AN: I realize now I should have been saying this from the beginning, but I do not own Teen Titans. Also, specifically in this chapter, I do not own the character Scorpion or his catchphrase.
Prompt # 14
Danger
Following the defeat of Trigon, The Brotherhood of Evil and Brushogan, Nightwing had managed to talk the old guard (The Justice League, Dark, the JSA, and The Doom Patrol) to kick in a massive boost for their operating budget. Upgrades were made from the top down, the bottom up and the middle out.
The security system was overhauled completely, with new traps and security protocols instated along with four twin barrel 40mm turbo cannons mounted on the roof and ground level. Cyborg's T-car and Robin's R-cycle were both rebuilt from the frame up, making them two of the most sophisticated vehicles in heroing, right behind the Batmobile. Beast Boy begged and pleaded until the rest of the team decided he was ready to own the hunter green moped of his dreams, also refitted with all manner of gadget and doodad.
The biggest change was made in the training simulator. Cyborg worked the tech end of things, Starfire provided a Tamaranean power source that would burn clean and never require upkeep for fifteen thousand years minimum. The biggest surprise came from Raven, who offered a myriad of spells, seals and runes that offered any number of customizable training configurations.
Nightwing had warned that the simulator was not to be used solo unless proper monitoring procedures were adhered to. And Beast Boy tried, he really tried, to follow instructions this time. A week after the final pieces were in place and the upgrade was completed, Beast Boy found himself wandering the hallways of the tower in a nocturnal perambulation. By midnight, he found himself standing in front of the entrance to the simulator, typing away at the control panel.
"What harm could come from me having a solo run?" He asked the darkened hallway, "Absolutely none, that's what harm it could do. I'll just set it to the lowest level, tweak it a bit with an adaptive algorithm, easy peasey."
Walking through the doorway, a small red beam passed over his body along with a tingling magical glow, each registering his vitals and recording his abilities to begin the simulation. Walking into the center of the room, he gave the activation phrase.
The first level of the simulator was simple enough, a couple of unarmed mooks made of hard light projections layered over soulless homunculi. The next couple of levels were a breeze, including the first villain that had appeared, Dr Light. Starting at around level 10, the simulated enemies started to increase in difficulty, using team tactics and more advanced weaponry. This caused Beast Boy to begin relying on his new ability, partial transformations.
He started small, increased muscle mass from a gorilla before shifting to quicker reflexes like a spider. At level 25, he began to use more intricate changes. Denser skin like an elephant, a rhino's horn, raptor's claws on his hands and feet. Each increase in difficulty led to more out of the box ideas.
He began to realize something was wrong when a glancing blow from an armored assailant seemed to drain away some of his life force. Taking a closer look at the newest simulation, he realized that this was no homunculus. The flickering aura of black flames and smell of sulfur gave it away immediately as being a demon of some type. About now, he was realizing he should have paid more attention to Raven and Jinx's magical combat practices.
As a blast of fire raced towards him, Beast Boy leapt to the side and charged the creature, impaling it on a mantis claw he had grown out of his left hand. As the demon returned to the primordial darkness from whence it came, Beast Boy stood in the middle of the room and called for the simulation to end. The garbled and distorted voice that came through the PA system told him that the simulation was locked and would not be overridden. Reaching out with a burst of fear emotions, He hoped that Raven would feel the spike in emotion and get the others to help get him out.
Raven was jerked from a sound sleep, her pleasant dream about a mysterious, shirtless pretty boy ruined in an instant as one of her teammate's emotions broke through the carefully constructed shields she built around her core every night. Clasping her cloak around her throat, she tracked the burst of emotions to the new simulator. This close to the source, she had no problem realizing who was responsible.
"What have you done now, Gar?" She asked to the night.
Typing furiously on the outer console, she found the problem immediately, but wasn't as skilled with technology as her friends. Pressing the panic button on her communicator, she signaled an all hands-on deck and requested a regroup at her position.
"Raven, what's wrong?" Nightwing asked leading the now awakened Titan, his mask firmly in place, a contradiction to his bare chest and sleep pants.
"Gar decided to test out the new simulator on his own," She replied, "I'm going to need you and Cyborg in the monitoring booth trying to end the simulation while Star and Jinx try to bust down the door."
"And while I am doing the busting of doors," Starfire asked, her skimpy robe fluttering as she floated in the air, "What will you be doing?"
