Chapter 40: Parademons

They came out of the sky like a bat out of hell. Conner and his team had had no prior warning that this was going to happen and now here they were. He'd been with Raven trying to figure out the signs that had been left on the walls of the Mayor's house when the call had come over comms. And now as he looked up into the sky, Conner sighed. He'd heard about them, the parademons from Apokolips but he'd never seen one before. They looked like a mixture of bats and people, a wrong cross that he imagined Batman might have actually looked like if he was actually half bat and half man.

Conner pressed a finger to the earbud in his ear. "Everyone in position."

"Yes." Came the response.

"Okay, Raven and I will head up first and fight them. Then Starfire. Tim, Cassie you come in next. Crush you're the rear." Conner said.

"Copy." Came the response.

He looked at Raven and saw that she looked unconcerned, indeed she seemed more intent than anything else, which was a bit unnerving. "You ready?" He asked.

"Yes." Was all she said as she took to the air. Conner followed, they began a steady climb and then accelerated, his heart thundered as they got closer, he noticed how twisted and contorted the parademons were, which he supposed was the point. They were meant to inspire fear more than anything else.

"Let's begin." He said unleashing a breath of cold air onto them. It hit two or three of the parademons causing them to yell before they were buffeted forward as they came falling down toward him he extended his fists and punched them, breaking them in half. He watched as they disintegrated, which surprised him. He'd expected them to fall to earth.

He didn't have much more time to begin thinking about that for soon more of the things were upon him. He used his ice breath to break some of them, and with others he used heat vision. They disintegrated as quickly as they set upon him, whilst those who managed to escape turned to Raven, but she dealt with them as easily as he had. She muttered spells and sent them to the great beyond. Where that was exactly he didn't know. He supposed he'd have to ask once this was done.

As the battle continued, Conner became aware of the fact that he and Raven appeared to be enough. The parademons were being torn to pieces and disappearing relatively quickly. Perhaps he shouldn't have called up the other Titans. But then that would have gone against his training and he knew it was always important to have back up even in situations where perhaps it might not have been appropriate.

"Conner, there's something coming up behind you." Cassie said over comms.

Conner whirled around and he saw a parademon hurtling toward him something in its arms. He braced for impact but the parademons stopped short of him and instead held up what Conner belatedly realised was a person. More specifically the Mayor of New York. "What are you doing?" Conner demanded.

"Showing you the true extent of our power." The parademon said, its voice waspish and grating. "You think you can stand against Lord Darkseid. You will not. You will fail." The figure turned and sped toward the ground. Conner followed the creature trying desperately to grab onto it, but coming up short. The creature stopped just before it hit the concrete, but in a space where there were cameras and countless other things present. "I present to you, the death of New York." The creature said as it ribbed a chunk out of the Mayor's throat. Conner yelled and rushed forward he grabbed the mayor before he fell and eased him back down to the ground.

"Cassie, Robin, new job. Protect the mayor and get him medical support." Conner said.

Cassie appeared at his side in an instant. "Where are you going?" She asked him.

"To stop that thing." Conner replied, pushing off hard.

He moved as quickly as he could, ignoring the other parademons and hoping Raven wouldn't be overwhelmed by them, his heart thudded quickly, he needed to get to the parademon that had hurt or probably killed the mayor to prevent anything more disastrous from happening.

Eventually got there, and the parademon was there waiting for him. That in of itself was strange, usually these things, from what he'd seen today were just mindless beasts. "What are you doing here?" Conner demanded.

"I've already told you. Showing you that you cannot win." The parademon responded.

"Are you even a parademons?" Conner demanded.

The thing laughed. "What do you think?"

"I think you're lying about who you are and what you want." Conner said.

The thing laughed again. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

Conner didn't respond instead he moved forward and punched the creature's face. The thing was forced backwards by the impact of the blow, but then it's head snapped back into position. Conner hit it again and again, every time more of the parademon's body started falling off revealing what Conner soon realised was a human skin underneath. He stopped horrified as he saw what looked like a woman emerge from the outer shell.

"Kon El." The figure whispered, covered in blood, her eyes pleading. "Please, end it. End it before it takes over."

"Who are you?" Conner asked.

"I….I… you will meet me soon, but please just end this pain now!" the figure pleased.

Conner saw the skin of the parademon begin to reform and so he did what he could. He hit her as hard as he could and then unleashed his heat vision to destroy her. As she screamed, she sounded human and that was something he knew he'd never forget.