Titans: Elemental

Chapter 58: Fractured, Part 2

We see Rancid's motorcycle! He is racing through the city, but a few starbolts from overhead force him into a bit of a course change. Starfire, Blackfire, Jack flying on a large rock with Rose and Bryan, Raven, and BB, as a pterodactyl ridden by Vic, are flying after him; he simply guns the engine and roars ahead, and they do likewise. After Rancid has rounded a corner, Vic leads the charge and stops BB near the street.

Vic, "Titans! Wha-?"

The clouds and beams are bearing down right on him, making the entire view waver in the brilliance.

The Titan's all get a close look at this!

Raven, "that can't be good."

Blackfire, "no it cannot!"

They are enveloped in the beams and dumped to the ground, one after another.

After all have slid to the ground, tumbled on the pavement, they soon open their eyes with groans and raise their heads.

The blurry view focuses. The city has become the sort of brightly colored crayon drawing that might be done by a kindergartner.

They all look in another direction, and we see another group of buildings in this style. A bird flies along, chirping happily, and a smiling flower stands near a fire hydrant. Starfire looks around the new architecture with complete befuddlement; a butterfly flits past, and Vic stands up.

Vic, "uh, why does the entire world look like it belongs on my grandma's fridge?"

Bryan looks at himself and sees that his arm looks like it's made of the area around them!

Bryan, "great, just when I had gotten used to this!"

A line of flowers marches past Raven.

Raven, "this is bad."

BB rushes back and forth, letting off a string of muffled cries and yells. The cause is revealed when he stops next to Raven: his mouth is missing.

Raven, "okay, so it's not all bad."

A storm cloud appears above his head as he glares angrily at her. With one swift yank, he pulls her mouth from her face and slaps it into his own. His next words are delivered with her voice and his inflection.

BB with Raven's voice, "will somebody please tell me what's going on?"

Jack, "don't ask me. I'm still trying to figure this out."

Raven mutely taps him on the shoulder and points upward as the sound of something falling toward them is heard. BB follows her gesture. Dick and Larry scream and drop straight towards BB and Raven. She takes an impossibly long step off to one side, but he is a bit slow on the draw. Finally, he yells, still with Raven's voice, and tries to run, but Dick and Larry crash down on top of him. Once the dust clears, Dick sits up and rubs his head; he and BB both groan, and Larry pops up.

Larry, "we're still alive! Yaaaay!"

A glob of spit shoots from his mouth and splashes into Dick's face, making that temple vein throb anew as he wipes himself clean.

Starfire, "Richard!"

The others rush over.

Vic, "what happened?"

Dick, "yeah. What happened? Larry…."

A small strawberry floats past the inter-dimensional visitor.

BB stands up with another woozy groan.

Larry, "'member how I can bend reality?"

BB staggers off.

Larry, "well, when you pushed me, we kind of broke it."

Dick, "you broke reality?"

Larry, "we did, together", Dick grabs him, "oops", he is yanked in close.

Dick, "fix it! Now!"

Larry holds up his sparking finger, "can't. Heh. Magic finger's broke, too."

He stitches on a placating smile, but it does no good. Dick carries him over to the others.

Dick, "Raven! Fix his finger!"

She has no immediate response, since her mouth has been commandeered. A quick look around shows Vic to be the closest Titan who still has one, so she tears it loose and installs it.

Raven with Vic's voice, "not a good idea."

A thought balloon pops up by her head, showing her with no mouth. During the next line, the following things happen. The balloon expands, and a plus sign appears along with Larry. It grows again, and an equals sign pops up followed by a mushroom cloud. He screams and both flee as the balloon evaporates.

Raven with Vic's voice, "mixing my powers with his could destroy the dimensional boundaries and nullify all existence."

Jack, "and don't even ask me to use my magic. I doubt a fire ball can fix this."

BB with Raven's voice, "who cares? I just want my mouth back!"

Larry pops up.

Larry, "no problem, no problem! If anybody can fix reality, it's my hero NightWing!"

