Jqill21- Yeah, Raven or Kyle could take Croc down in a second, but that really wouldn't be too exciting. I wanted to go with each having a job to do to move the story along. The other route would be over quickly, like how in The Dark Knight when Batman sacrifices his Tumbler to save Dent, he could have blasted the bigrig Joker was in from the beginning and end the case there. Or the henchman at the beginning could have said nothing and shot Joker before the bus arrived. All for the story.
Black Victor Cachat- No. I kind of see him touching an animal or a fossil, absorbing some form of genetic blueprint form them, then being able to perfectly copy said animal. Humanoids may be a little more advanced, which is why he's not able to mimic someone. But he's also capable of becoming virus-like like in the TT series since they're alive as well. And I had something like the kid part you mentioned if I were writing the second choice people could vote on. Your idea's simular to what I have in mind.
Paragon Eight- Yup, Croc's appearance draws from the Arkham games. Don't remember if he has a tail or not but I wanted to add one if he didn't. Loved his game design.
4.
Jump City Docks
August 21
16:36 UTC
Bursting in through a window, Lantern shot into the warehouse Killer Croc had damaged and found a panicking mass of people scrambling to put out fires, not knowing the building was just beginning to collapse.
Keeping in the air, the ring wielder flipped to his back and fired a green line of energy to the center of the collapsing roof. A green barrier was then formed across the ceiling and moved down the walls to keep the building from imploding on the people down below. A few of the workers saw what was going on before the green light reached the floor. When it became evident they were being saved, all eyes turned to the teenage Green Lantern above them.
"Please have enough power." Holding his extended arm out, Lantern continued to mutter the same words over and over again.
Even though he had charged his ring before heading out, he was unsure if he indeed had enough power for the task at hand. Before the nightmare, he knew there would be plenty for whatever he would need it for, but after, he began having second thoughts as to how much he was putting into each construct.
"It's still coming down!" one of the female workers shouted.
Glancing around, Lantern saw a large section of the building was bringing down his construct. With his will fading to fear of failing, he began to think of what would happen should his construct give out.
"Come on. Hold." Forcing a bit more of his will into his construct, he saw the failing spot of green begin to push outwards when a large explosion took out the side of the building.
"Lantern! We have a way out!" Arrowette yelled.
Running in from a hole she created in the side of the building, Arrowette waited for her partner to create an entrance for her to get to the people.
"Everyone, this way! Keep your heads down and head to the water! If there's any injured, help them first!"
As the people rushed to get out, the red clad archer moved to the rear of the line, making sure none were falling behind when she heard one of the men yell about the catwalks high above them. Moving the man out of the way, Arrowette drew a gel-impact arrow and shot it as fast as he could, trapping the damaged metal threatening to crush a number of the fleeing workers.
"Lantern," Arrowette said over her com unit. "Hold out for a bit longer. We're almost done down here."
"I'll try." Focusing, Lantern expanded his energy to encase more of the warehouse and covered the catwalks, which may be damaged. "Ooh, I hope I don't use too much."
Outside, by the edge of the docks, Terra skidded to a stop and held her arms over the water. Concentrating, her eyes turned a bright yellow as she summoned the Earth itself to rise up as an island large enough to transport people, much like a ferry. With the water bubbling from the creation of air pockets, the area in front of her resembled an erupting geyser with sea foam bubbling about when the first sign of land appeared.
Letting out a grunt, Terra changed the positioning of her hands to shape the mass of Earth into a large circle cutout of former underwater land. There was no need to worry about if the Earth would do as she instructed as she was close enough to have her powers effect it, unlike the early part of the shared nightmare. And also unlike it, she was not trapped in an inclosed space, forcing her to be unable to concentrate on what she needed to do.
"Arrowette, Lantern," she said with a finger pressed to her ear communicator, "got the evac...thing ready for you."
"Acknowledged, hostages and injured are coming out," Arrowette informed her. "You seen Raven?"
"Um..." Looking around, the blonde Titan saw something akin to the Goth girl's black energy. "Yeah, I see her."
"Good, once she's done, we back up Beast Boy," Lantern told her.
"Almost finished," Raven broke in. "Just three more cops and I'll have them dropped off at the bridge."
"You seen BB?" Terra asked.
"Not since we split up." Flying over the buildings, Raven used her powers to form a sphere of black energy to encase the injured she picked up. Among them were five police officers with three more to get to. She also held back what she felt the moment Terra specifically asked her about Beast Boy.
"Hey, hey!" one of the police officers on the ground yelled as the Titan approached.
Floating in the air with the large transparent, black sphere behind her, Raven formed a claw-like black hand from the barrier surrounding those she had picked up to bring the remaining cops inside with the others.
"Shijumi's leg's busted pretty bad. Croc hit him the worst. Can you get us to an ambulance?"
"I'll get you to the bridge. It's where they set up the command area."
With the last of the injured loaded up, Raven climbed into the air and flew towards the bridge to drop off those she found amid Killer Croc's path of destruction. As she passed by overhead, she saw Beast Boy morph into an armadillo and roll out of the way just as Croc dove face first at him. With her eyes glowing white, she poured on the speed to hurry back to help her fellow Titan.
