Chapter 24

A New Age...

Watching Terra sacrifice herself was sad, to say the least. Where earlier that day she had made quick work of Polybius and the others, now she stood as nothing more than a stone statue with a plack at her feet.

Out of everyone, it hit Polybius the lightest. While the others were devastated by the loss of Terra, he wasn't. Aside from that one nature walk, the two took, that was all the hanging out they did. Other than that, it was all professional work.

Naturally, with Terra gone, and Slade's subsequent death, the team was afforded some breathing room. And while it did take the other five time to recover from the blow, about a month after it happened, things were back to normal. For the most part.

As for the man that visited Polybius, who he now dubbed Hostbius, he hadn't shown his face since that day in the room. That being said, Polybius didn't think that he was Darkbius, and rather they were two separate entities. Two entirely different people. And that they were working together.

Regardless if they were or weren't, they both had been spitting truth in Polybius's face. Polybius's faith and confidence in his team was lower than it had been before Beast Boy's deadliest prank. And while it had been recovering over time, Polybius didn't think he could trust his team the same ever again.

Then again, nobody was asking him to.

Regardless, during a routine bank robbery, the team ran into the HIVE kids again. This had been the first time they had seen each other since Slade's plot. And thus, it had led to Cyborg going undercover at the academy for a month.

And during this month, Polybius made a rather chilling discovery.

Towards the end of Cyborg assignment, Polybius was walking down the street that Montezuma had once lived on. His house, long abandoned and left exactly the way it was when he saved Donna.

Deciding to take a look around the place to try and get his mind off of Darkbius, the mute entered the abandoned home and began to look around. However, as soon as he opened the door, a putrid smell hit him like a freight train. A scent he was all too familiar with. The smell of rotting flesh.

Assuming the worst, Polybius drew out his stone club and slowly made his way through the home. His nose took him to the basement, whose light had been shut off.

Upon turning it on, Polybius was hit with a brief moment of shock upon seeing the sight in front of him.

What was in front of him was the body of a person who had hung themselves long ago. Polybius guessed about two months judging by the state of decay the body was in.

Looking around, Polybius found a suicide note.

'I have been abandoned. The Sun God has left me. The light is gone. All that is left for me is suffering. I cannot go on like this. May I be forgiven for what I have done. - Montezuma.'

The mute Titan then looked up at the dangling body. Careful not to touch it, he moved around to take a good look at the face to see if this person really was Montezuma. However, the face was too decayed to tell just by looking.

Deciding on a course of action, Polybius pulled out his phone.

'I found Montezuma.' Polybius texted Robin.

'Where is he!?' Robin quickly replied back.

'Dead.' Polybius replied.

'Dead?' Robin questioned.

'He killed himself. I have his suicide note to prove it.' Polybius explained.

'We're on our way.' Robin replied.

Just then, a flicker of the lights happened, and the body dropped from the ceiling, becoming a mess on the floor. The mute Titan wasn't remotely spooked by this as he moved to the next person he needed to contact.

'I found Montezuma.' Polybius texted Wonder Woman.

'Great! Do you have him under control?' Diana replied.

'He's dead. Suicide.' Polybius texted back.

'Oh.' Wonder Woman texted back.

There was a moment of pause before she sent anything else.

'Are you sure it's him?' Wonder Woman texted.

'I've got the suicide note.' Polybius said.

'He may have been murdered then.' Wonder Woman texted back.

'I don't think so. Unless there is something major we missed about him, the only people we know for a fact who would want him dead are all on your home island. And I highly doubt any of them did this.' Polybius texted back.

'You are right." Diana replied.

There was another pause before Wonder Woman texted him again.

'I'll let Donna know that he's been taken care of. As well as the rest of the Amazons.' She texted him.

'Do that.' Polybius said.

'There is also something else I have been meaning to talk to you about, but I'll reach out to you after you've dealt with the body.' Diana texted him, catching him off guard and guessing what it was.

'Roger.' Polybius texted back as he put his phone away.

Upon arrival, Robin agreed with Polybius that this was indeed Montezuma's body. And that the Aztec warrior was dead. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven also did a quick search of the house to see if they could find anything else. However, their search turned up nothing.

The man's body was turned over to the authorities and cremated. His body was then put in a simple unmarked grave in the Jump City cemetery.

