Chapter 21: Doppelganger
Writer's note: As you may have noticed, Jack Djinn, aka Asphyxiation, is Australian. Hence, I will be using a whole bunch of Australian slang. If you get confused on exactly what he's saying, use this handy guide.
www.australiatravelsearch.com.au/trc/slang.html
Now let us begin, shall we? We got us a fight in the big smoke brewing…
Robin had a funny feeling Asphyxiation was not a coward.
Which is why he was very surprised when the man known as Jack Djinn had run away after lashing his energy strand talent, a red-coloured version of the Shimmer called the Grimmer, once. Not wanting to let him get away, the Titans had pursued him with great fervor, across the water and into Jump City.
It wasn't until later that Robin realized he wasn't running. He was luring.
With a fancy flip, Asphyxiation leapt off the roof he was on, landing on the concrete as the Grimmer shot out of his hand and broke his fall (indeed, he would have never jumped out the window back at that tower if he couldn't do that. But he had learned all sorts of tricks that his new talent could perform. Including choking women in a truly delightful way, but he could dwell on that joy later).
A car honked at him. Snorting, Asphyxiation (from here on called Jack) threw out a Grimmer strand, wrapping it around the car and throwing it through the air like a toy. The occupants screamed as they flew, and then stopped as they found their car encased in black energy. Jack smirked and turned to look back at the Titans, Raven setting the car down as the occupants got out and ran for their lives.
"Took you long enough, children. Guess you have enough can-do spirit after all. Now let's have ourselves a good barney, shall we?" Jack said
"Barney? What, you're going to call a purple dinosaur to fight us?" Beast Boy said.
"Ah man, it figures you yanks don't know any Strine! And they called me a nong." Jack said in exasperation.
Behind Jack a large pickup truck honked its horn as it was forced to stop due to Jack standing in its path. Looking annoyed, Jack turned and looked at the truck.
"Man, you blokes are starting to make me spit the dummy." The Grimmer lashed out, ramming into the truck and caving in its front before it sent the truck crashing and flipping off down the road before it smashed into two other cars. It was about then that people realized that something bad was happening and ran away, leaving their cars and anything else behind.
"Now, shall we get on with it?" Jack said, smirking.
Furious at Jack's flagrant disregard for human life, the Titans charged. Jack smirked and smashed the Grimmer into the ground, and the Titans scattered as he ripped it out from under them, sending them sprawling as they were pelted with chunks of concrete.
"C'mon kiddies! Av-a-go-yer-mug!"
"I've got your barney right here, MATE!" Beast Boy yelled as he turned into a T-Rex, stampeding at Asphyxiation. Jack just smirked again and held up his arm, the Grimmer spinning out and forming into a crude hand shape that Jack lashed out, slamming it against the side of Beast Boy's head. To the Titans' shock, Beast Boy actually staggered from the impact, and then Jack whipped the Grimmer about as its "fingers" coiled into a "fist" and rammed into Beast Boy's head, knocking him backwards and onto his back, his tiny forearms he possessed as a T-rex flailing almost comically.
Starbolts exploded at Jack's feet, and he yelled and leapt away with the Grimmer, only to leap into a Robin jump kick. He hit the ground, using the Grimmer to roll and spring up.
Raven ripped a fire hydrant out of the ground and threw it at Jack, but Jack caught it with the Grimmer and threw it right back at her. Then he yelled as Cyborg's sonic cannon blasted him.
"Man, I thought I'd heard some loud earbashers but you lot take the cake!" Jack snapped as he formed a Grimmer shield. Cyborg continued to barrage the barrier, at least until spikes formed on it and it thrust out at him like it was attached to a spring, ramming him against a wall even as a spike pierced through his lower stomach. He fell down, groaning and holding the injury.
"Cyborg!" Robin said.
"Didn't hit anything vital…get him!" Cyborg said. Robin nodded and spun, whipping three metal disks at Jack's head. Three strands of the Grimmer caught them and then formed into a sling-shot, shooting them back at Robin. Robin, by then, had whipped out his staff, and he did his own blocking act as he stopped all three.
"Impressive mate."
The Grimmer lashed out at insane speed, slamming into Robin and throwing him across the street.
"Not so impressive."
Screaming, Starfire dove out of the sky and slammed her fist across Jack's face, sending him flying. But the Grimmer reached out and caught a nearby telephone pole, and Jack spun around it and flew back, ramming his feet into Starfire's face and sending her crashing into a car. Jack landed, chuckling, and then dodged aside as Beast Boy, in the form, of all things, a crocodile, snapped at him.