Larry jumps over and gives Dick a big hug.

Dick, "what makes you think I can fix it? I don't even understand how we broke it!"

Vic swipes Starfire's mouth.

Vic with Starfire's voice, "well, somebody's gotta clean up this mess. Come on, y'all!"

The three borrowed mouths are quickly returned to their proper owners.

Vic, "we're heading for Titans Tower!"

He sets off down the street, followed by Raven, Jack, Rose, Bryan, (who was still staring at his drawn-on arm), and the mumbling BB. Dick stops to stare after them and is joined by Starfire and Blackfire.

Starfire, "Richard. You are feeling okay?"

Dick, "the universe is falling apart because I made another stupid mistake. How would you feel?"

Blackfire, "pretty crappy…."

Larry floats over, his finger heavily bandaged.

Larry, "hey, DNA buddy, look", he taps Dick's cast, "now we're cast buddies too!"

Dick says sarcastically, "yay."

….

We see a street in Jump City. The clouds and light float over a street, turning it to a simple, garish version of itself. Screams are heard, and soon, several panicked residents, their normal selves, are seen fleeing before a tank that rolls towards them. It rolls past, after which a fellow, dressed as the title character from Gilligan's Island, runs across the street and is chased by two angry dogs. More panic-stricken people run past Larry and the Titans. Their pursuer: an eight-foot tall guinea pig, standing on its hind legs and growling like a mad dog.

After the creature has run by, BB looks off in a certain direction and starts to flail his arms with a muffled scream. At a point down the street; the unaffected Tower stands in the distance, that shaft of white light still issuing from its roof as others lance down from the clouds.

Larry, "yaaaay", he climbs in Dick's ear, and peers out from his eye, "and I betcha Dick's already got a super, smart plan for what to do when we get there."

On the end of this, he forces his head into Dick's other eye.

Dick pulls Larry out with veins on his forehead, "I'm just hoping we get there before we all go completely insane."

Raven, whose hair now resembles that of the Bride of Frankenstein: standing straight up in an electro-shock bouffant, with lighter streaks up the side.

Raven, "ditto."

Jack slides up next to her, his eyes sparking blue as he said, "if we weren't in this situation, I'd say that look was kinda cute on you."

Raven smirked and said, "maybe I can dress like this for Halloween?"

This made Jack blush and grin.

Starfire walks up.

Starfire, "do not despair", wings sprout from her head, "our goal is in sight", it pops loose and flies up, "the journey cannot last much longer."

Her body jumps up and down, trying to catch the fluttering head. BB grunts and points down the street; we see several people in full retreat before a huge reptilian creature that comes out from behind a building, breathing fire and roaring as it stomps along. Planes fly past, and the group stares dumbfoundead; Starfire has seized her cranium.

Vic, "actually, this could take a while."

Rose, "a LOOOOONG while."

The entire block starts to rotate as if on the surface of a turning sphere, and a paper cutout of the sextet moves past, attached to the end of a stick. The green beast comes after them in like manner, after which the view shifts to a different area and individual cutouts flee in six different directions. Now seen as their three-dimensional selves, they rush down another street; BB ducks behind a lamppost to stay out of the monster's view. He is seen sweating profusely as a large drop slides down his temple, and he wipes his forehead and lets off a silent sigh.

Suddenly, the sound of chomping is heard from below. BB lets off a loud grunt as his eyes bug out; he steps aside from the post. Near its base, with a shred of his outfit caught in its teeth from the bite it just took, is his missing mouth. The entire pole gets up and runs back and forth, with the inarticulate Titan hot on its heels, and here come Larry and the rest of the Titans chased by the green monster.

The monster clumps along, the team are going flat out, and the view slides away to the left to be replaced by a close-up of their panicked faces. We then see them at the entrance to a tunnel, and pull back to show it at the top of a flight of stairs leading down to a subway station. They remain motionless and silent as the behemoth passes nearby on the street. Back to them.