About a week after Cyborg came back to the team from his undercover mission, Donna found herself just mindlessly watching the water flow downstream. She was bored out of her mind. Ever since she had left man's world, she was bored with what she had here. There was so much more to do and see out there than there was this island. And she longed to see her friends again.

As Donna watched the water flow, her older sister's voice greeted her.

"Hey Donna." Diana greeted as she walked up beside her.

"Diana!" Donna greeted happily "What are you doing here!? I thought you weren't coming until next week."

"Well, I have some good news." Diana said, "News that just couldn't wait until next week."

"Oh?" Donna questioned, "What is it?"

"Polybius found Montezuma." Diana replied.

"Really!?" Donna asked excitedly.

"He did." Diana replied.

"Thank the gods!" Donna said, "So has he said what they are going to do to him?"

"Well, from my understanding, they cremated him." Diana replied.

"Cremated?" Donna asked, confused, "You mean, he's dead?"

"Polybius found Montezuma dead." Diana explained.

"How did he die!?" Donna asked.

"He killed himself." Diana replied, "I think Polybius said he hung himself and left a small suicide note."

Donna took a moment to take it all in. Montezuma, the man who had caused her so much pain, was now gone! And burning in Tartarus!

"So, now what?" Donna asked her older sister, "Am I actually going to get that training you've been talking about?"

"You'll be getting more of it, yes." Diana said, "You'll also won't be under constant supervision anymore, allowing you to do things on your own easier."

"Oh great!" Donna said "I will actually get to spend some time alone! Not like that matters because I'm still here! Not doing anything…"

Diana couldn't help but feel her younger sister's pain. She knew what it was like to want to leave.

"Well…" Diana said, pulling out her cellphone, "Let's see if I can get ahold of Polybius."

"Like you can even get service here." Donna commented.

"Oh you'll be surprised." Diana said as she texted Polybius.

'You got a moment?' Diana texted the mute.

'Yeah. Just finished up training for the day, so I'm just chilling. What's up?' Polybius quickly replied.

"Want to talk to him?" Diana asked, holding up her phone.

Donna looked over at her sister's phone to see that she was, indeed, texting him.

"Yes!" Donna quickly replied.

"Here you go, sister." Diana said, "I'm going to go talk to our mother. See if maybe I can get you a slot as a sidekick."

Diana then got up and walked away, leaving Donna her phone to chat with Polybius.

'Polybius, this is Donna! Diana just handed me her phone, so we could chat.' Donna texted her friend.

'Sweet!' Polybius quickly shot back.

Donna couldn't help but have a massive smile on her face as she was finally able to text her friend and hero.

'I've missed you so much!' Donna quickly texted.

'I've missed you a lot too.' Polybius replied.

'So how have you been?' Donna texted.

'Been better.' Polybius texted back.

'What's wrong?' Donna asked.

'I've just been frustrated with the others lately. Beast Boy had a prank that got out of hand, and it almost got me killed.' Polybius explained.

'Great Hera! Are you okay!?' Donna asked.

'Yeah. Once they got a liquified health mix down in me, the pain that caused me to go into shock quickly dissipated.' Polybius replied.

'Well thank the gods you're alright.' Donna replied.

'So how about you?' Polybius texted back.

'I've been frustrated too.' Donna admitted.

'Oh?' Polybius texted back.

'It's just after seeing you and everything you and the Titans do, combined with what Diana does, it made me feel inspired to be a hero too.' Donna revealed.

'A hero?' Polybius questioned.

'Yeah. Diana has been training me to be a Wonder Girl. However, ever since I have returned home, I have been under constant supervision, and Diana has been too busy to train me.' Donna admitted.

'I'm sorry to hear that. However, in case you didn't know, Montezuma is dead. I wouldn't be too surprised if they relax all of that.' Polybius texted.

'I know.' Donna replied.

'Well if there was anything I could do to help, you know I would. However, seeing the situation, I would only cause more harm than good.' Polybius texted.

'I wish you could help.' Donna said.

'But if that is so, then I bet Diana is working on something to help you get off.' Polybius texted back.

'Like my mother would ever let me step foot off this island again after what happened last time.' Donna replied.

'Never say never.' Polybius texted back.

On Polybius's end, as he sat in his room texting Donna, two people only he could see were standing behind him. However, at that moment in time, they were only watching him. They weren't revealing themselves to the mute Titan.