"Wow, look at this psycho murderer we have here today folks! Real beauty! Today, I'm gonna catch him and chew on him some!" Beast Boy in his own (terrible) Australian accent as he snapped at Jack again. Jack dodged again, now looking angry.
"Oh you're heading up shit creek without a paddle now, larrikin!" Jack snapped, as Grimmer strands lashed out and tied Beast Boy's mouth shut before they lifted him up. "I figured one of you blokes would make a Steve Irwin joke. Let me show you what I'd like to do to him!"
And Jack began violently shaking Beast Boy, much like an abusive father would shake a baby who would not stop crying. Such an attack was both dangerous and extremely disorienting as Beast Boy's brain literally rattled around in his skull, trying to form a coherent thought.
Raven smashed a mailbox against Jack's back, and the killer staggered. Beast Boy finally broke out by turning into a mouse, and then once again turned into a T-Rex, roaring as he lifted a leg to stomp on Jack.
Jack leapt back, avoiding the stomp and throwing out the Grimmer strand. It spun around Beast Boy, wrapping him up. Raven's eyes widened.
"No…"
And then Jack LIFTED Beast Boy up. And not like Noel. Noel, in his testing periods with the other Titans, could barely lift Beast Boy when he was in such a large form, and only for a few seconds. Jack not only lifted Beast Boy, he did so with ease, and then in an even more horrible feat of strength, he turned and threw Beast Boy like he was a rag doll. Beast Boy went crashing into and through the side of a building, now thankfully empty of people who had run away when the fight started.
"Irwin's a wombat. I'm a true blue walloper." Jack said in satisfaction. Then he ducked as Robin swung his staff over his head and turned…
Right into a Starbolt. He flew backwards, as Raven helped Cyborg lift a car and smashed Jack with it like a baseball bat. Jack slammed into a brick wall so hard it nearly collapsed on him, and he fell to his knees.
The Titans assembled as Jack, breathing heavily, got up to his feet.
"Well well, you ankle biters can actually put up a fight. But if you think I'm up a gum tree, you are mistaken." Jack said, and then he smirked as he removed his gloves.
"The gloves are off, mates." Jack said, as he shrugged his long red coat off. Jack cracked his knuckles on both hands, his well-muscled forearms flexing, and then he held both his arms out on either side of him.
A Grimmer strand flew from his right hand.
And from his left hand.
"Ohhh, impressive. But we've seen that trick." Robin said.
"Guys, what you've seen was Noel splitting up his talent…Jack's not doing that. He's manifesting a new one." Raven said grimly. Robin glanced at her.
"You mean…?"
"I think from my observations I can say that his talent is far stronger then Noel's." Raven said.
"Well observed, pretty birdie." Jack said, as the Grimmer energies swirled and formed into twin swords. Swords that were ten feet long. "Now let's dance for real."
Jack swung one of his Grimmer swords at the group, and they leapt backwards to avoid the insane range the weapon had. To swing something so large so quickly would require incredible strength…unless the weapon was composed of an energy you could alter at your leisure. Jack swung at them again, missing once more, and the Titans attacked. But strands of the Grimmer peeled off from the swords and lanced into the ground, and then they threw Jack into the air as he spun like a top. The Titans scattered as he shredded the side of a building, wreckage raining down around him as he landed.
Cyborg fired his cannon, but Jack dodged aside and nailed Cyborg with a Grimmer-bludgeon. Beast Boy charged in as a rhino, but Jack tripped him up and then threw him into another wall. He snapped the strand back and began whipping them around him at high speeds, digging gorges in the ground and nearby walls as he drove back the Titans. Raven threw a car at him with her telekinesis, but he just smashed it aside.
Robin flipped over, throwing a heat disc. Jack, as he expected, whipped it, causing it to explode in his face. He recoiled, and Robin pole-vaulted over to him and kicked him in the face. But Jack went with the impact and flipped backwards, the Grimmer anchoring him to the ground as he flipped back and kicked an attacking Starfire in the face, and then pulled himself back to punch Robin. Robin did a roundhouse and Jack dodged aside and drove his fist into Robin's side, using the Grimmer to heighten the impact. Robin gasped, and then Jack leveled him with another punch.
"ROBIN!" Starfire screamed, flying in as her eyes glowed bright green. Jack flipped away from her Starbolt barrage and lashed out, wrapping one of the Grimmer strands around her. Robin's eyes widened as he grabbed a car with the other one and smashed Starfire through the window of it, and then, even as she screamed, grabbed both ends of the car and crushed it like a tin can around her. He dropped the wreck to the ground, laughing.
"YOU BASTARD-UGH!" Robin screamed as Jack turned around and rammed him into a brick wall.
