. Some were healthy, while others looked sick. It would seem many had made the trek not for power alone, but merely for the hope of being healed. There were those that smiled and laughed, while other wore grim looks that chilled the soul.
"Billy Numerous is repairing the road even while the caravan moves." Cyborg informed them. "They're swarming into the clearing now."
"How long before there's a hundred thousand?" Kishar intoned, staring at the sky.
"Not long." The cybernetic teen frowned, crunching the numbers. "There're around five to six people per jeep, and they're traveling two abreast. Two hours minimum, three at the most."
"That fast?" Raven intoned, wanting to scream.
"That's modern transportation for you." Cyborg shrugged helplessly, tossing a grim look at the girl.
"In the village there's a cave where my people are taking shelter." Kishar told them. "Go there."
"Isn't this where the volcano is going to ..." Robin asked.
"Nothing will harm you in the caves." The weary woman assured him. "Soon it will be the safest place on this world."
Frowning intensely, Beast Boy silently watched his mother while he held his arm around his girlfriend. She's stood guard for more than two-hundred million years so others could live in peace. The shape shifter grimly mused. And she will do so for ... forever. He pondered that, not really able to comprehend such a timeframe. If Trigon succeeds she will bear the pain of genocide for all those endless years. She only wanted someone to watch the sun rise with, to drink tea with, to talk with ... someone to ease her loneliness. In his heart he knew only fury for the monster called Trigon, and unflinchingly weighed the cost. A pain born for eternity, or a pain born for a few short years? In the end it was meaningless. She was his mother who'd returned his life so long ago, and who loved him without question. Bleakly, with a will forged of ice-cold granite, he summoned his power and etched a ward on his flesh; a ward against his own mother's power.
"No!" Kishar roared, turning on him. "This is my duty. I will never allow ..." She gulped, collapsing to the ground as tears ran from her eyes. "No." She begged pitifully, reaching desperately out as her son became a Cheetion, and raced into the jungle.
I need power. Beast Boy decided, and without though he spliced in the Kryptonian gene that would let him feed from the sun's energy. Still, it would only give him what he already had. Meticulously the shape shifter sorted through the most powerful shapes he could become. Superman was still beyond his reach, and he was pretty sure Adonis would've guarded against him; after all, he'd once even bound the man of steel to his will. Then he recalled his battle with Malchior, and weighed the power needed to become a dragon. Immediately he took to the air, nearly falling unconscious as the transformation took everything he had. But he feed on the yellow rays of the sun, and arched towards the circle where thousands had already gathered.
Without hesitation, he then created another ward on his flesh, the one that gave power for a year of life. He fed it his essence, and was relieved when it worked. While he could feed on the sun's light, that would power the ward, and his life wouldn't fade away before his eyes. Not that was sure he would want to live after what he was about to do.
A fiery god of death, the shape shifter appeared over the clearing, and hurled down his wrath. Below him he saw Billy Numerous multiply to become a thousand, but his breath tore into the clones, turning them to ash. In psychic shock, the rest disappeared. As his demonic fury swept around the hated stone that dared defy his mother's might, thousands of people perished before they could so much as scream, or even flinch. Their dust sank to the ground, while the son of a demon inhaled, and prepared to unleash his furor once again. Seeking even more power, the ruthless boy coldly spliced in a gene to enhanced his strength.
The next breath struck the boulder that defiantly stood in the center of the clearing. With an onslaught that would've humbled the dragon called Malchior, his outrage tore into the rock that was thirty feet on a side. Helpless before his rage, it shattered into a million pieces, creating a wave of death that mercilessly mowed down thousands more of the innocent.
End of Chapter.
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