"Are you serious?" Darkbius asked Hostbius.

"He's really texting, Donna…" Hostbius replied.

"Gosh dang it!" Darkbius shouted.

"What do we do now?" Hostbius asked, "If he's talking to Donna, then his hope is getting restored! That makes our job much more difficult."

"We can work with it." Darkbius stated, "I've worked with situations where he is more hopeful than he is now."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Hostbius asked.

"We wait." Darkbius answered, "We wait until something slightly bad happens with one of the others, or better yet, Donna! From there, all we have to do is just blow it up and make it seem far worse than it actually is."

"So, what do we do until then?" Hostbius asked.

"You got them UNO cards, right?" Darkbius asked.

Meanwhile, back on Donna's end, she was too absorbed in her conversation with Polybius to hear the footsteps coming up behind her. However, the voice caught her attention.

"Donna!" Her mother called out.

Donna almost jumped out of her skin when she heard her mother call her name. She jumped so bad that she lost control of the phone and dropped it. But before she could pick it up and attempt to hide it, her mother was on her.

"Donna!" Her mother called out, "There you are!"

"What is it, mother?" Donna asked, attempting to use her body to hide the phone on the ground.

"Listen to me, child, but you will never set foot in man's world again! Do you hear me!?" Her mother quickly stated.

"Mom!" Donna said.

"No!" Her mother replied, "I suggest you forget whatever friends you made out there because you are not going to be seeing them anytime soon."

"Mother, please!" Diana attempted to intervene but was silenced.

"No!" Their mother quickly replied, "After everything that has happened to this island in the past year, I am seriously considering forbidding you from leaving Diana!"

"Mom calm down!" Donna quickly said.

"No!" Her mother declared, "I am already risking losing one child! I will not risk the other."

"I'm not even your child!" Donna countered, "You adopted me! I wasn't even born here!"

"That may be true, but we, no I, raised you! We have given you a perfect place to live, away from the evils of man's world! Why would you want to leave!?"

"It's like my friend said, I don't want what happened to me to happen to other people!" Donna countered.

"Well it doesn't matter what you want! What matters is your safety! And Donna Troy, you are not leaving this island ever again, and that's final!" Her mother finished the argument.

"That's not fair!" Donna said.

"Life isn't fair." Her mother replied.

And with that, she promptly turned around and left the two sisters speechless.

"I'm sorry, Donna." Diana tried to say.

"No." Donna said, tears forming in her eyes, "It's not your fault."

Meanwhile, back at the tower, Polybius was left totally in the dark as to what was going on. All he knew is that Donna had just suddenly stopped responding for whatever reason. He assumed it was probably something important, and she or, at the very least, Diana would get back to him soon.

And with that, he looked back over to his laptop and began getting back into his search of Mount Jackson.

However, it wasn't long until his phone went off again.

'You still there?' Either Donna or Diana texted him.

'Still here. Is this still Donna?' Polybius texted back.

'No. It's Diana. Donna's off crying right now.' She texted.

'Why!?' Polybius replied immediately.

'Our mother. I don't know how much you know, or if Donna has told you, but she was very inspired by you. In fact, you are the one who inspired her to be a hero with your reasoning behind why you fight really spoke to her. She now wants to do the same thing, and I have been trying to get that to happen, but our mother just put her foot down and flat out said no. And that she is forbidden from leaving the island ever again.' Diana texted.

'That sucks!' Polybius texted back.

'I know.' Diana replied.

'Can't she like, sneak off or something? I don't want to encourage bad things, but if she's willing to pick up the torch for the greater good, then I'm inclined to encourage this.' Polybius texted back.

'That may not be a bad idea.' Diana said, 'Perhaps I'll help her sneak off the island so she can come to you guys and train.'

'I don't think that's a good idea. The reason being the time difference would make it too obvious to your mom, or her too tired to effectively train.' Polybius texted back.

'Then maybe if she got a surprise visit from you?' Diana texted back.

'I don't think that's a good idea either. Honestly, I think being on an island full of women who want to do bad things to me would make me lose my nerve.' Polybius responded.

'You scared?' Diana questioned.

'Despite what everybody would have you believe, especially after the Wick Scary night, I too have fears. I am also afraid of things, however irrational they may seem.' Polybius texted back.

