Garfield: Hey guys! Garfield here and this is the last chapter of the Champion City arc in A Symbiotic Bond: A Venomous Titan Reborn

Kimberly: And right into "Gotham's most wanted" Arc.

Garfield: I really need to know how that happens…

Ron-Pool: I have the deets friend. But we'll have to wait and see. So let's get this started!

A Symbiotic Bond: A Venomous Titan
Chapter Seventeen

The DarkForce
Garfield Mark Logan

"After that mission, I've been down here ever since," Darkstar finished with sigh leaving her lips.

Garfield stared at her with sadness in his eyes. After getting over the initial shock of seeing his aunt, long thought to have been killed several years ago, in this strange place. She had gone over all that had happened.

She had gotten into battle with some villain that had the ability to transport people into this dimension and was transported here and while she knew where the exit was, she was unable to leave due to her life-force being tied to this place.

"I can't believe this is where you've been all this time," Garfield whispered sadly. "Mom…S-She spent every day trying to find you."

"She did?" Darkstar asked, surprise in her voice.

Garfield nodded. "Yeah, when you didn't show up to our place the week after I had gotten bitten by that monkey, she became super worried since you always contacted us. When we got the note from the Champions a week later that you had gone missing during a battle. She poured all of her money to find you."

"Marie…" Darkstar whispered softly. "I…I didn't realize she cared that much. We honestly never got along growing up. We always butted heads so to hear she did so much to find me…It's weird Gar."

"You two are sisters. Of course she cared," Garfield said with a sad smile. "She would talk about you at least twice a day, wondering if you alive or not. She spent every day up until she and dad passed away searching for you."

"They died?!" Darkstar exclaimed in shock.

Garfield nodded. "Yeah. They fell over the waterfall…I tried to save them but…I couldn't…"

"Oh no…Oh my god Gar. I am so sorry," Darkstar then brought him into her embrace, which he immediately returned with a tight hug, tears leaking out of his eyes.

He always loathed talking about his birth parents' deaths.

It always brought him pain to recall what happened but with his Aunt, he knew that she deserved to know the truth about what happened to them.

She was gone for seven long years. She wouldn't have known otherwise and would have been heartbroken if she found out on her own.

"Were you alone this entire time?" Darkstar asked him gently.

"No…I was found by the Doom Patrol and adopted by Rita and Steve. Elasti-Girl and Mento. I was with them for a few years then became a Teen Titan for a while until I lost my morphing powers. I moved to Champion City where I gained this suit and I was with my friends battling the Mandarin until I got trapped down here," Garfield finished.

"How did you get trapped down here anyways?" Darkstar questioned.

"I was battling the Mandarin. One of his rings were able to send me here," Garfield replied.

"I've never heard of him before," Darkstar said. "He must be a new villain. How long have you been trapped down here?

"It's been ten minutes since we've been down here," The Symbiote said.

'I didn't realize you had a built in clock,' Garfield joked.

"Ten minutes," Garfield replied.

"Good. I may be trapped here for the rest of my life but there is still time to get you out of here," Darkstar said.

Garfield frowned at the sad tone in her voice but he asked her "But how do we do that auntie?" Instead of answering, Darkstar pointed into the distance, which prompted Garfield to turn around to see a large white star in the sky with a black, fuzzy star in the middle of it.

"How do you know that is the exit?" Garfield asked her.

"There was a girl who travelled here a few years ago. She had purple hair and a purple cloak…She was running away from something and she found her way here. I helped her escape. She was able to tell me that this was the exit…She made me a promise that she would come back to save me as thanks but who knows what happened to her."

"Wait…" Garfield said. "Did she grey skin? A diamond on her forehead? Dry tone, never cracks a smile?"

"Yes, that sounds like her," Darkstar replied.

"Holy shit…You met my old teammate! Raven. She was part of the Teen Titans. Holy shit, this is one hell of a coincidence!" Garfield said. "Wait…That's too coincidental. How do I know you aren't some weird Darkforce creature just pulling memories from my head? Like how do I know this is really the exit?"

