My Riddles Three

Much to my surprise, somewhere between the last chapter and this chapter, no one called me and offered me a mult-million dollar deal to write stories for Teen Titans. ::Sigh:: So I still don't own them. Which is probably a good thing. Actually, it DEFINETLY is a good thing.

~~~~~

 "Oh no, now, don't you be looking at me like THAT!" Cyborg exclaimed as the Half-Hydra's heads regarded him predatorily.

The Hydra wrapped around him seemed more concerned with trying to squeeze him to death than to bite him. Since that was simply not possible, he concentrated more on the one that had decided to try and eat him. Cyborg reached out and grabbed a handful of heads- which squawked in dismay as he crushed their necks. Cyborg regarded the handful of Hydra heads he held- if he simply tore them out…

…Cyborg grabbed another handful of heads- and began to tie the heads together. The Hydra's noxious hiss turned into a squeal of dismay, and it slithered backwards, heads jerking and spasming, trying to free themselves and only succeeding in tightening the knot. "Haha! Take that!" Cyborg exclaimed- and punched one of the heads of the Hydra wrapped around him. "Now get off me!"

The Half-Hydra did not obey. The other Hydra's squeals of dismay and frantic attempts to free itself made the Hydra wrapped around him even more infuriated. It squealed, coughing clouds of poisonous fumes in Cyborg's face, which made him cough, and then began to tighten its coils. The barbed tip of its tail tried to force its way under his metal armor and pry it up. Cyborg reached down to grab the monster's tail- and found that it was not coated with slime like the rest of the creature's vomit-yellow body.

He pulled as hard as he could manage on the tail- inertia opposed him, but the Hydra was not very strong. With a squeal of dismay, the Half Hydra's coils loosened- and slipped away entirely. Cyborg swung the Hydra around once, twice, and then sent it flying towards its companion. The hundreds of heads of the Half-Hydras squealed as they were both sent flying.

Cyborg was about to head after them- when he heard a tremendous crash. He turned towards the noise, only to find what looked like about a quarter of a building strewn across the street. Cyborg cautiously approached cautiously- the rock pile shook, and the Obsidian Gargoyle, now covered in cracks, burst out from beneath the rocks, shrieking its horrible cry.


Cyborg stared at it for a minute, and then punched it. His hit knocked a few fist-sized pebbles from the Gargoyle's hide, and sent the monster flying backwards into a car, denting the chassis beyond repair. With a snarl the Gargoyle stumbled back to its feet, and slowly approached.

The Hydras slithered in from the other side, beady black eyes burning with rage and humiliation. Next to Cyborg, Starfire slowly drew herself to her feet, her green eyes misty with pain. She looked up at Cyborg, confusion written across her features.

"Hey Star… want to trade?" Cyborg asked, pointing towards the vile Half-Hydras.

Starfire glanced back at the Gargoyle, which was impervious to her attacks, and nodded. "That seems the reasonable choice," she said shakily.

"Alright! Let's do this…"

Robin was trapped. He pushed himself as far back against the seat of the car as he could; watching as the Manticora dug around for him with one paw that was easily as big as the Boy Wonder's face. Those massive claws were even worse- Robin shuddered at the thought of what would happen if the Manticora did manage to get hold of him.

"Why are you hiding in there? Come out, come out…" purred the refined voice of the lion monster above him.

For one minute, the shadow of the Manticora moved away. And then, its powerful tail came lancing into the car. The stinger gashed an arm-length hole in the seat next to Robin's leg, and then withdrew. The scorpion tail lashed into the car again- landing just above Robin's head. Robin grabbed out to it.

The Manticora jumped backwards in surprising, dragging Robin up out of the car. The Manticora dropped its tail down in front of it's face. Robin dangled from the end, and the two stared at each other for a moment, neither one moving. "Well, aren't you clever," the Manticora growled.

"I try," Robin replied, and kicked the Manticora in the eye. The Manticora snarled, recoiling, and its tail shot backwards as well. Robin let go, jumping nimbly to the ground, and ran for cover as the enraged monster pursued. The monster's shrieks of rage seemed much more animalistic now- it was humiliated and insulted and wasn't going to let this little human get away with his tricks for any longer.

The Manticora was much faster than Robin- it swiped out with one massive paw, and its claws caught in Robin's cape, tearing it apart. Robin stumbled, and then fell- and as he went down he could see, at the top of his vision, something long and blue slipping towards him.

The Basilisk and the Manticora had both leapt at Robin at the same time- only Robin's fall had saved him from running straight into the Basilisk's opened mouth. Instead, he had fallen- and the Manticora and Basilisk came head to head. For one moment, the Manticora stared, stunned, at his ally's baleful red eyes…

…and then with a low growl he collapsed onto his side, unmoving.

The Basilisk gave a great, angry rattling hiss, and lowered its head towards Robin. Its vile breath baked the back of his neck…

"Hey! Over here!" Beast Boy shouted.

The Basilisk whipped its head to one side- but could see nothing. It hissed angrily at the distraction- but when it looked back down towards its prey, Robin had already disappeared. He had slid underneath a car, and watched the Basilisk's metallic scales scrape slowly over the concrete. A small green mouse ran up alongside Robin, and transformed back into Beast Boy- the changeling's eyes were red and slightly swollen. "So… uh… you have any ideas?"

"I might. What happened to you?" Robin asked.

Beast Boy looked uncertain for a minute, and then said glibly, "I got a little something in my eye. Now, come on! How do we beat this thing?"

Robin glanced once more towards the fallen Manticora, and then over towards the shifting scales of the Basilisk. "I have an idea…"     

