Titans: Elemental

Chapter 5: Divide and Conquer, Part 2

An alarm shatters the silence Dick had settled in.

Jack, Starfire, BB, and Raven are in the living room, looking ahead at the screen with surprise. A map of Jump City, with a large flashing dot that slowly moves along. Dick runs in.

Dick, "Cinderblock strikes again?"

BB, "you wish."

Jack, "it's something much…. Grosser…."

….

Meanwhile, at a chemical factory; it is now nighttime.

Inside, jets of colored solutions shoot down from overhead nozzles and flow together in a pipeline that snakes across the factory floor. The mixture emerges from its other end and falls into a waiting barrel. Plasmus is at the free end of the conveyor on which it and others are resting. As the belt starts to move, he picks up each arriving barrel and guzzles it, growing a few feet taller after each of the first two. The third is hit with a starbolt before he can finish it; the remaining chemicals spill out the broken end, and he lifts the barrel to his eye to peer through it.

He swivels across the area. The five Titans are waiting for him.

Dick, "that stuff can't be good for you."

Plasmus throws the barrel aside and belches.

BB, " nice one!"

Jack, "dude, please don't compliment the enemy."

He roars and shoots gobbets of sludge from his body toward the heroes, who scatter to avoid the attack. Dick jumps and flips like mad, just barely staying ahead of the barrage, and lands on a crate near a mixing tank.

Dick, "Star! Let him have it!"

She obliges with a starbolt that blows a hole clear through the creature's chest.

Starfire gasps, "did I let him have too much?"

He sucks in a huge breath, and the hole fills in.

BB, "I'm thinking not enough."

Its hand balled into a fist, one gooey arm extends itself toward Starfire, who shrieks as Raven plows her out of the way.

Dick pulls a disc from his belt, "maybe he just needs to chill."

Jack spins his staff around and says, "I'm thinking the same thing man!"

Dick throws the projectile at Plasmus; it freezes the long arm solid upon impact.

Jack shoots a ball of ice at Plasmus, freezing his other arm, with frost all over it!

The owner of said arms looks at them in surprise, then shatters them against an overhead pipe. Dick jumps for cover, while BB turns into a pterodactyl and lifts off. Starfire blazes away from above, driving Plasmus back a bit, and BB executes several punching strikes with his talons. The foe blocks these and retaliates by lashing out with many thick tentacles from the stump of his missing arm.

Both Titans cut and run to stay out of the mess. Starfire throws shots every which way to fend off the attack as BB does a few evasive maneuvers. Now Raven rises into the air.

Raven, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

She levitates several barrels and launches them at Plasmus; they strike him in the chest, end first, and stick there. His arm now regrows, and he gathers his strength and sends them right back, forcing her to dive for cover.

Jack sees this and sends a huge jet of fire at Plasmus, leaving a huge hole in his chest that quickly reformed.

Jack said, "this thing can take a licking and keep on kicking!"

Dick leaps in for a flying kick only to get that leg stuck in the mire, followed by his other leg and one hand when he tries more blows. He struggles to get loose.

Dick, "come on! Let me go, you giant zit!"

It only snarls and roars down at him before sending forth a huge jet of slime that carries him screaming along with it. The purple tide washes over BB as well. Dripping with it, Dick groans and gets up as Starfire rushes over.

Starfire, "Nightwing!"

Dick, "I'm okay…. Sort of."

He spits out a wad or two. BB, meanwhile, has made it partway to his feet; his eyes are watering profusely.

BB, "and I thought Star's pudding tasted bad!"

Jack can't help but chuckle before he hears a fresh howl from Plasmus' direction!

The creature refocuses the attention of all five Titans in a hurry.

….

Meanwhile, the man and a shorter figure are watching the fighting on a large viewing screen.

The man, "disappointing."

Cinderblock's silhouette moves into the frame. We see the shorter person, an elderly fellow, bald on top, in a white suit and tie and a black shirt, standing with the man.

Slade, "with one Titan missing, this is almost too easy. I was expecting more of a challenge. Cinderblock?"

An overhead light shines down on him, enveloping the old man and part of Cinderblock. The latter can be seen holding some large piece of equipment.

The man, "begin Phase Three."

An answering grunt, and Cinderblock stumps away.

….

We see an open area of the factory floor. A gush of Plasmus' muck splatters down from above, and Starfire stands up within it and groans disgustedly.

