Teen Titans – Galactic Eros Arc – Finale – Chapter 20: When All Walls Fall – Gods of the Dead World

/

Raku's mind was set inside a cataclysmic torrent; he felt visible, yet to none but the chosen. He was a fake, as Ignito had told him. He wasn't, really there. Not yet…?

~ He's taken my current memories and twisted them! I should know better…but why am I still not fighting back?? HELP!! Someone!!! Get me out of this place!! Please!! ~ He begged, but his telepathic use was forbidden. Only an echo came bounding back to drink him dry. This energy vampire inside his head was real. This world, was not. It was all fake. And he…didn't know how to leave it.

Or if he even wanted to.

~ Aiden will come, and if he does not? ~

No….The demon's voice made the child weak. He had to go! NO!

~ WE TAKE HIM. We are GODS, boy! I am you! ~ The weevil in his head was still burrowing deeper and deeper, taking on the chosen and Gemini child in space as they stayed away. Yet, Raku wanted to save Aiden…. but was this the only way until help –

~ You don't need them. We have each other…. My savior…. ~

Hands wrapped round his skull, tugging back the scared jinn – child's neck. His back flush against the other creature's chest. ~ We are here, and now…. you will have everything as you wish it to be. We can create a world where they cannot harm us any longer… -

That tugged Raku to try to wriggle away, but the beast only persisted.

~ Did Lilu do that for you? NO! She stripped us naked and TOOK US –

~ STOP ! –

Raku gasped. That, memory…. fake! No…. he…he was the one who…. Getting a sweat out of the creature's tugging force, the boy screamed –

~ LET ME GO –

~MMMNNGHPP!!!! ~

NO. I DON'T NEED YOU BABYSAT. YOU. WILL. TAKE THEM ALL. Our law cannot be broken…...Try to fight it, ~ Ignito threatened in Raku's young ears. ~ And you will only become your worst fears, my lord…~

~ S……MMNNNO!!!! ~

Raku felt a sliver of dark energy encapsulate; his body was tugged into the shadows. Ignito was not itself. Something was wrong…it must be the infl –

~ MMMNNHNGBN!!!!! ~

Raku lost sight of the image; Aiden was banging his weapon onto the barrier that Gemini twin and he had erected. No, he was without help. Ignito WAS infected! He had never –

~ Come to sleep…you will awaken anew as we wish…. sleep….and do not wake until I'll have it to be….my lord…. ~

Raku felt his eyes falling shut. His pain melted away; his body hung limp. As the shadows cradled him inside a cocoon of its own horrid embrace, a delicate capsule emerged to house the growing jinn, as time stood still, while his was only just beginning to turn.

Growing pains. Those would soon end…. They had to, for he to escape his fate.

/

Aiden's fists now hit the ball of thermal energy. Atomic, but he could feel nothing. His powers were coming out, and as a son to a Tameranean princess, he carried this ability in his bones. He smashed, kicked, and sent bolts as Anna stayed a distance and tried her magic of the Phoenix instead. Aiden felt sweat on his brow from up by his forehead. He thought so, but it was clear as crystal. Dragon's blood. His power was leaking forth.

Raven saw this and proceeded to try and intervene, but Shiva pointed at the spiral that was transforming, sucking in al of the planet's bite sized areas into…

Slade paled.

A black hole.

/

Light and dark could do that…but Raku was both or neither! The Gemini was of dark and the goddess, thus the moon. Raku….could he be a solar relic after all??

Dark side of the sun's rays…

Slade glanced at the Chosen; as he and the parents exchanged glances.

"We have to go –

"NO!" Aiden shouted and a crack formed in the boundary.

"AIDEN!" Anna shot back at her twin, "You can't save them!! We have to leave before Drenthax is destroyed!! He's doing that!! You –

"I….won't….Ignito….Ignito is controlling him!!" The chosen flung his body into the spiral. Anna and Starfire screamed out, but Raven's casting failed.

"He's…..gone…." The empath gawked at the dark abyss in the air.

Ann's mother turned to her confused and terrified husband. Dick shook his head trying to see the facts as he lost it.

"He's…not there anymore…..What's happening!"

/

~ We can't intervene malady –

~ We must ….~ The red headed relic in the room with a golden staff and sword looked to her follower.

~Lord Solario, you must do it. Justice will be brought to the ones responsible. GO! ~

~ As you command, Lady Athena….~

/

Ami's eyes looked to the goddess of the sun and she couldn't get a word out. She didn't know her as well as she'd once believed. This relic, was a copy. A reborn one. So, what could she recall? That Amaterasu – hime had trusted Ami? That the girl and her companions had all but failed??