"Don't yak during the blue, mate. Makes you look like a wally. And suffer their fates."
"YAHHHHHHH!" Cyborg yelled as he charged at Jack from behind. Jack dodged aside and then Raven smashed some chunks of rubble into him. He went down, cursing, as he snapped the Grimmer strands at her. But she melted into the shadows, and he missed. A second later Cyborg blasted him with his sonic cannon again
"Enough of that. I've had it with feeling the noise." Jack said, as he snapped out one Grimmer strand and grabbed Cyborg, and then turned the other one into a buzzsaw that lowered and sawed off Cyborg's right arm at the elbow. He screamed, and then Jack twisted him and drove the buzzsaw into his left shoulder, cutting off his other arm as well.
"Farewell to arms, indeed." Jack said, and threw Cyborg across the street, oil and other spraying in his wake.
A giant tail, with a knob of bone the size of a motorcycle, swung at Jack's side, and he barely managed to get a Grimmer shield up before it drove him into a wall. Beast Boy had become a lesser known, heavily armoured dinosaur known as the Ankleosaurus, for protection. And it proved well as Jack threw the wreckage off himself and, forming a huge hammer, rammed the Grimmer down on Beast Boy's back. The armour took the blow, and Beast Boy charged, swinging his tail. He smashed the ground where Jack had been standing as he leapt away and then almost caught him in mid-air.
"On ya mate, but you forgot one thing…" Jack said as he landed, and then lanced the Grimmer strands into the ground. Beast Boy's eyes widened, and he tried to move, but he had too much bulk as the Grimmer erupted from underneath him, hitting him with so much force he was flipped over onto his back.
"Hard on top means soft on bottom." Jack said, as the Grimmer hooked into a battered skyscraper side and yanked, pulling tons of rubble down on Beast Boy.
"And then there was one." Jack said as he turned to look at Raven. "You know, pretty birdie, it was hard finding enough women who looked just like you, but hey, accuracy is always something I prided myself on. No sense framing someone if you don't do it as best you can."
"You bastard…I'll break you in half for what you did!" Raven yelled, as she threw up her arms. "AZARATH…" Cars began floating up around her. "METRION…"
"Sheila, I ain't bushed yet. I can react." Jack said, and threw out more Grimmer strands that latched onto the vehicles that Raven had levitated up. Raven's eyes widened, and then Jack rammed the cars together. Raven flew up as they crashed where she had just been.
"SURPRISE!" Jack yelled, as he pulled himself up with the Grimmer and over to Raven, right before he let her have it across the face. Raven flew down and bounced along the ground from the impact.
"After all the fakes, wonder what…" Jack said.
Robin's staff rammed against Jack's back. Robin didn't give the lunatic a chance to react: he kept pummeling him as Jack staggered and then fell on his face. Robin lifted the end of the staff and drove it into the ground, but the Grimmer slid Jack along the road like a snake and Robin missed before Jack kicked him in the back. Getting to his feet, Jack formed the Grimmer into eight mace-like weapons and pounded Robin off his feet and into the ground, ripping off his utility belt when he tried to retrieve something from it.
"Not a bad effort mate." Jack said as he retrieved Robin's staff. A quick flex of the Grimmer snapped it in half.
As the other Titans lay in their own ruined states around him, Jack picked up Robin and looked into his bloody and battered face.
"I measure every man I meet, and you have failed to measure up, mate." Jack whispered. "This is not a world in which you can beat me."
Jack reared back his fist.
And the crushed car exploded as Starfire came screaming out, lancing at Jack. Jack dropped Robin and dodged aside as she flew past him.
"Still got some fight in you?" Jack said as he whipped out a Grimmer strand.
Starfire turned, charging twin Starbolts…
And Jack swung the car out, slamming it across Starfire like it was a toy. Starfire flew back from the impact, bouncing off the wall as Jack swung the car up and brought it slamming down on Starfire, driving her into the ground and driving the car in after her.
For a few seconds, there was silence, and then the top of the ruin car glowed red hot before Starfire exploded out of the top…
And then Jack rammed the minivan down on top of her, smashing her back down and crushing her between both cars before the gas tanks exploded, bathing Jack in heat as shrapnel flew past him.
He brushed his shirt off and started walking, leaving Robin behind. He didn't have to walk far to find what he wanted: Starfire's battered and nearly unconscious body.
"On second thought, I'm gotten sick of brunettes. Let's try a redhead."
The Grimmer snapped out, wrapping around Starfire's throat and lifting her up as it cut off her air. Starfire's eyes went wide, and she began clawing at the Grimmer, gagging as her windpipe was closed and began to be crushed.