Starfire, "I feel like the underside of a Zornian muck beetle."

Raven gets up next to her.

Raven, "tell me about it."

Jack runs to them with his staff and says, "this stuff is gonna take forever to wash out."

BB runs for his life as Plasmus pursues.

BB, "dude, I am not on the menu!"

Dick's wingding sails into view trailing a long line behind it. This grappling hook flies around Plasmus' legs to wrap them up; Dick is quick to arrive as well. He grabs the free end of the line and takes a few more turns around the giant.

Dick, "maybe the best way to take you down... Is to tie you up!"

BB, now a rhinoceros, charges and scores a direct hit that sends Plasmus toppling backward to fall among a group of support columns. Starfire bends one over to pin him, and Raven does likewise with others. Jack freezes some of them. Plasmus struggles against these bonds as the five inspect the handiwork; BB is back in human form.

Starfire, "we did it!"

Jack, "I knew we could."

Dick, "nice work, team.

BB, "yeah. Didn't think we'd pull it off without-"

Raven angrily socks him in the shoulder to cut him off. He lets off a surprised little sheep-like bleat, then laughs and sweats nervously. Dick checks a locator device briefly before tucking it away in his belt.

Dick, "we finished just in time. Cinderblock's been spotted downtown. Come on!"

Jack, "let's hope we can get some rest after this."

The five Titans turn to leave, but a loud gurgling noise from Plasmus' direction stops BB. He turns back.

BB, "huh?"

Plasmus starts to ooze a bit under the girders. His entire body flows together and free of the restraints, then shapes itself into a gigantic crab-like thing with one claw, an octopus-like appendage, and a snaky rear limb.

BB, "uh…. Heads up."

Now having formed a second crab claw, Plasmus rushes at the five of them; they burst out through a set of double doors. As they make it through and slam the doors shut just in time, they lean against them with all their weight. Plasmus' snarling and pounding can be heard through the metal.

BB, "five against five. Not good odds, even if they are even!"

He is referring to the claws/beetles, octopus, snake, and body together; five battering rams to employ against the doors.

Dick, "forget the odds. We need a plan."

Jack, "and pray tell what?"

The doors tremble even more violently under Plasmus' assault, and he finally forces them partway open and pushes a tendril out, then another. Starfire screams as the opening grows wider and the head appears.

Dick, "Titans! Separate!"

The doors are finally smashed open. All of them go in different directions among the machinery; the latter turns into a cheetah as he runs. Plasmus' snake, separated from the rest of the body, chases Starfire; she turns in midair and bombards it with starbolts, but it lunges and catches her to drag her from the air. BB sprints along the floor, with one of the crab claws in hot pursuit. It opens wide and lashes out a long tongue that snares him. He breaks loose by turning into a gorilla, but is knocked off his feet by a flying tackle.

Raven, meanwhile, flies along as the octopus chases on the ground. She exerts her powers over all the machinery here, causing the bolts and screws to fall out, and the loosened vessels topple into the aisle one after another. The octopus swerves and slides to miss several of them, but is finally hit broadside. She looks back smugly only to find that it has recovered and placed itself directly in front of her; there is only time for one shocked gasp before it rears up to strike.

Jack suddenly jumps up onto the octopus and starts hitting it with his staff as he tries to keep it away from Raven!

The only one left is Dick, who keeps going full steam among the other process equipment; the other crab claw is after him and not letting up. He reaches a set of double doors, and bursts into a room which is illuminated as he hurls himself through and into space. Lurid green light rises from the direction of the floor. Something breaks his fall, and he finds himself carried along in midair as he rubs his head, he is standing on a moving conveyor belt above several large vats of glowing chemicals.

The crab claw lands behind him and pulls back to strike. Dick has his staff out in a snap and delivers several blows that merely splatter through the purple goo. The end is caught and broken off, but he simply extends the other end to make up for the lost length and swings again. This time, his weapon is not only blocked, but dashed from his hands to go spiraling over the vats. Going into classic kung fu mode, he backs up a few steps and lunges for a high kick.

….

Starfire is still held fast by Plasmus' snake portion. As she struggles, it wraps a coil around her head and squeezes itself together into a large ball. She bursts out of it after a moment and sees the main body perched on top of an equipment cabinet, lying in wait.