"I'm surprised you would ask this but I'm very pleased that you just don't trust my words," Darkstar noted with amusement. "Alright. Let's test this theory."

"But how?" Garfield questioned.

"Well, if I am a creature of the Darkforce pulling from your memories to trick you, I'm going to tell you something and when you leave here, you will find the answer and know I'm the real one."

"Alright," Garfield replied.

"There is a scientist named Victor Fries. He was your father's best friend growing up. He was there for the worst day of your father's life and Victor, his wife and your father only knows the true story. You'll want to specifically mention "Phantom" to Victor so he knows," Darkstar said.

"Alright…But you're sure that is the exit?" Garfield asked her.

"Very sure. Now that I know she got out safely, it more than confirms it for me," Darkstar said with a smile on her face.

"Does it take me back to where I was before?" Garfield asked her.

"I wouldn't know. I've been here," Darkstar said with a dry tone, which made Garfield wince in remembering that fact. "All I know is that it leads back to the real world. That's all. Now, if you don't have any further questions, we need to get you there. If you just fell ten minutes ago, we have only forty minutes to get you there before the Dark Force sends its spawn to force you past the hours' time," Darkstar told him before she began to levitate in the air.

As soon as she said that, Garfield felt his spider-sense going off. He turned around saw something running towards them in the distance.

They looked to be these inky, slimy bipedal creatures with glowing white eyes and claws with two horns on their heads and spikes going down their spines.

"Hurrying is good!" Garfield exclaimed before he leapt up and began to swing on the trees while Darkstar flew backwards, firing fuzzy white orbs from her hands at the creatures as fast as possible.

Mazong Mountain - The Mandarin's Mansion
Team Rocket

Rocket let out a furious shout as her fist slammed through the giant stone made fist that had threatened to crush her. She flew down towards the Mandarin, who held up his left pinky finger with the small blue-white ring and fired a strand of ice towards Rocket.

Rocket flew to the left to avoid the ice and held out her arms and fired two concussive blasts towards the Mandarin but he then held up his right thumb and with the glow of his purple ring, the blasted changed into bubbles, which hit him lazily in the left cheek.

"Nice try Rocket," The Mandarin told her calmly before he held out his left thumb with the white and gold ring and without warning, the air around Rocket became heavy, sending her slamming into the ground hard.

Black Cat let out a shout and slashed her whip towards the Mandarin, who glanced at her and held up his right index finger, which glowed red before a beam slammed into Black Cat's chest, sending her sailing backwards against the wall where he then held up the ring on his right thumb and forced her to stay on the wall.

Red X leapt into the air and threw several "X" darts towards Mandarin, who lifted up his right middle finger and with a shine of blue light, the "X" darts stopped inches away from his face and before they turned and launched themselves at Black Cat.

"Cat!" Red X screamed before he leapt in front of Cat's body in an effort to take the hit but Mandarin merely smirked and used the white and gold ring, Red X's body slammed to the ground in front of Black Cat and the "X" darts pierced through her left shoulder, right hip and her left thigh, which caused her to scream in pain.

"Damn you Mandarin!" Red X shouted in fury.

"Do not blame me for your mis-aiming," Mandarin said calmly as he poured another sip of tea before glancing at Rocket and noticed that she was slowly rising from her spot, her eyes narrowed and her teeth barred.

Mandarin narrowed his eyes and used his ring on his right middle finger and floated towards Rocket and held out his left middle finger and said "Your will must be incredibly strong," with a glow of green, thin emerald colored lightning streaked out in began to electrocute Rocket, causing her to scream in agony.

"Rocket!" the two thieves screamed in terror as Rocket yelled on the floor, unable to move due to the gravity forcing her down.

But the Mandarin continued the shocking. "Did you know with this particular ring, it allows me to control how intense the lightning is? This is a rather tame setting. Where it'll hurt you but not do any lasting damage. I've never seen how far it can go. Why don't we test this out…"

"G-Go fuck y-yourself!" Rocket screamed, despite the pain.

Mandarin tilted his head and said "Thank you for agreeing to this test," and with a dark smile, the bolts of lightning thickened as Rocket screamed in agony, the pain coursing through her body.