Larry, "yaaaaaaaay!"

That yell brings the vein up on Dick's forehead. Five cats suddenly appear in front of the dumbstruck Titans. The grinning lamppost runs past, chased by BB, and the monster reaches down to rip the tunnel arch away, scaring the cats away and exposing the fugitives. The beast roars down at them!

….

We see Jack, Dick, Bryan, Vic, Rose, Raven, Blackfire and Starfire, all very scared, float slowly across the area from different angles; in front of these, the Titans and Larry run through and are chased by the beast. After all have gone, BB pops up and looks around. The post with his mouth steps into view at a distance and soon zips away again; he starts off after it.

As BB chases the post, the other's mad dash across the area behind him. The fleeing eight pass in front, at which point the green goofball and city fixture both stop in their tracks and gape. Down comes one scaly green foot in front of them; when it steps off, the post is gone. BB looks down, clapping hands to head in surprise. His mouth is now floating on a rivulet of water toward the sewer, and as it disappears beneath the street, he reaches vainly toward it. A moment later, the dejected Titan is yanked away by his buddies and Larry as they pass, keeping just ahead of that gigantic foot.

….

We see a boat at the water's edge. Everyone piles in and pushes off, leaving the monster ranting on land; a bottle containing a message floats past, followed by shark fin. Without any warning, the boat springs a leak and sinks very quickly.

A few moments later, underwater; one after another, they descend within large air bubbles, Starfire's head and body contained separately. A large whale swims past and swallows the entire group whole.

In its gut, Vic is first to put his head up, turning on his shoulder-mounted flashlight, and Bryan does the same with his glowing eye, and Dick, Jack, Rose, Blackfire, BB, Raven, and Starfire's body surface. Larry is carried up on the Tamaranean's winged head, which is still in a bubble.

….

Outside, near the floor of Jump City Bay. The whale swims contentedly by, but is brought up short when its hide starts to bulge due to a ruckus inside. It finally lets off a great belch, allowing everyone to escape: they have fought their way out, and the view dissolves to the exterior of the Tower, seen from water level. The structure and its island are still normal, and the shafts of light are still playing here and there from the clouds above.

Bryan and Vic climb onto dry land, followed by Raven and then Dick, and walk toward their home. Larry joins them after a second with Jack, Blackfire and Rose.

Larry, "yaaaay! We made it! Now Dick can save the universe!"

Rose whispered, "that sound dirty to anyone else?"

Bryan and Jack nodded while Blackfire was holding in a laugh.

Larry zips ahead; now BB steps up, clapping water from his ears as he approaches. He looks down and his eyes pop. His mouth has washed up on a rock. Carefully, he gets hold of it, looks it up and down, and sticks it back on his face, but the protruding lower tooth, which should be on the left side of his mouth, is on the right instead. He has put it on the wrong way. Behind him, Starfire walks past, gripping her head firmly.

Starfire, "Beast Boy, wonderful! You have recaptured your mouth!"

She puts herself back together and the wings above her ears disappear. The others have continued toward the Tower; a fish is now stuck in Raven's hair.

Raven, "yeah, but I think he put it on backwards."

His next words prove her right.

BB, "pelh! I t'nac dnatsrednu tahw m'I gniyas!"

They all step up to the door. A small hatch opens to reveal a panel beneath; Vic places a palm on it to be scanned, and the security system beeps a bit. This is followed by a large tongue protruding from the door to blow a loud raspberry at them.

Vic, "I knew something like that was gonna happen."

Bryan, "me too."

Rose, "same here."

BB, as a falcon, flies up toward the roof and is followed by everyone else in the merry band. Raven carries Dick, while Starfire is toting Vic, Blackfire hoists up Rose as Bryan rides on a floating chunk if Earth with Jack.

They get to roof level: BB comes in for a landing and reverts to human form, staring at the wide swath of radiance emerging from the concrete.

The others all walk forward.

Raven fiddles with her hair. It first turns into a turkey, then the Leaning Tower of Pisa and finally back to its normal style.