'Well there has to be something we can do!' Diana said.

'Isn't the Third Balkan War raging on right now?' Polybius texted.

'Yes. Why does that matter?' Diana asked.

'Just tell the League that you are helping the fighting going on in the region when in reality, you are training Donna.' Polybius texted back.

'You would have me lie to the League?' Diana texted back.

'The way I see it, if Donna really wants to do this, and you really want to help her, I say take advantage of a situation to do so. That way, everybody will be off your back, and if you can just keep it hidden away from your mother, then you really should have no problems.' Polybius texted back.

There was a long pause before he got a text back from Diana.

'I hate to say it, but you're right. And since the Third Balkan War shows no signs of going anywhere and it being so close to my home, it would make the perfect excuse.' Diana replied.

'Exactly!' Polybius pressed.

'I think I'm going to take your advice.' Diana replied.

The mute Titan pumped his fists into the air when he saw this text come in. He was happy for Donna.

"And that's not a good thing." Darkbius said as Hostbius beat him in UNO.

"What?" Hostbius asked, "That I beat you, or what's going on in that text conversation?"

"The latter." Darkbius stated, "I was wrong earlier. If Donna is going to be this thing that always pumps him up, then we need something to constantly tear him down."

"How are we going to do that?" Hostbius asked.

"I think I've got an idea. But we'll be needing another body." Darkbius said.

"We got to kill someone?" Hostbius asked.

"No." Darkbius answered, "We need somebody to put in that Red X suit."

"Why not one of us take it for a joy ride!" Hostbius said.

"No." Darkbius stated, "Between my natural demeanor and your speech pattern, he'll make the connection. We don't want him to do that. Also, that suit is a little small for us."

"Then what about…" Hostbius thought.

"No." Darkbius cut him off "It can't be one of us. Perhaps though, there is somebody we can manipulate."

"And who would that be?" Hostbius asked.

"I know just the guy." Darkbius stated.

That night, a teen very familiar to Polybius laid in his bed sleeping. On his wall was a picture of the mute Titan with a knife in his forehead and arm cut off. Next to it was the famous Donna and Polybius picture, except his face, had been taped over Polybius's to make it look like he stole Donna from him.

However, that teen was sleeping right now. It was the teen who Polybius had broken his arm three times. He tossed and turned in bed before suddenly bolting up.

"Nathan…" A voice called out to him in the darkness.

"Who's there!" Nathan called out.

"Now don't get hostile, baby!" The voice called out, sounding like a sexy woman, "I'm here to help you!"

"Show yourself!" The teen demanded.

"I can't do that, babe! At least not yet. Otherwise, you'll get too distracted by my massive tits and dummy thicc thighs and ass to pay attention to what I have to tell you." The voice called back.

"Yeah, right. You sound like my ex that left me for Polybius." Nathan replied.

"Oh, so you don't like my voice?" The voice asked before suddenly changing itself, "I can change that."

"Who are you?" The teen asked, taken off guard by the voice change.

"I'm a, what you might call a build-a-babe." The voice replied, "Kind of like build a bear, except you get to build a hot, sexy woman instead who will love you forever and never leave you."

"Build-a-babe?" The teen question.

"I can be whatever you want to be. I can make myself look so sexy that I'll make any Amazon, even Wonder Woman herself look like Smeagol compared to me!" The voice called back "And I'll do whatever you want. And I know you crave anal. I'll do that for you."

"This is getting kinda creepy." The teen commented.

"Creepy, because I can't reveal myself to you." The voice said, "But I need you to do some things for me. And then I can reveal myself to you."

The teen thought about it as an erection formed in his pants. His second head began clouding his first, and he couldn't help but bow to its will.

"What do you want?" The teen asked.

"Take this." The voice said.

Then without warning, Nathan suddenly found himself in the suit of Red X.

"Woah." The teen said.

"You'll also need this." The voice said.

Nathan suddenly had a headache that lasted for a minute. However, once it was over, he suddenly felt far more knowledgeable in fighting than he had the moment prior.

"What are you doing to me?" He asked.

"Giving you the tools to success!" The voice teased, "However, I need to give you a small test to see if you can really win this build-a-babe."

"And what is your test?" Nathan asked.

Chapter 24. Done. I hope you enjoyed it and have a wonderful rest of your day!