~~~~~

The Sphinx glared down at Raven. "What? You say you have solved my last riddle already? You lie."

"Why would I lie?" Raven asked sharply. "I would still have to answer your riddle. You would know if I answered incorrectly."

"So, little girl?" The Sphinx spat, "what is the answer?"

"It is another word puzzle- another silly trick. The first half of the riddle has nothing to do with the answer at all. What- is your name. The answer is 'What'," Raven said, with a slight sneer.

The Sphinx rose up on her hind legs, lion paws rising to claw at the air. "What? Impossible! Impossible! You must have cheated! No one answers the riddles of the Sphinx!"

"But I have. And that means I can go free," Raven said. But the Sphinx's hold on her had yet to release- Raven's legs still felt like dead, leaden weights, her arms still would not move. And the dismayed expression on the Sphinx's face had turned to one of snake-like triumph.

"Does it?"

Raven glared steadily at the Sphinx, all the while struggling against the beast's powerful mental bonds. She could not escape the Sphinx's hold… struggling drained her reserves too quickly. Raven's head dropped in exhaustion.

"You still struggle… do you not know that it is impossible? I have far too much power for you…" The Sphinx growled, laughter ringing her terrible voice.

Slowly, Raven raised her head, and now her eyes burned with anger… but this anger seemed more purposeful then before.

"Everyone wants it…" Raven murmured, her voice barely a whisper.

"What?" The Sphinx hissed.

Raven choked on her words, and could only quietly force them from between her lips. "Everyone wants it, yet it belongs to a few, fewer still can use it… harm… comes to those who do…"


The Sphinx cackled. "I see you have a good memory!" It hissed… but looked somewhat disturbed. Raven felt the bonds around her loosen somewhat- when she spoke again, her voice no longer quavered helplessly in her throat.

"I have many feathers to help me fly. I have a body and head, but I'm not alive. It is your strength which determines how far I go. You can hold me in your hand, but I'm never thrown," Raven hissed.

"You ask the master of riddles a riddle? Arrow! Arrow is your answer," the Sphinx growled. Her menacing face grew closer, fangs glistening in the sterile light of the Titan's Tower.

"You hear it speak, for it has hard tongue. It cannot breathe for it hath no lung," Raven said, her voice becoming somewhat more desperate as her struggles against the Sphinx's mental bond proved fruitless.

The Sphinx was silent for a moment- an imperceptible moment in which Raven felt her tethers weaken enough that she could move. Raven dropped to her hands and knees on the ground- the Sphinx took a step backwards, looking slightly nervous, and Raven slowly drew herself to her feet. Already she could feel her strength returning as the Sphinx's faded.

"It is a bell… a bell…"

"Yes," Raven said, drawing herself to her full height. She glared down at the Sphinx, slightly rising herself from the ground. "What draws in all but has no claws, follows the crowd but never walks, and consumes all without a mouth?"

The Sphinx was silent. The mighty beast appeared to shrink before Raven's eyes. "I… I do not…"

The grin that now crossed over Raven's face was as horrible as the Sphinx's had been before, her eyes glowing harshly white. "The answer is Death!"

A blast of black telekinetic energy burst from Raven's hands, swept towards the Sphinx, eating into the mythical riddle queen. The monster was pressed up against the wall, engulfed, consumed… and when Raven finally dropped her hands, there remained nothing of the Sphinx left behind except for one long brown feather…

~~End part 4~~