Jack, "glad to see that little number again."

Raven smirks at him.

During Raven's fiddling, BB says, "edud, I dluoc erats ta taht rof sruoh."

Vic, "so how do we close it?"

Bryan, "good question, since I want my normal arm back!"

"You don't!"

Everyone looks to see Rancid is there, climbing onto an equipment housing.

Rancid, "whatever this thing is, it controls the city. And now the city belongs to Johnny Rancid!"

On the end of this, his boots start pounding the concrete. He pushes off the edge of the housing and launches himself directly at the blinding vortex, his form fading partially away as he plunges. Dick rushes in.

Dick, "no!"

The fuzzy black outline straightens up and lets off a hearty roar as the surrounding light goes blood-red. The tower expands into a pillar of flame. On the roof, Larry and the Titans shield their eyes and then behold the motorcycle punk beginning to emerge from within the scarlet interior. His voice is now a couple of tones lower and significantly more menacing.

Rancid, "Bird-Boy!"

His shirt and tattoos are gone, the eyes have become fierce red points, and, he has grown considerably in both height and musculature.

Rancid, "ready for me to clip your other wing?"

He gives a menacing smirk.

We see the gaily colored section of the transformed Jump City. The area is hit by the wave that spreads to turn it into a dim, twisted, blighted nightmare metropolis under a blackly clouded sky. The fiery column is still raging on the roof.

Raven, "cool…. Uh, I mean, oops."

Jack, "big oops."

Bryan, "major oops."

Rancid strides toward them; his tattoos have reappeared and turned red, and a streak of this color has appeared in his hair.

Rancid, "your city is mine! Your reality is mine!"

Rose, "the one time we need the Justice League!"

Lightning strikes as Rancid laughs insanely. Reaching into his belt, he brings up a pair of jagged, curved blades and fires red bolts from their tips: a frighteningly potent alteration of the blasters he carried earlier.

Dick is the target, but Vic plows him away an instant before the shots hit the spot. An explosion goes up from the edge of the roof, and at its surface the two Titans slide across as a little debris bounces past.

Vic, "Titans! Go!"

Rancid has his hands outstretched, palms down, and energy streams from them to form a jumbo-size version of his original chopper, its headlight blazing. A quick hop puts him in the seat; he revs the engine, brings the craft around with a screech of tires, and charges straight at Raven, Bryan and Starfire. They scatter and he lifts off the roof, leaving a trail of flames in his wake.

Rancid, "come on, Bird-Boy! Let's see if you can fly!"

Vic runs up and raises his left fist. It launches off the arm, still connected to the wrist by a long cable, and the hand wraps all five fingers around the rear fender as a makeshift grappling hook. The line pulls tight and yanks Vic off the roof with a yell; he is dragged higher and higher, and Rancid levels one of his new weapons at the stowaway and fires. The blast snaps the connection and drops him screaming into the bay.

Blackfire and Starfire pitch a couple of high-energy sliders at the monstrous hoodlum, who is now riding fairly low above the water. He dodges their shots, grins maliciously back up at them, and sweeps the bike so low that his tires cleave the liquid. More swerving puts him in the clear from their next blasts, but they streak down after him and almost end up in the drink themselves. Rancid hocks up a wad of phlegm and spits it at the pterodactyl BB; it tumbles through the air, curves improbably, and splatters right into the beaked face. He plummets into the bay, very nearly crashing with the charging Starfire and Blackfire, and pokes his head up after she has passed. Back in human form, he spits out a mouthful of water.

BB, "kcuy! dicnar eigool!"

Having gained some altitude, Rancid dodges more starbolts and fires into the high clouds. The blast tears them open to send down a curtain of red lightning bolts;

The sisters very quickly find themselves wrapped up in the glowing tendrils and reeled up into the thunderheads. The rent seals itself, almost like a zipper being secured, and puts them out of sight. Rancid pulls into view just above the water, smiling wickedly back at the sight, but his face soon registers shock; ahead of him, Raven drops into view. With Jack right next to her on a chunk of Earth.