"You shouldn't have rejected me, pretty birdie. You shouldn't have rejected me." Jack said as he gazed into Starfire's terrified eyes, even as blood vessals began to burst in the pupils as the pressure…
"Hey!"
Jack's ear pricked up at the new voice.
"I hear you Australians think being cut up is bad!"
A green pair of giant scissors suddenly appeared in front of Jack, and before he could react the blades closed on the Grimmer strands, cutting them. Starfire collapsed, gasping for air, as Jack screamed in agony and fell to his knees, jerking like he was having a fit.
"Scream all you want, "Mate". I'm just getting warmed up." Green Lantern said as he flew in, holding his ring out as another pair of scissors formed and cut the Grimmer strand still hanging from Jack's hands. Jack screamed again and threw himself on the ground.
"Arrrgggghhhhhh! AHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD! I'M SO BAD AT THIS!" Jack screamed.
Green Lantern's eyes widened. What?
And then a Grimmer strand flew out of the window of the building behind Lantern, lashing out and around him. Jack had put his hand on the ground to hide the strand as it went into the ground and out towards, and then up, through the building, before it had emerged from the window, with one target in mind.
Green Lantern's ring.
"Sucker."
The coils wrapped around the ring and pulled it off before Lantern could mount a defense. Instantly, all of Kyle Rayner's powers turned off, and he would have fallen had Jack not caught him with the other main Grimmer strand.
"Sorry. You thought that would hurt me, right? Well sorry, that's a weakness that seems to only apply to my lesser. Next time, do your research. Now rack off." Jack chuckled, and then threw Kyle Rayner through the window behind him, sending him crashing through office furniture before he hit a wall and was knocked silly.
Jack withdrew his strand, looking at the ring. He pondered putting it on for a second, then decided not to. Might be booby-trapped, and besides, there was nothing the ring could do that he couldn't. He tossed it away and then turned back to the Titans, who had recovered a bit and were trying to get up. He smirked and used the Grimmer to form an energy scythe.
"Which one first? Two very pretty birdies…" Jack said.
Then he heard someone landing behind him. He stopped, and then dispelled the scythe as he turned around.
"What-da-ya-know! I didn't think you were going to make it mate. Thought I was going to miss you." Jack said.
Savior looked around at the carnage Jack had wrought, and his teeth clenched.
"Why?"
"Why do people do anything?" Jack said. "They just do. Life's short mate, you have to do what you can to survive and to have some fun. But this is a revelation that too many people seem to find as scary as a horde of creep-crawlies. Not me. I do what I want, and I enjoy it. Life has given me gifts, and to that I am grateful."
Jack's grin faded.
"But I don't like other people horning in. And I certainly don't like some wog stealing my powers! I am Jack Djinn, only I! Life chose me to become like this! It didn't choose you!"
"You get sprayed with paint and then something else in New York?"
"What does it matter?"
"Oh it does."
"No it doesn't. This isn't about me, mate. This is about you. You stole my talent. You went on TV and proclaimed yourself to be the one. No kid, you're not. You're just a fraud, a wanna be. I'm the real deal. I am the true blue one! Not you. And for your blasphemy, you had to pay. Killing you would be too easy…but framing you? Heh. My mum always told me I was an idiot. Shows what she knew. I have plenty of brains, and I know enough about how you mates are so easy to trick. I thought making your friends turn on you and then presenting you with their heads would learn ya. But…I am not without flexibility." Jack said, as he cracked his neck.
"You're not special. You're sick."
"What does it matter? I love my life. And I'll love it more when you're gone. There is only one dinki-di here, and it's me." Jack said. "I am Asphyxiation. Who the hell are you?"
Savior and Asphyxiation stared at each other. Savior's hands curled into fists as he looked at Jack's cocky grin.
"I'm Savior."
"Yeah, right. Save them, mate? You won't even be able to save yourself."
"Whatever happens, happens. But I know one thing: this ends tonight, and it ends HERE!" Savior yelled, and charged.
Jack smirked.
"Guess you're a few sandwiches short of a picnic as well as being an inferior. Hooroo, mate." Jack said, and broke into his own run, as the two of them snapped out their perspective energy powers, the strands leaping and snapping around them.
"Noel…" Raven said as she pulled herself to her feet. "It's up to you. If you don't beat him tonight…tomorrow may never come…"
The two crashed into each other. It was time for the superior to be decided.
In the next chapter, we'll learn of Jack's origin, and we'll see which one in the end is truly fit to call himself the king of the castle…
Beware Noel. You can't overpower him. You can't outfight him. You can't outsavage him. All you can do is use your righteous cause and the will that makes you a hero…
But what if that's…not enough…
To Be Concluded