~Your companion Inari – dono was well enough to tell me of the casualties. ~ The regal woman remarked; taking not into account how long she'd left the foxes without a patron deity.

"Who is she??" Kaede snipped. "You are a false face to we kitsune – yokai. Why do you wear the attire of our goddess and mistress, Amaterasu – hime??" Her snout reverted to a fox's in all but body and brain. As a teen in spirit, Kaede had a lot to question.

"And when did we end up double crossed by the god of rice??" Koko asked the maiden, as her flowing locks dragged about from behind. The wood blushed form her presence.

"I was never really loyal to the Chosen, I was loyal to the gods. We found it best to….observe and the boy jinn is now a danger. We must eliminate he and any Chosen relics that stand on this earth to avoid a catastrophe –

"Aiden is innocent!" Ami stood up and debated, "He's still not an adult up there, but he has heart. Doesn't that mean you won't trust humans too??"

"Ami!" Haru hissed, trying to avoid any conflict at all costs. "We will bring Shoji and Yumi; the representatives of this plane on earth into –

~NO. They are being charged as we stand. Our time has come to punish the mortals. To have order where it has been lost. ~ This Amaterasu – hime had her guards point sharp blades in the accused's faces.

~ You will either submit and be brought to stand trial, or you shall perish as a result of the action of the non -magi blooded. We are the superior forces. You cannot appose us! Surrender or suffer at the hand of the Immortal realm's inhabitants! ~

The Immortal were a race cast out, replaced by the Eternal and Celestial branches…As a first, they were the new Universal and the second to most powerful forces in the known planes of time AND space. Ami quivered, as did her fox an wolf girl allies.

Kaede' fists remained clenched. "We cannot debate this –

"We can't run…." Haru sniffed.

"For Aiden. I'd even put my life on the line. Let's go, fox clan." Ami nodded to her compatriots. They'd go, and they'd get someone on their side. This Amaterasu was not as her past self. The one responsible was going to pay…

And so would a traitorous Kazuya, the smug prick!

/

Richard ran towards the vortex after Starfire. Her tears floated off into the atmosphere as Blackfire's orb was recovered and brought to an escape ship's pod. Mir isn't coming to earth with us." Shiva shot a glance at the child and her innocent act.

"She'd be obliterated here if we don't.' Slade snorted and went to try and stop Grayson with a hand to his arm. "She won't get far." He whispered to the cop. Dick swallowed, "I know, but she can fly…and…I have no power here –

"You can still set an example." Slade put a hand onto the man's shoulder, as if trying to be sincere in his new role.

"I still don't trust you being around my daughter." The younger male shoved Slade's gloved fingers off roughly. "Don't even try to play the hero. You are a terrible role model, Slade."

"And we are just as serious about saving the ones we care about, Grayson." Slade slipped off to rejoin the others. Dick waited a moment to recover, catching his breath. Good thing Starfire was fire proof, or he'd have met the edge of the world…Right after his son and wife…

/

Anna saw her father's expression and frowned. Deathstroke and he had a history, but it didn't mean that she wanted to be a part of it. Why was he trying to help them? Was he in it for status? A way to live? Rewards from some galactic being??

Ah…. or…

~ You can't figure out a thing. Not without a way to pin down that rat. ~

Anna's eyes became lighter. "I may have to up my game too, Dee."

She set off for the escape ship's last resort and the Titans' ship. Home. What would she expect to find once they returned?

/

The flight back was a bleak sentence; Slade would be put on trial, unless he flew the coop before they landed. Shiva was toast, Anna was going back to base to retrain in the art of keeping her mouth shut, and Dick's team?

They had to stop a war. A really, big black hole was expanding and the watchtower was close enough to dock at.

Dick radioed in the JLA and Flash decided to get Manhunter on the Scene with GL. "Come in, this is Green Lantern. We got the distress signal…. Dick??"

~That's right…and my crew is in need of a pit stop. ~ The goofy acrobat smiled into the camera. ~ We need your help, right away. This is urgent. A black hole is swallowing up Drenthax and….my kids are inside it, stopping the ones responsible. Kori went in, and I hope to see if they made it…. ~

Manhunter looked at the bat's son and his band of refugees. "Can you dock, safely? Nightwing?" Manhunter asked.

"We are on the way; Cy is trying to steady the craft. We have a second pod and are keeping on board a, convicted terrorist –

~ What??? ~ Wally smacked his forehead. ~ Are you serious, Dickie??? Why the heck…..Just, don't make contact. We are on it. Be sure the prisoner is con –

"She's not a criminal, but a victim. Wallace." Slade snipped back, seeing the red head cringe at that name.