"I'll be keeping a green idiot from getting killed." She replied, extending her demonic claws to rip a whole in the magical barrier surrounding the room.
As she conjured a portal and slipped through the quickly closing rip in the barrier, she leapt through, landing in crouch as she scanned the room. Gar was kneeling on the ground, exhausted but still alive, a blackfire knight vanishing into the void. Rushing over to him, she summoned her healing abilities and ran a glowing blue hand over his body.
"Hey, mama," He said, his head lolling back as energy surged into his body, "Glad to see you got my message. If my mistake doesn't kill us, I owe you dinner."
"We get out of this alive, you'll owe me more than that," She replied, her monotone breaking a little as she realized how much danger they were in, "What idiot idea snuck into the handsome green head of yours to try and solo a run with an incremental difficulty level."
"You think I'm handsome?" He asked with a cocky grin.
"Not the point, Gar," She replied, a blush on her cheeks, "Focus."
"I wanted to work on my partial adaptions so I could prove I wasn't useless or a joke." He replied.
"Well, you've definitely got your chance now." She replied as another wave of demonic enemies appeared around the room.
Back to back, they fought in defense of the other. Gar would strike low with a swing of a clubbed tail he had grown as Raven floated above, raining blasts of shadowy energy on the unsuspecting enemies. The demons seemed to be unable to locate her, targeting Gar with every attack. Between waves, Raven would try to heal Gar as best she could, but she was running out of energy to cast her healing charms.
"Nightwing! Cyborg! Anytime your ready! We need you to shut this thing down!" She screamed, pulverizing hordes of imps and lesser demons with her magic.
"We're trying, give us five more minutes!" Cyborg shouted back through the intercom, "Green bean's code splice is throwing everything out of whack."
"Hear that, hot shot," Raven asked, poking Gar in the chest, "No more writing back door code. Stick to the preprogrammed stuff ok!"
"I swear I will never try to hack my custom code into the simulation computer," He said, standing rail straight and holding up a two-finger salute, "Titan's honor."
Why the dorky green fool, she thought to herself, why am I crushing on this goofy green dork!
As a flaming portal opened in midair, a warrior in yellow leather armor wearing a cowl and face mask stepped through. His pale, lifeless eyes zeroed in on Gar like laser beams, singling him out. Taking a fighters stance, the warrior pulled back its arm before thrusting it forward, a flaming chain launching out and wrapping around Gar's torso.
"Get Over Here!" The warrior shouted, jerking his hand backwards, dragging Gar through the air until he lay at the warrior's feet.
Calling a ball of hellfire into existence, the warrior crushed it in his hand, summoning a flaming great sword. Raising it over his head with a flourish, the warrior moved to strike Gar down for good.
"Stop!" Raven ordered, flaring her demonic aura and drawing on her own devilish strength, "I order you to stand down!"
"And who are you to order the Demon Scorpion around," The warrior shouted, marching towards her while dragging Gar behind him, "I who lead the legions of the pit, who bears the sword of the fallen."
"Who am I?" She asked, a second pair of eyes opening on her brow as a fiendish red tattoo spread over her body, "I am the Gem, I am the Portal. I am Raven, daughter of Trigon, long deposed from his throne."
"And who is this pathetic gremlin to you?" Scorpion called, gripping Gar by the throat and lifting him into the air.
"As awful as it sounds," Raven said, her voice echoing with deep magic, "He is my friend and teammate. He is the person who challenges me most. He is the man I have fought next to for years. Worse yet, he is the man I have come to love. So, if you don't let him go this instant, I will banish you to a plane of ice and cold and leave you there until the end of your days, bound in your own chains unable to escape."
As the two combatants glared at each other, Gar continued to struggle in the creature's grip. In a flash of red light, the creature was gone, dropping Gar to the ground with a loud 'oof'. In the blink of an eye, the power in the room cycled and the doors burst open.
"I guess I owe you one, Rae," Gar said, scratching the back of his head as a blush crept up his cheek.
"Your right, you do," She replied, releasing her hold on the demonic magics, "You owe me big time. And you can start by taking me out to dinner tonight or tomorrow or whatever freaking day it currently is."
AN2: And like that week two of this challenge is over. 17 Days left on this roller coaster ride. Please continue to R&R to keep feeding the machine. Peace ya'll.