"Stop it!" Black Cat screamed. "She doesn't deserve this!"

"Oh but she does," Mandarin said. "She came to fight me at the behest of you two thieves. Her pain is all your doing, my thieving pair."

"T-Then hurt us!" Black Cat said. "But leave her out this!"

Mandarin stopped shocking Rocket, who gasped out, brief streaks of emerald lighting shooting across her body. "Don't you understand my dear Black Cat. I am hurting you," he turned his attention back to Rocket and activated the ring again, causing thicker emerald lighting to hit Rocket's still body, causing her to scream loudly in pain.

The DarkForce
Garfield Mark Logan

"We only have twenty minutes left!" The Symbiote exclaimed.

"Twenty minutes left auntie!" Garfield shouted out before he glanced at his supposed exit.

It was so close yet so far away at the same time.

Darkstar flew beside him and said "We are getting closer."

From the moment he and Darkstar had begun to run, the two encountered a myriad of creatures coming after them to keep Garfield in the DarkForce. The pair was closer to their objective now but there was still something that was bugging Garfield.

His aunt was trying to help him escape, which he was forever grateful of but…She was going to be forced to stay due to her life force being tied to this place.

"Do you think we can make it there in twenty minutes?" Garfield asked her, moving from left to right to avoid the slimy hands that were coming out of the cliff side to grab his legs to stop him.

"God hoping," Darkstar said before the pair heard a loud screech. When Garfield looked back, he saw five inky birded creature with large spikes on their heads, their eyes glowing white and black. "More are coming!" Darkstar exclaimed as five creatures came flying towards them at top speed.

"Shit!" Darkstar exclaimed before she turned around and flew to one of those creatures and punched it in the face, sending it down to the ground.

Garfield leapt into the air and shot his web onto the Cliffside and swung to the left to go around the cliff before he came back around to the front and nailed two of the beast with a kick to their head, sending them falling to the ground before he released the strand of web.

With a great leap, Garfield landed on the back of the fourth creature and used his web to steer it from left to right, avoiding the other flying creatures that were firing fuzzy black energy balls from its mouth.

"We must keep moving!" Darkstar said as she flew beside him before she flew down to the ground and fired her dark bolts at the oncoming hoard of creatures.

"This is so fucking strange!" Garfield exclaimed before he pulled the head of the creature, causing it to fly higher into the air in a circular motion to avoid getting hit by three of the black energy orbs before making it do a nose dive towards the group.

He let go of his webbing and leapt off the creature just as it collided with the three flying creatures and shot a web onto the Cliffside and began to run up it once again before he leapt up and flipped into the air and landed on top of the cliff.

He then looked up and saw the exit in front of him and sighed out "Whew, made it…"

Darkstar flew above the cliff before she landed beside Garfield and said "We just made it…Good, now hurry up and get in there."

Garfield gave her a long hard stare and said "Tell me something…If this is the exit...I'll be gone and you're going to remain here. Doesn't that bother you?"

Darkstar stayed silent for a moment, a sad smile appearing on her face. "I've already been here for seven years. I've made my peace that I will be here for the rest of my days because I could never find the exit. Sooner or later, this place will assimilate me and I will become one with the DarkForce." Darkstar told him softly. "The one who trapped me here told me my fate and at first, I raged against it. All I wanted was to see my friends and family again…"

She then placed her hands on Garfield's face and said "I won't lie, for a split second when I gazed at the exit gate; I wish I was heartless enough to find some way to trap you here and bargain for my freedom. To see the blue sky…to feel the wind against my face…To actually eat, drink and live…But I can't. You're my little Garfield and you have given me peace about my life. Just knowing you are alive fills me with joy that I cannot describe and if that means staying here to watch you walk away to the real world…I'd make this sacrifice each and every time."

"She's telling the truth…" The Symbiote whispered gently. "Because of where we are, I wasn't able to tell until now. This is your aunt Garfield and she means every word she just said…"

Garfield looked up at her with tears in his eyes before he grasped her in a bone crushing hug, which she gladly returned. "I-I'll find a way to free you Auntie…I swear this on the souls of my mom and dad. I will free you from this…"

"You don't have to," Darkside replied. "You already did more than enough for me…"

"I want too," Garfield replied with a sniffle.