~ What…was he a bad gu –

"He's on our side, we made a…. deal to stop the one who's messing up the solar system." Gar rubbed the

back of his neck to add, "We even got this close; Turns out that BlackFire was being pushed to go after Aiden cause of that Gemini kid – But Raku went in and they are now… duking it out –

~ Matter and Anti – matter. ~ Manhunter shook his head. ~ Raku was a child of the eclipse, thus the moon for his rites I imagine... Regardless of the contrary, the relic known as Gemini is of the solar field in astrology. Those two are now at war and destroying the very balance. The black hole is because of this error. ~

Cy gritted his jaw. "Damn! So, then Aiden bein' there with Starfire –

~It sets off a reaction. The Atomic energy's fluctuation is primarily due to that power –

"He's going to go even more insane if he gets anymore power to absorb. Is that it, Martian?" Slade raised a brow, making the Manhunter blink back up in surprise. ~ Yes. In fact…It is, Deathstroke. ~

/

Dick let the screens die back; before he took to Slade's one eye, and decked him silly. Slade's nose bent back with a sickening crunch that left his enemies and allies dumb and concerned.

"Dad!"

Blue Beetle flapped his arms at the vigilante. "Dick – head? Esse? What are y –

" Enough!" Slade gripped the cop's arm and shoved it away roughly, tossing a staff to the man as he stood there, in defense mode. "Go ahead, do it. Or can you stand to beat me right in front of your little girl?" Slade eyed the cop in black and blue attire. He was, right. Dick's grip stayed firm on the man's staff, but he didn't raise it again. He seethed and instead took out his frustration on the assassin in the form of a plea.

"You……are…. dead! Dead! Do you hear me, Deathstroke??" Dick coughed and tried to lower his voice, with Slade looking somewhat smug about making the officer have a faux ulcer attack.

"Raku tried to stop you, but you kept coming at him in the city…. You made him turn into something he's afraid of!! Why? Why did you do ANY of this??" He demanded to know, making Slade raise a brow at his ex - apprentice. Dick saw this and took it as an offense. He called over to his middle kid, warning her not to get involved.

"Anna, stay away from him…He's not leaving this ship in one piece until –

"We cannot reveal our plans until the ship has docked, Nightwing." Shiva defended the careless killer as her partner nursed his bloody nose a bit.

"And, Dad?" Anna rubbed her arms as she sighed, trying to keep her own temper from getting loose as her papa's had.

"I already know what he wants me to do…so, you may not want to believe –

"I. Don't. Care. You are still a member of this family and you are under twenty-one, Annie. You are NOT to make any extra decisions that I don't know –

"Careful, Grayson." Slade slung that word of warning edgy cop's way. "She was hoping to come to you in this time of need."

Raven shot a glare at the older man. "That's enough. If you have to tell us anything, then Richard's right." She agreed. "Slade; Tell us why you really gave Mir your promise to capture Raku as well as Aiden, why did se need them both. Why aren't you really trying to help them destroy the earth? You know too much…I can sense it."

The room got very quiet. Save for the beeping monitors and whirring system that was the team's space craft, Slade sighed and sat himself into one of the seats at the control panel. Facing the heroes, he had no idea how they'd really take the news.

"I'm a double agent, and Anna was going to help me stop the ones that are currently causing, another war…. And, Titans? I truly think that you should stay here if you want to stop that insane demon from destroying half the galaxy. Going back to earth would be an obvious trap."

/

The turning of tides, the new guards in the council's hand…

Slade told them about Astarte's plan. About the dark evil that was still a threat among her ranks.

"A, coup?" Beetle asked, still not sure of who was to blame here.

Anna nodded. "I have a second sense and it was a bad one. Dee here, explained that he's working with the only part of the Solar faction that…isn't trying to destroy humanity."

"Say, what??? Why??" Cy gawked and he'd heard all he could out of this nightmare anyway…He immediately glanced over to Slade.

"TALK. Who is the one who's callin' the shots, Slade."

"The one responsible is dead." Slade cut off Vic's question. "They've infected the ones who were "supposed" to maintain the balance of the realms that they created. Right now, the guardians on your "world" are being convicted of treason, or if they swear their loyalty to the factions that were infected…."

"No, wait…" Nightwing was just hearing this again, but it wasn't…like before. "Who is running it, behind the scenes and how? Aiden and Raku defeated –

"Her influence was left behind. And as a result, … It permeated EVERYTHING." Slade's eye grew wide on that word. Seeing the heroes squirm was fun once, but now he'd needed a new change of pace.

/

"Every…"

"What about the spirits?" Gar chirped to Dick and his forever enemy. "What happened…."

