Chapter 26: Hellhole
Once, in a moment of foolishness that would have been considered unparalleled had it been done by something other then the human race, a group of Satanists, truly believing their creed, tried to sacrifice a woman called Arella to bring their lord to Earth. They failed, but in a way succeeded, as Trigon came in his stead.
Why Trigon took Arella as his bride was never truly known, except that it surely involved the desire for more power. Arella, tricked into the union by Trigon taking the form of a handsome man, soon learned of the truly demonic nature of Trigon, and was on the brink of suicide before karma decided to repay her. As an extradimensional demon had fathered her child, an extradimesional peace cult came to her rescue. Centuries ago, they had forsaken life on Earth to pursue their own nonviolent lifestyle, and they aided Arella by taking her to the mystical world known as Azarath. There, Raven was born.
And since then, her body and soul had been in a war between Trigon's evil and her adopted home's peace and love. Battles had been fought, some at terrible cost, in order to protect Raven from her dark birthright, and the people of Azarath had taught Raven to keep her emotions, the strongest link between her and her father, under as firm a command as possible, to the point where she had to be dead inside. Such a thing is truly hard when you are a human, with all the flaws they possess. When you are also a teenager, the difficulty is magnified even more. But Raven, in Azarath, and later with the Teen Titans, fought her evil side with all the power she could bring to bear.
Do not mourn her failure. It was, in a way, inevitable. Instead, mourn the Titans, and the world, if they fail where Raven could not succeed.
It was Raven's destiny. She was truly born of hell and borne to hell.
Pray that is not the fate of the Titans.
It was worse then Robin thought. They had been too late: Raven had fallen to the darkness within her, and had torn the barriers between this world and the Nether-verse wide open, freeing her father.
Cyborg and Beast Boy had spoken of how they had traveled inside Raven's mind and fought Trigon. But, Raven had later explained, that had not been the true demon lord. It had been Raven's anger, manifesting itself in the form that aroused her rage the most: her father.
This was the real Trigon, and Robin had a feeling the imitation Cyborg, Beast Boy, and the now-lost-to-them Raven had fought would prove to be a pale one indeed, in terms of power and ferocity.
Trigon was certainly doing his best impression of his Raven Rage Form, as he roared, clutching his eyes. The orb-gun should not have been able to do him any harm, but he had been focusing his efforts on the fireball he had been planning to throw and had been left slightly vulnerable. Though, in the end, all Robin had done was made him angry.
"IMPUDENT CHILDREN!" Trigon roared as he pulled his hands away from his eyes. "HOW DARE YOU! I SHALL BURN…"
Trigon stopped in mid-yell, apparently realizing something.
"Are they worth it father?" Raven said, floating next to Trigon's head.
"No. They are lessers, not even worthy of my wrath. I shall deal with them appropriately…" Trigon growled. "FOR THIS WORLD IS MINE NOW! BOW DOWN BEFORE MY FURY!!!!!!!!"
Red and black lightning crackled on Trigon and they exploded outward, washing over the T-Tower. The Titans gaped at the structure was turned to black stone, twisting around into a more vicious shape, as the sky around him rent and turned crimson, and the water suddenly boiled and turned to a sea of rot. The air was filled with a terrible stench, as Trigon tainted the world around him into proverbial hell.
That didn't worry the Titans. What worried them were the new forms that joined Trigon, crawling up from his feet and coming through rips in reality that had opened. Things from the nightmares the Titans had had when they were young, the dark sides of their imaginations come to life.
"Ripley said it best. My mommy always said there were no monsters." Savior said, in a tone that indicated his "mommy" had been proven wrong and he wasn't happy about it.
"Robin…" Starfire said, her voice growing fearful.
"Don't panic Star. We're not totally helpless. Ok guys, here's what we do. Noel and I got weapons that can hurt demons. Here Cyborg, take this." Robin sad, pulling the axe out of the sack and handing it to him. That was all he got to do as Trigon laughed, his hordes swarming around him.