She pushed Garfield away and said "You need to hurry now; we may have wasted a lot of your time,"

Without warning, a massive, muscular, black inky humanoid exploded into view behind them, its arms are quite long, and it has two relatively large, twisted wings on its back.

There was a large, hole in the abdominal area, which penetrates straight through from the front to the back. Its head is covered in dozens of twisted, black tentacles with black and white glowing eyes and there were glowing white scars

The creature roared as Garfield shouted "What in the blue hell is that thing?!"

"Damn it! A Dark Colossus!" Darkstar said.

"Is that what you call it?!" Garfield exclaimed.

The creature roared again.

"You can't handle this Garfield; you need to get out of here!" Darkstar exclaimed.

"I can't leave you to fight this thing alone!" Garfield shouted before he noticed the being raise its right arm into the air. "Move!" Garfield shouted before he leapt to the left and Darkstar flew to the right, both avoiding being smashed by its right fist.

The creature then swung its right arm to the side into the air and nailed Darkstar hard with a backhand, sending her soaring backwards into the air in a spin.

It then turned and slammed its left fist to the ground but Garfield flipped backwards to avoid it then webbed the hand to the ground.

Garfield then leapt up its arm and ran towards its head and landed a hard kick, causing it take a step backwards before its black tentacles shot out towards Garfield.

Garfield flipped backwards to avoid being caught by the tentacles his right leg was caught by the creature. "That's not good! There is some unknown being trying to worm itself into us. We need to get away!" The Symbiote exclaimed.

"Shit!" Garfield shouted before he was forcefully ripped forward and was entangled by more of the tentacles until they were wrapped around his body and then fuzzy black and white energy shot up the tentacles onto Garfield's body and then began to electrocute Garfield, causing him to scream out in terror and pain.

"This is the worst pain!" The Symbiote shouted in Garfield's mind, knowing he wouldn't respond due to the intense pain he was under.

"No!" Darkstar shouted before she flew to the head of the creature and punched it in its face hard, sending its head whipping to the side before she flew to the tentacles and gripped them tight, despite the energy electrocuting her as well.

With a yell, she ripped Garfield free of the tentacles and launched him towards the gate, brief bursts of the white and black energy streaking across his body.

Garfield felt so weak…Weaker than he had ever felt before in his entire life. He could feel the Symbiote on his body oozing against his skin rapidly, some of it oozing to the ground.

"This is bad, I can't fight off this corrupting energy. If we stay in here any longer, we will be corrupted and be unable to leave…But I don't have the energy to fight it off and become solid again at the same time…" The Symbiote said, her voice sounding weary to his ears.

He turned his head to look at his aunt, who was currently blasting the creature with energy from both of her hands.

"I can't hold it off for long! You need to get out of here!" Darkstar shouted at him.

"C-Can't move…" Garfield replied weakly, struggling to even keep his eyes open, more of his suit oozing away to reveal his shirt.

"We…Need to move…" The Symbiote said with a strained voice.

"You're right…We need to get out of here…" Garfield said weakly as he pushed himself from off the ground, his arms and legs still covered by the Symbiote.

"Form the suit…" Garfield told the Symbiote. "I know you won't b-be able to fight off the corruption but we need to go…"

The Symbiote began to climb up his body slowly until the suit was back on Garfield's body again but as Garfield moved, he could see slimy, oozy imprints being left behind as he dragged himself towards the gate.

He looked back at Darkstar, who was still trying to hold the creature back but her beams of energy was weakening and the creature was drawing closer.

He saw Darkstar look back at him briefly and he could see a small grin on her face. "I don't want to see you here every again!" She shouted out. "Now go!"

Garfield forced himself to his feet and shouted at her "I'll come back! I-I promise!" before he turned around and used all of the strength he had left to leap into the gate and his body flashed away with a black sparkle.

Mazong Mountain - The Mandarin's Mansion
Team Rocket

Mandarin smirked as he increased the lightning against Rocket's body.