As Raven and her group of injured flew overhead, Terra and Arrowette finished loading the trapped workers onto the makeshift island. Lantern was the last to leave the building when the moment he did so, it came crumbling down. The sound of metal breaking, bending, and crashing was deafening for those present, although it could have been worse and they still be inside when it came down.
"Police have a boat in the harbor," Terra announced. "We just need to get the island over to it."
Turning the large mass of Earth with the rescued on it, Terra aimed it for the boat as Lantern formed a large shuffleboard stick to gently push it to where they needed it as Arrowette fired a flare arrow above the island to signal they are not a threat and need pick up. With the civilians out of the way, the three Titans hurried to aid Beast Boy as he faced Killer Croc alone.
Further within the docks, Beast Boy was barely staying one step ahead of the large humanoid crocodilian criminal but was now nursing an injured shoulder since attempting to go toe to toe and losing that battle. With his uniform damaged and hanging from where his bicep was bleeding, the green skinned Titan winced as he morphed from his human form into a Raptor. Now with his feet as weapons, he was free to let his arms rest as he kept distracting the deadly criminal, and hoping the others would soon arrive to hopefully help take him down.
Letting out a hiss, the green raptor sprinted forward and leapt at the large crocman. His clawed feet lead the way through the air but failed to make contact with any part of his target as a large hand reached out and caught him by the throat. Bringing up his feet, Beast Boy managed to slice into the thick skin of Croc when he felt his neck being vice gripped and air supply being cut off.
"That hurt you little..." Squeezing tighter, Killer Croc gave a sharp toothed grin as he licked his reptilian lips.
Bringing the near unconscious Beast Boy closer, Killer Croc opened his mouth wide. Strands of saliva connected his top teeth to the bottom as his tongue folded out. Looking to take the teen's head off in one bite, Killer Croc was so caught up in his present meal, he failed to notice a green line wrap itself around his neck and yank him back, forcing him to drop the green dinosaur and grab at the new obstruction.
"Got him!" Lantern yelled as he flew at a safe distance.
Pulling back, the teen managed to yank the large metahuman several feet backwards as the others got in position. Terra summoned the Earth to open and close around Croc's legs, buying Arrowette an extra second to fire a gel-impact arrow at their target. With Croc preoccupied with the three Titans, Raven swooped in to check on Beast Boy who lay on the ground attempting to get up.
"Garfield, stay still." Removing her hood, Raven placed a hand on her partner's shoulder and enshrouded him in her energy to heal him, similar to what she did with an injured Wonder Girl and Wolf when she first met them in Smallvile.
"My shoulder, that hurts the worst." Grunting, Beast Boy sat up as Raven worked her majick.
"Figured as much." Focusing her powers where he was bleeding, the Goth girl soon ebbed most of the the pain he felt.
"WOO HOO!" Lantern yelled as he was whipped around as if her were on a bucking bronco in a rodeo.
Having broken out of his make-shift foot restraints, Killer Croc threw a damaged propane tank at Terra, narrowly missing her as the metal object crashed into a stack of crates. Raising his gel covered arm into the air, he smashed it on the ground then grabbed hold of the line Lantern held onto. With a powerful pullback, he overhead flung the teen into a nearby fish stand.
"Ow," Lantern said from underneath a pile of fish, wood, and ice.
"We need a plan." Standing, Beast Boy rotated his shoulder. The pain was nearly all gone. Had they had more time, his wound would be completely healed.
"Encase him in a sphere?" Raven asked. "I could have it shot into the air and detonate."
"Can you keep it localized?"
"It'll take a lot out of me but-"
With a shake of his head, Beast Boy put a stop to her words. "Nu-uh. Remember what sis said. We shouldn't strain ourselves too much in the field. What we need is..."
Looking around as the others battled Killer Croc, Beast Boy began to get an idea. All it would take was for everyone to get into position. "Okay, here's what we do..."
Across the docks, the large crocman held the other Titans at bay. Arrowette was forced to take cover when a small truck was thrown at her. She was now pinned under it's bed and was currently using a jack, which almost landed on her head, to pry it up while at the same time listening to Beast Boy's plan.
"You think that will work?" the archer asked as she kept pumping the handle to the lifting device.
"Only if we all work together...yeah."
"Fine, just give me a minute to get out from under here."
"Where are are you?"
"Under the smelliest, dirtiest, truck bed I have ever seen."
A few yards away from the pinned archer, Terra was busy dodging Killer Croc's attacks while striking back with large pieces of rock she summoned from under the concrete. Each time Croc was hit seemed to only make him more aggressive, bad news for the lone Titan as she was growing tired of paying defense and needed to catch her breath.
"How much longer?" Terra asked as a moment before diving over a tail swipe from Croc.
"Just as soon as Arrowette gets free," Beast Boy told her.
"And what if it doesn't work?" Lantern asked as he flew over Croc and lifted Terra out of harm's way. "Sounds like we only get one shot at this."
"More or less."
"Cool. Call the ball."
Far out of the area of battle, watching everything from the safety of a limo, a lone person occupying the back seat enjoyed the show they watched. It may have been an inconvenience they did not make it over the bridge before Killer Croc began to attack any and everything in his path, but the resulting fight was more than entertaining for them. It was welcome and made up for the delay they were in.
"Better than I had planned."