"ATTACK!" he bellowed, and the legions swarmed forth, shrieking horribly.
"Geez! What do I do with it!?!" Cyborg yelled.
"You see the sharp end? Aim it at the bad things!" Robin said, tossing Savior the orb gun and rummaging through the sack.
A demonic flying reptile-esque creature dived at them, screaming. Savior jammed his hand into the device, finding the hidden trigger, as he aimed and fired. Blue power crackled in the orbs and then fired out through the gun, blowing the creature in half.
"Like I said, these are all specially designed to kill demons! Star, here!" Robin said, tossing Starfire the bow. Starfire took it with some confusion.
"Where are the projectiles?" she asked.
"There are none! You have to…!"
What looked like a lion, except its mane was composed of sharpened bone, ran at the Titans, roaring. Starfire shrieked, and then Cyborg attacked it with his axe, chopping deeply into the side and sending it flying away. Black blood splattered on the ground. Another one attacked, and Cyborg brained it with the axe, leaving its corpse at his feet.
"I could get used to this." He said.
"Here Noel, you can have more then one set of limbs with the Shimmer, take the daggers and…" Robin said, handing Noel the daggers.
"Yeah, and Robin, you take the Fang." Savior said, handing Robin the special sword.
"What? Noel, why?"
"You're the one of us with the most weapons training. Try to see if you can wound Trigon in any way! Maybe we can hurt him with the other weapons if you wear him down some!" Savior lied. He knew what it would take, but he couldn't tell Robin.
"Ok! Beast Boy, you get the claws! Turn into something that can use them!" Robin said, handing Beast Boy the last of the holy weapons.
"Incoming!" Cyborg said, and then a crush of humans (well, humans with skin the colour of flayed flesh and eyes and mouths that were sewn shut) attacked, moaning and clawing at the Titans with rotting fingers.
"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled, as he leapt out of a pincer movement and flipped away. He was about to start swinging when he saw what looked like a floating black cloth with twin glowing orbs within its "head" nearby.
Cyborg hacked down a zombie, but the creature raised his arms and the zombie immediately got back up. Beast Boy, in gorilla form, did the same with the clawed gloves he was wearing, but the zombies got right back up when he raised his arms. Oh no you don't!
Robin charged, leaping over another bone-mane creature and leaping up, swinging…
And then a blue blast struck the cloth creature, tearing it to shreds with a wail of surprise. Robin stopped as best he could in mid-leap and fell, landing and rolling. He turned back. The zombies had collapsed, their strings cut.
"Hey, he was mine!" Robin yelled at Savior, who lowered his gun
"Sorry, I didn't see your name…LOOK OUT!" Savior yelled, pointing. Robin turned around to see a creature that was nearly 12 feet tall and composed all of muscle charging at him. He gulped.
"Savior, how do I use this?" Starfire said, flying away from a bat monster and landing next to Savior.
"Damn, what did Robin say? I think you have to focus your Starbolts through…would you lean back for a second?" Savior said. Confused, Starfire leaned back, and Savior aimed the orb-gun over her body and blew a hole through the chest of the spindly bone-esque creature that had been sneaking up behind her.
"Focus? How?"
"THAT, he wasn't so specific on." Savior said, and then yelped as what looked like giant slugs suddenly crawled out of the ground beneath him. He pulled himself away with the Shimmer and thrust two more strands holding the daggers down into the creatures. They screamed, despite lacking any kind of a mouth.
"HAH-AH!" Cyborg bellowed as he drove his axe deep into the gut of a charging demon and then spun and threw the axe through the air, catching what looked like a floating head with spider mandibles the size of a car in the forehead. It staggered and then Cyborg blasted it with his sonic cannon, blowing it into pieces. He ran and caught the axe, and then decapitated three things that looked like vampires that had been dipped in green paint. Gore splattered him, but he ignored it as he raised his cannon and blew a giant bat out of the air.
"Yeah! Whose the man!" Cyborg whooped.