He had to admit, she was hanging in there a lot longer than anticipated but she was nearing the end of life.

Suddenly, there was a crackling sound coming from the ceiling, which prompted Mandarin to stop his torture of Rocket, who immediately fell unconscious once the attack ended.

The ceiling began to crack repeatedly before it was ripped off from his mansion, leaving the crystal blue sky to shine down above them but that wasn't all that was in the sky.

There was a disk made of black energy hovering above the mansion.

Mandarin narrowed his eyes as he took a step forward as the disk lowered, revealing three figures. The first figure was an easy recognizable figure known as Raven, a member of the Teen Titans.

The second person on the disk was short red haired, fair skinned green eyed teenage girl with a dark green jacket with a lime green "X" on the front and back as well as a black tank top and black yoga pants.

But it was the man between them that made the Mandarin's eyes widen.

The man held a pale complexion with long smooth, yet unruly black hair with emerald green eyes, his leather jacket, shirt and pants holding an intricate mix of gold, black and green but the most damning was the golden horn crown on his head.

"Tem Borjigin," The man said with a rather charming grin. "Or should I call you 'The Mandarin?'"

"Y-You…" Mandarin said.

"Yes, it is I. Loki Odinson of Asgard. And I bring you good tidings, master of the ten rings," Loki said as the black disk landed on the ground before fading away. "And I have graced your eyes with my presence for one simple thing…I need the Infinity Stone you hold."

"Infinity Stone?" Mandarin said. "Why would I need to hold any of the Infinity Stones with having these rings?" Mandarin questioned.

Loki smirked and motioned to the red haired teen and asked "Would you please Jean?"

The teen nodded and stared at Mandarin, who preemptively held up his hands to attack but Raven lifted her left hand and black orbs formed around the hands of the Mandarin and before she closed them sharply, causing the orbs to crush Mandarin's hands.

Mandarin let out an alarmed yet pain filled scream as he staggered backwards, his hands crushed to the point that the rings slide off his thinned out fingers and clattered onto the ground.

Without warning, Mandarin let out a scream of pain as he fell onto one knee, his mangled hands fruitlessly trying to grip his head in pain.

Loki placed his scepter on his shoulder as he walked towards Mandarin and then squatted down and tilted his head up with the edge of his weapon and asked "Are you done lying or shall the torture continue?"

"I d-do not have the stone!" Mandarin exclaimed.

Loki looked back at Jean, who nodded before she narrowed her eyes.

Blood began to fall from Mandarin's ears, mouth and eyes as he screamed again from the pain in his head. Loki tilted his head in amusement and said "This could all stop if you give me what I asked for…"

But the Mandarin continued to resist. Finally, Loki sneered at the man and said "I tried to do this the easy way but very well. Jean…"

Jean nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them and said in an empty tone "I have the location of the stone. It is beneath this room in the basement of this mansion."

"Very good," Loki said before he glanced to Raven and said "Find it."

Raven nodded and phased through the floor. Loki then looked back at the drained Mandarin and asked "See? Is that so hard?" Loki then turned to Jean and said "Finish him."

Jean nodded and looked towards Mandarin and closed her eyes.

The Mandarin wailed as his skull began to cave in on itself before the screams faded into gurgling and then to silence. Loki shook his head and stood up as the body fell to its side and then glanced at Rocket's body and then two the thieves.

He then walked towards Black Cat and Red X, the latter immediately moving in front of the former to defend her but Loki held up his hands. "Relax. I am not going to harm you two…I merely need you."

He then flipped his scepter and touched Red X's chest. There was a brief glow before Red X nodded and stood aside, to the shock of Black Cat. "X, what are y-"

Black Cat was interrupted when Loki placed the tip of the scepter against her chest, her eyes then turned a pale yellow and she knelt before Loki, with Red X kneeling as well beside her.

Raven phased up through the ground with a black orb in her hand but despite this, the glow of the Power Stone still shined through it. "Good…" Loki said with a grin on his face before he turned back to the pair of thieves.

"Go and get your friend then let's all return to the ship. We have more stones to find," Loki commanded.