Raven, "you want dark? I'll give you dark! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Michael shoots a bolt of lightning at Rancid as Raven hurls a spell straight toward the foe, who grins and fires a sustained burst right back at them. The energies meet at a point between them and cancel out; Rancid's starts to overpower Raven's and Jack's, but the situation soon reverses itself.

Rancid powers the cycle and his beam ahead, forcing the couple to start backing up in order to keep from stopping both with their faces. As Rancid drives, his energy overwhelms the others and a huge explosion momentarily obscures all three. When it clears, he rides laughing toward the urban center and Raven and Jack splash down into Jump City Bay.

Putting their heads up, they try to fly away, but they are surprised at being unable to do so. The "water" has become some viscous, gluey liquid that resists their attempts to pull loose. In the city, a colossal fireball roars up among the buildings.

Dick and Larry are watching from the roof of the Tower. More explosions go off during the following lines.

Larry, "Titans go! Titans go! NightWing has to beat the bad guy!"

Dick, "I can't."

Larry, "but why can't you? You're NightWing!"

Dick, "don't you get it?! Look at me! I'll just mess it up again!"

Larry, "so? I mess up all the time, but I still try. That's how come you're my hero, Dick. Because no matter what, you always try."

These words set Dick thinking for a few seconds; he comes out of the reverie with a broad smile that Larry cheerfully returns.

….

We see Rancid in flight through the city; he unleashes bursts on the buildings and laughs at the destruction.

Rancid, "bam! Yeah! Gotcha! Yeah, take that!"

More laughter, which is suddenly cut off by something blue flashing past.

Rancid, "whoa! Huh?"

We see Dick's motorcycle, now also in midair. It is in proper working order, with Dick at the throttle and Larry riding the little scooter seen in the opening sequence. This is attached to Dick's bike.

Larry, "Larry fixed the bike!"

Rancid's jaw hangs slack for a second, a bit of drool oozing over it; a quick shake of the head brings him back to himself, and his face goes bright red with rage. His next line is delivered with enough force to shake the phone the writer is using to write this with!

Rancid, "yeah! And it's the stupidest thing I've ever seen!"

Dick, "have you looked in a mirror lately?"

Rancid's response is to bring the chopper around in a shrieking arc, ready to come right at them. Dick just yawns in a bored fashion and Larry leans back. This prompts an enraged growl from the gray sociopath, which is followed by Larry's giddy laughter. Now Rancid's growls intensify as his bloodshot eyes water and drool streams back through his teeth; he aims the front wheel straight at the pair, who simply float straight up and avoid a collision. The red-and-black bike comes around to a stop, leaving Rancid to watch Dick and Larry descend back to his level.

In a flash, the little imp is jumping out of his seat. He changes his outfit into that of a bullfighter, gold-trimmed red jacket, green hat and pants, and waves a small red cape. Thoroughly incensed by this provocation, Rancid snorts steam from his nose, snarls, and guns the engine. Just as he is about to mow the pair down, they rise away.

Larry, "Olé!"

He and Dick descend again; now back in his seat, he restores his normal clothing. A red blast lances between them, almost taking both heads off, and Larry screams as Dick cuts his wheel to one side and lays rubber out of there. The gun battle ranges all over the twisted buildings of Jump City; as Rancid bears down on the N-Cycle, Dick whips out a wingding and lets fly. It whizzes past the red-and-black-haired madman.

Rancid, "ha! You missed!"

The projectile continues on its trajectory a bit longer, then doubles back. We sew Rancid, weapon at the ready, but a flash of the flying blades slices it apart in his hand.

Rancid, "huh?"

The severed piece tumbles toward the streets far below, sparking a fresh wave of hatred that makes him rev his engine and speed ahead. He pulls even with Dick and steers into him; knocked away, Dick and Larry drive around a building and pull back in. This time, Larry screams in terror as the two choppers lock fenders. Just in time, the motorcycles separate and go around a structure on opposite sides, then ram into one another again once they are clear.