And then what looked like a cross between a minotaur and a eagle came flying down, clawing at him. Cyborg was knocked down, nearly dropping the axe as the creature leapt on top of him, clawing and biting.
Roaring, Beast Boy ran in, wearing the gloves (they seemed to be able to change size as he changed form) in a bear form as he ripped into the monster's side. It screamed, pulling away from Cyborg as it tried to get at Beast Boy. But Beast Boy dodged aside, turning into an Utahraptor and jumping on the creature's back, clawing at its head.
Starfire jumped back, blowing a few bat creatures out of the air with her Starbolts before she looked at the bow again. She couldn't figure out how to use it! How did it work!
The recoil of the orb-gun Savior was using wasn't much, but a bad angle did him in and made him lose his grip. A bone-mane creature leapt, knocking him down, but before it could rip his throat out Savior jammed both the daggers he had into the creature's eyes. The creature howled and began to thrash, but Savior pushed it away with the Shimmer as he twisted and shoved the daggers in as hard as he could. The creature finally dropped away, dead, and Savior started getting up, heading for the gun again.
Another creature leapt at him. Savior wasn't going to let him get as close, but he couldn't reach the gun. He could, however, reach one of the vials that had been in the small case that Robin had prepared, which had been tucked into his jacket and then forgotten when the battle started, and in a flash a Shimmer strand pulled the vial out, uncorked it, and threw the liquid within in the demon's face. It reacted like it had been sprayed with acid, and as it fell away Savior ran over and grabbed up his gun, firing a blast into the monster that finished it off.
"What the…" he said, pulling out another vial. The liquid just looked like water.
And the monster attacking him bore an eerie similarity to a Cacodemon from the Doom games. Savior threw the vial and it shattered on the demon, and once again the creature reacted violently. Twin Shimmer strands drove the daggers through the creature, and Savior threw the body aside. He pulled out another vial. He knew what it was now.
"Holy water." He said. Clichéd as it was, it seemed to work. He tucked the vial into his jacket pocket and began his battle in earnest.
Robin had been planning to use a hit and run attack. He'd give the giant in front of him a small wound, back off, give him another, back off, and hopefully frustrate the creature into making a mistake he could take advantage of. At least, that has been the plan until he had performed his first slash.
The giant creature howled as he slashed it with the Fang, and Robin leapt back to dodge the counter attack. But there was no counter attack. Instead the monster clutched the wound and screamed again.
And Robin saw that the flesh was burning up, power radiating out from the wound and turning the tissue to ash. Within a few seconds the demon's whole midsection disintegrated, leaving the creature helpless and screaming as it ceased to exist.
And Robin realized just how powerful the sword was.
A monster swinging a spiked club at him was charging. Robin dodged aside and stabbed the Fang in. The creature bellowed in pain as the same thing happened, the sword burning away the demon flesh like it was nothing.
Robin revised his battle strategy. He pulled out twin smoke bombs and threw them into a horde of monstrosities, and then he charged in, swinging and chopping. The beasts fell before him like grain before a scythe.
Trigon was unhappy.
He had expected his demon legions to have torn the children to pieces by now. But something was wrong. The children seemed prepared, and they were using weapons that bothered him. Where had they gotten them? He certainly didn't think they'd had them lying around, just in case of something like this happening.
In any case, he was annoyed. Greatly annoyed. The leader seemed to have something even better then the others, as he was carving a swath through his minions like they were infants.
This would not do.
"Father?" Raven asked.
"You read my mind child." Trigon said. Well, he never claimed to be utterly infallible. But he always rectified any mistakes he made, and he was going to do that now.
Fire exploded into being on his right hand, even as his daughter raised her arms and started focusing black energy above her.
Jason Blood, watching on his crystal ball, felt his eyes go wide as he saw what Trigon and Raven were doing.
"Oh no…"
Starfire saw it first, as she was busy flying away from demons and blasting them with Starbolts. She stopped as she saw the two charging their respective powers.