Gotham City
Jinx

"Shit! These guys don't give up!" Jinx exclaimed while holding her bleeding side as she dashed through the alleyway of the Afterlife club. She knew that the moment she kicked the ass of a few goons that their boss would come after her.

But she didn't know that the the local mercenary known as Chance would be their boss! Through the grapevine of villains, she knew he was a huge badass that had managed to escape the freaking Batman twice.

Something that was unheard in Gotham city.

She had put up a pretty good fight against him but when he managed to slice open her side with his blade; she knew she had to escape.

She truly despised herself right now.

If she had her powers, she would have put up more of a fight but right now? She was utterly useless and that was something that infuriated her. Turning a corner of the alley, Jinx swore as she found herself blocked off by a wall. Shit! She was trapped and she could hear the heavy footsteps of the man she had pissed off.

"It seems out little pink angel has trapped herself…" a deep, amused voice said as she slapped her hand against the wall in frustration.

Jinx gritted her teeth and turned around and saw a large man in a black suit with a high-tech gold armor on his body, a gold mask with red glass over his eyes standing with his arms crossed.

"Such a pity our game has ended…Now you have two options…" The armored man said while opening his hand to her direction. "One, you can come back to the Afterlife and…Entertain my men that you have beaten and stolen from…Or you can die the lowest of scum. Your choice, pinky."

Jinx didn't even hesitate to flick her middle finger up, saying with a smirk "Trust me when I say, fuck you and your foot soldiers you sack of golden shit. You can only kill me once."

"Ah yes, but who says I can't make it last until you expire?" The man said before pulling out his sword and pointing it at her. "I plan to use your body and kill you, all at the same time…So prepare!"

Jinx closed her eyes, expecting pain when she heard something flicker above her head.

"What the hell is that?" She heard Chance question. She opened her eyes and noticed the man looking at the sky. She glanced up and saw a large black and white star in the sky.

"What the hell?" She whispered.

It was hovering right above the alleyway she and Chance was currently in and then, she saw a black twinkle…and then another…and then one more…

Then the twinkling began to increase in speed as the ground rumbled beneath her feet, sparks of white and black energy rising against the ground where the two stood. "You're not worth whatever the hell is happening here!" Chance exclaimed.

But before anyone could move, a pitch black figure shot out from the star and slammed into Chance's body so hard, she could hear the bones breaking above the panicked and pain filled screams of Chance.

Jinx took a step backwards as she stared at the figure that laid on top of Chance's broken body and saw the figure groan and rolled off of Chance's unconscious body and in front of her, which caused her to take another step.

She saw the head of the figure lean up, revealing the glassy white angled eyes staring at her before they blinked, which startled her before she heard an exhausted voice whisper "Jinx?" before the figure closed their eyes and dropped their head.

It may have been a whisper but she recognized the voice that said her name. "Beastboy?" She whispered as she walked to him. She knelt down and felt for a pulse. He was alive but seemingly unconscious.

Was it truly Beastboy in this suit?

He had gone missing in Jump City a good while ago and while she was a villain, she often wondered what happened to him. If this was really him, what was he doing in this suit and why did he appear from that weird portal in Gotham of all places?

But what should she do now? He saw her and remembered her before he dropped so if she just left him here, he would find her and make her life a living hell, moreso than it already was.

But, somewhere deep in her heart, she felt that it was wrong to just leave him. He had inadvertently saved her from Chance and if she did, his goons would find him near their broken boss and who knows what would happen.

She took a deep breath andsaid "Fuck me…" Jinx picked him up and murmured "I know I'm going to regret this," before she carried him off, making sure to kick Chance in the head hard while she passed.

Garfield: Holy shit…That's…A way to end things kinda of bleakly…I'm in Gotham…Loki has Red X, Black Cat and Rocket and Sym and I may have been fucked up by the DarkForce and my Aunt is trapped in there forever. Well…Shit.

Kimberly: It'll be okay Gar. I know it will…Have faith…

Garfield:….Yeah. Well, that's the end of this chapter and the end of the Champion Arc. The Gotham's Most Wanted Arc begins now. Until next time…