"The ones affected were the heads of these factions; Hecate –

"No!" Raven gasped, finding this news to be a start all along. "She…-

"She was infected with the taint by her brother, Hades, who has been working on having the human race eliminated. As for the ringleader you ask…" Slade rubbed his chin, mask - less and feeling a bit naked in front of his company.

"Who?? We might already –

"Lilith. When she left, Raku…wasn't the only carrier. She infected Ava, then the wolf guardian that was killed by Hati. Hati was infected since Lilith brought him back in the first place."

"She, waited - and Apep???"

"She made sure to weaken the barrier of mortal and god." Slade nodded to Raven. "She used those "infected –

"Sis! Ava is…."

"It's too late, she's just a drone for vengeance like all the rest at this rate…"

"How did you…" Dick shook his head. "What did you present to them, to the ones you worked for."

Slade looked up. His eye was weary from going in circles for so long now. Outer Space here stood still, and that certainly made him tired a lot more…Should he tell them?

"Anyone the strix had tempted; Hakuro, Isa, Kaien, they all think they are returning order to the universe, when this is a full-blown culling of life. I'm not the only one. Any of you that met her gaze, you have to remove any desire of vilen–

"That's bullshit!" Gar spat out. "What about Star, huh?? She's the only one who won't hurt a fly. Are you –

"Fear leads to impulsive decisions. The same with anger. Lilith decided to embody human hatred multiple times and succeeded where others had failed in one thing. She was never forgotten. Even now, her mention is recalled as being, provocative. She won. And we might not survive WITHOUT first giving into –

"We have to fight the gods, is what he's saying." Slade nodded to Anna, while Dick thought the picture was horrible for a father to watch. Any father…

"Oh, God…. how…. why?"

"She's a leach." Slade shrugged. "Demons feed like a virus or infection that grows worse if it's not treated as soon as possible."

"How do we save Aiden and Raku, for now?" Raven stepped in, seeing Dick was already hit squarely where it hurt by his worst nemesis.

"You see, Titans…" Slade drawled out a bit, lazily leaning back in his seat to observe his captive audience.

"I came to agree with Astarte; that the only way to cool the gods' heads long enough to dispel any tension, is to kill the last of Lilith's students."

"What?? Bu –

Anna pulled back. "That wasn't the –

"Orders from your superior, fire bird." Slade snipped. "I don't question them. Not while earth's future is again at stake BECAUSE of that little tyrant."

Beetle didn't buy why Slade's mission was this important. Kill? As in...

"

He's a kid…and yeah, a bit messed up in the head but –

"Did Ignito get infected, also?" Dick's words had Slade pause to consider the option. The assassin gave the male a skeptical look. "Are you proposing –

"That Aiden might be right. That Ignito was never supposed to be this hostile? Yeah. I want to trust him, Slade. Raku, is in pain. Something else maybe but…we can't just –

"It might be what the real ringleader wants." Anna shot a glance at Slade's one savage eye. "So, we don -

Anna gawked, then returned her gaze to him with a different set of demands.

"You need to tell them who she is. I don't care about being smite…. on, or whatever." Anna shook away the image of a death blow to her skull by some Olympian figure. "She'll just have to be less of a drama queen. Don't hold out on the earth, Dee."

/

"Fine. If you feel like exposing our location KID."

"Dee, please –

"Then insist on it, go ahead. If Raku lives, then we all die. He gets what he wants and the real threat will steal that same manifestation god's power, destroying MORE lives in the process."

"Stop it, Deathstroke." Cy snapped at the con man. "Anna is not like you. She knows when it counts. Besides, you just kill for –

"Convenience. I realize that." Slade rolled his eye and sighed, dryly dictating how his kills went to the tin soldier. "Titans? Do you know why Isa and Astarte hired me to go after you? I had a plan to keep away for a long time but…" Slade rose. "I wasn't going to have that luxury." He said this with disdain for his allies right now,soon gripping at his skull with a grunt of pressure... "The kid is close... My anger was getting harder to cap." The man blinked. As if in a trance, that influence…. He had it too. Stronger, and growing with Raku's cataclysmic energies. The team was pulled away as a blast came from outside near their craft.

"There!" Aiden was there with Kori, fighting off the Gemini kid. But where was the –

"Look out!!" Gar shouted. They had hit the wall of the massive force field, and beyond it the illusion of a super sonic black hole in the confines of deep space welcomed the few in all its terrific brilliance.

"Brace yourselves!" Slade gripped at the controls as Cy and Dick backed him up. Cyborg was the first to make some noise as the heroes got into position, as in a crash was immanent. "We're not out of the woods yet, team! Hang on ta' something!"