"Another trucking skit." She said. She still didn't know how to swear properly, but her tone made the words as strong as if she had said the right ones. She sucked in air.
"TITANS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Two seconds later, Trigon and Raven fired, throwing twin bolts of power out into the midst of the battlefield. The explosion nearly cracked the island in half and sent powerful waves buffeting against the docks of Jump City, which had not yet been corrupted by Trigon's power. The air filled with screams as dozens of demons were incinerated by their own master's power.
Trigon lowered his arm, feeling satisfied.
"They should feel blessed. They proved themselves enough to fall at your hand after all." Raven said.
"Hmmm, yes. How irritating. Now…"
A bat creature flying around the outskirts of the explosion suddenly blew up in a blaze of blue light. A few seconds later, Savior emerged from the smoke.
"WHAT?" Trigon said.
Starfire flew down, as Cyborg and Beast Boy pulled themselves out from the wreckage they had been buried under. Starfire's warning had come just in time for them to seek cover.
"This…is growing irksome." Trigon said.
The Titans didn't get much of a chance to celebrate as they were immediately swarmed with new demons. But near death seemed to have only revitalized them as they fought back with even greater fury then before.
Well, all except Starfire, who still couldn't figure out how the bow worked. She was looking at it again when a demon that had a form of a sexy and voluptuous woman with bat wings on her arms flew down at Starfire. Starfire yelled in surprise and jumped back, but her actions caused her to pull hard on the bow string.
A Starbolt appeared as she did, forming into an arrow shape. She looked at it in surprise and then yelped as the female attacked her. She let go of the string and the bolt flew out, blowing through the demon's chest and sending her flying back with a scream. Starfire blinked.
"Oh." She said, and pulled the string again. The Starbolt-cum-arrow formed once more. So that was how it worked! She let it go again and the arrow flew, blowing through three smaller demons that had been heading over to attack her. Apparently, the bow infused her power with something extra that allowed it to harm demons more then her actual Starbolts would.
A giant rotting bull corpse was barely being held back via Cyborg's sonic cannon. Beast Boy swooped in as a pterodactyl and then became a griffon as he landed on the creature's head, clawing. The combination of the attacks finally caused the creature's head to cave in, but the body kept charging. Cyborg dodged aside and the body kept running, as Beast Boy yelled and tried to stay on as it plowed through more demon hordes.
"Tenacious, aren't they?" Raven said.
"It does not matter." Trigon said. He was still irritated, perhaps more so that his attack hadn't killed all the Titans, but in the end it didn't matter. The power he had infused this part of the world with was spreading, and the more it spread, the stronger he got. And as the taint spread, so did the holes that allowed the demons into this world. Eventually, the numbers would overwhelm the Titans.
Indeed, it was happening even now. The one called Savior was now close to one of the tears, and indeed the constant flux of demons was starting to get to him, as he fired his orb gun at one creature and had three take its place. Holding the gun in his hands and using Shimmer strands to hold the daggers, Savior fought furiously to hold his ground. Indeed, even that wasn't enough, as some demons were getting through his defenses and he had to grab them with the Shimmer and throw them away. But the rift kept pumping out new monsters.
Indeed, one was coming out right now, what looked like a woman with knives for fingers. But her time on earth was approximately one second as Savior, quite by accident, threw a giant dog creature in that direction and into her, knocking her back into the rift.
Starfire was firing off arrows at a rate that would impress Legolas, but the numbers were getting to her too.
"There's too many…!" Beast Boy said as he was swarmed by what looked like insects. He turned into an armadillo to avoid being eaten. A second later Starfire saved him by firing a few arrows into the swirling mass, burning up the tiny creatures. But as she did, a demon flew into her, knocking her to the ground, and then more demons leapt on her as she vanished beneath a gnashing pile of teeth and claws.
"Like I said, it does not matter. All five are…" Trigon said.