Rancid lifts one red-crackling hand and shoves it into Dick's face; Larry counters with a shout and a blast from his magic finger. This shot strikes Rancid's hair, covering it with a mass of flowers and making him yell in surprise, but he quickly shakes the blooms loose. Now Dick brings up one steel boot sole for a kick that goes squarely into the crazed biker's jaw; he and his wheels are knocked loose from the N-Cycle and pushed down.

Dick and Larry drive on, keeping an eye or four out for Rancid. No sign of him, but then that garish chopper roars up behind, tracing a spiral of flames in the night sky.

Rancid, "you can't beat me! You're just a stupid, little, kid!"

His throttle wide open, Dick pulls out a grappling hook and fires upward. The line snags on an elevated railroad track, and as he passes underneath, he lets the N-Cycle go and swings over the structure. Rancid zooms underneath, after which the Titan comes hurtling down with a feral yell and an extended boot. The enemy has just enough time for one panicked look over his shoulder before the steel toe finds his jaw and nearly removes it. The abandoned motorcycle tumbles behind them.

Larry, meanwhile, has gone into free fall, and his extended finger pounds into Rancid's face. There is a mighty flash, which clears to show the area of the midair battle; the thug plummets from here and has a very painful meeting with the centerline of the street. The impact sends up thick clouds of dust and smashes a deep crater in the pavement; when it clears, Rancid sits up groaning, back to his normal self, as Dick and Larry bring the N-Cycle down to hover nearby.

Dick, "so, Johnny, what's it like having your butt kicked by a stupid little kid?"

Rancid stares incredulously up at them for a moment, then faints with a final groan.

We see several panicked residents as an enormous, pudgy, green-gloved arm with a glowing index finger rises: Larry's injury is healed. The digit stands over the city and swivels like a lighthouse to cover the entire area; a flash of yellow, and Jump City is back to normal. Morning has come.

We later see the shore of the Tower. Its light vortex is gone, and the Titans are all together.

Vic, "ahhhh. Back to reality."

Vic has reattached his left hand.

Bryan is cradling his robotic arm as Rose pats his back.

Starfire, "everything looks so joyous and wonderful!"

Raven, "yeah. Any chance we could change it back?"

Blackfire, "yeah, it looked pretty cool."

Jack, "don't worry, there's always Halloween."

Larry twirls into view, riding Percy with a cowboy hat!

Larry, "see, Dick? We fixed everything! Yaaaay!"

BB, "olleh! Od I dnuos dexif ot uoy?"

Larry, "um…. That'll just wear off, sooner or later."

Bryan, "let's hope it does."

Dick, "thanks, Larry. But before you head back home, how about fixing my arm?"

Larry, "another chance? Really? Even though I might mess up?"

Dick, "just give it your best shot."

Larry, "yeah!"

He points the magic finger straight ahead….

…. We see Dick with a white ground behind him. The cast on his arm glows and disappears.

Dick, "it's perfect! Larry, you did it! Uh…."

He stands up. There is absolutely nothing around him: no Tower, no Jump City, no fellow Titans, and certainly no Larry.

Dick, "Larry?"

The little guy's healing did not bend or break the rules of reality, it threw them out the window, and wiped reality itself off the map in the bargain.

Dick, "Larry?"

Larry, "oops…."

Needless to say, it took the writer of this story a little while to fix THIS problem….

….

Reviews:

Canadude2029: yeah, he is a little annoying. I much prefer Batmite. I don't hate him though.

Bailey Radcliff: thanks.

pokemonking0924: glad youliked the chapter. Maybe I'll add that in.

DaV1nc136: I'm glad you found so much joy in this chapter.

….

A goofy episode to put in-between the darkness that is the Judas Contract storyline.

Note: in the comics, Azar was the leader of the temple in which Raven was brought up during her childhood in Azarath.