BB, back in human form, Jack and Raven are carried into view, still held by their respective captor body parts. Jack is struggling as hard as he can. The snake reforms at the feet of one very frightened Tamaranean teenager. She recoils at its strike.

….

Back to the conveyor. Dick steadily backs up before the opponent's advance, and it soon throws itself on top of him to pin him to the belt's surface. He struggles mightily as both are swept toward the free end, which hangs over a bubbling vat. He goes partway over, then smiles wickedly and flips the claw backward off the precipice; however, he miscalculates and has to grab the corner of the belt to keep from going down with it. The housing starts to pull loose as the claw has seized one boot and is pulling with all its strength. Dick strains with all the power he can put into his one-handed grip, but the conveyor has had all it can take. His fingers slide away from the ripping material to leave him plummeting toward the last bath he will ever take.

Out of nowhere, a familiar bionic arm shoots into view and grabs his wrist. The sludgy apparition falls into the vat and dissolves harmlessly after having fallen in. On the conveyor, Dick has been hoisted up by Vic, who stands behind him, and tries desperately to catch his breath.

Vic, "I still got the Sonic if you still got the Boom?"

Dick returns the smile; the feud between the two has ended in a twinkling.

….

On the factory floor, Plasmus' other four body parts have reassembled themselves and the other four are nowhere to be seen. He laughs nastily, but stops short when Dick and Cyborg square off against him.

Dick and Vic, "Titans! Go!"

They go into the same sequence of moves they used while trying to pull off the Sonic Boom attack against Cinderblock inside the prison. This time, however, they do not get tangled up in midair, and Dick hurls an explosive disc while Cyborg fires his cannon. The combined effect of the two weapons is enough to blow Plasmus apart into small puddles of gunk; when the screen clears, we see 385901 dozing among the slop and snoring fitfully.

Back with Jack, BB, Starfire and Raven, who sit up out of the remains of their captors; they had been engulfed by the slime. Dick and Cyborg look down at the frail man who has just inflicted so much damage on the factory.

….

Later, we see them outside, watching as he is loaded onto a truck for the return trip to prison; he is contained in a new tank.

Dick, "look, uh…. Sorry about…."

Vic, "yeah."

Dick, "so…. Are we cool?'

Vic smiles and holds out a fist, "frosty."

Dick smiles back as they tap fists.

Starfire, "you made up! Glorious! I wish to initiate a group hug."

Raven, "pass."

Jack muttered, "I would've liked a hug."

BB, "yeah, yeah, yeah, warm fuzzies all around. But we still gotta stop Cinderblock!"

Vic, "no, we don't. Thought I'd bring a present, 'case you were still mad."

He gestures behind himself, and in response, Cinderblock is hoisted up on a winch, with the equipment he had been carrying in the man's lair wrapped around his body to bind him. The stone villain grumbles angrily.

Dick, "thanks. But there is one thing that's still bothering me."

Jack, Raven, BB, and Starfire first react with surprise, then go wide-eyed in disbelief that anything could be bothering their leader at this point, given the events of the past few hours.

Dick, "breaking into jail? Using Plasmus to distract us? The whole plan seems to be a little too smart for Cinderblock."

Vic, "I've been thinking the same thing."

The other four are relieved; BB and Starfire sigh visibly.

Jack, "thank God."

Dick, "someone must have been pulling the strings. But who?"

Vic, "well, whoever they are…. They're no match for the Titans."

He and Dick trade a high five.

Dick, "I heard that!"

….

We see a teacup and saucer on a table. A fist is slammed down, breaking them, after which a pair of white-gloved hands reaches down with a small broom and dustpan to sweep up the pieces. Pull back; it is the elderly man previously seen with the man, a butler. This is Wintergreen. He has a fresh cup, which he sets on the arm of his employer's chair. The man is once again seated and lit as before. Despite having just lashed out, his voice retains its control.

"Next time, my plans will succeed. And the Titans will pay…."

….

Reviews:

DreamWorksDisneyFan2000: glad you enjoyed it. I do hope you continue to read it.

….

As some of you can see, our main villain won't have his name said until it's said by Gizmo later on. The same as the show, where the team didn't know his name until then, so neither did we unless we read the comics and guessed.

Once he's revealed, Rose shall introduce herself to the team.

Also, a quick shout out to Cadence Hopkins and her amazing Ben 10 stories! You seriously need to go and read them all!