Wait. He could only see four. Where was the leader with that weapon that was so effective? Did he manage to get him in the blast? Maybe…
And then, much to Trigon's surprise, pain radiated up his ankle. He threw back his head and roared. Raven recoiled in surprise and then looked down.
Robin was at Trigon's feet, the Fang buried up to the hilt in his ankle. He'd barely dodged the explosion, but he had managed to lose himself in the chaos and sneak up to Trigon. He had hoped the sword would have the same effect on Trigon as he did on his minions, but no such luck. He yanked the Fang out. He had better retreat and plan a new attack, or…
Raven flew down, slamming black energy tendrils into him and sending him flying. Shrieking, she encased him in black energy and slammed him into the ground. Pain exploded through Robin's body, and he screamed.
A huge hand reached down, grabbing him up. The yank upward was so sudden that Robin lost his grip on the sword, and it flew out of his hand and went spiraling into the battlefield.
"You HURT me…" Trigon growled as he brought Robin up to face him. "You actually made me feel pain! NO ONE DOES THAT TO ME!"
"Gee, got yourself a bit of an inferiority complex there, Trigon. You should see a shrink. Did Freud go to hell?" Robin quipped, in too much pain to feel any fear.
"You'll pay for that, mortal. I'll eat you alive." Trigon said, opening his mouth.
And then a pile of demons exploded outward as Starfire blasted out, her eyes and hands blazing green. She zapped at Trigon, placing her hand on the bow string and pulling it back as a giant arrow, ten times the size of the ones she had formed before, exploded into being. With a scream of rage that only people in love can muster, she fired, throwing the bolt of power at Trigon.
It impaled through his right shoulder. Trigon's bellow was more of complete and utter surprise then pain, as he dropped Robin. Starfire flew under him, grabbing him.
"Father? Impossible!" Raven said as she flew up and over to where her father was clutching his wound.
"I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS DEFIANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he bellowed, as his eyes glowed. Beams of force lanced out, slamming into Starfire and blowing both her and Robin out of the sky. They fell to the ground like a comet, as fire and power erupted on Trigon's right hand.
"NOW DIE!" he roared, throwing his hand back.
"Amazing how when danger's present, over the small things we fret and fear, you dither with these younger heroes, when the greatest threat is in your rear!"
Twin blasts of demonfire slammed into the side of Trigon's head, and he forgot about his fireball as he roared in pain again. He spun to look at his new attacker, as he landed on a chunk of stone thrust into the air during the battle.
"ETRIGAN!" Trigon roared, recognizing the demon. Etrigan smiled.
"Ah mighty Trigon, demon lord, you know my name, I'm almost honored. Although they fight with nail and tooth, I'd miss the fun if I were aloof!"
Enraged, Trigon fired his force beams at the Demon, and fire exploded on Etrigan's hands and he countered, firing his own blasts of power. The two met in mid-blast, and the two roared their rage as they fought a war of wills.
Raven, annoyed, flew away. Etrigan might cause a few minor problems, but if the Titans were allowed to recover, it could snowball (wouldn't that be funny? A snowball in proverbial hell) into a major problem. And since those idiot minor demons couldn't do anything right, she would handle them herself.
"Star! Robin!" Beast Boy yelled as he bounded over to the fallen couple, Cyborg on his heels. Robin was kneeling over Starfire, who had taken the brunt of the blast and was badly burned.
"Guys, cover us! Star needs some help!" Robin said.
"Great! Can we use that special sword you brought?" Beast Boy asked.
"Sure I…oh no." Robin said, finally realizing he had lost the blade.
The sword had landed blade down, sticking out of the ground. All the demons, aware of the power of the blade, shied away from it.
And the last of them had their heads explode as Savior blew them off with the gun. He staggered and nearly fell, exhausted.
Then his eyes came to the sword. He blinked, wondering if he was imagining it.
No, it was real. The Fang. And if this wasn't a message, he didn't know what was. Savior gathered himself and staggered towards the sword.
And then Raven landed in front of him. He stopped dead, his eyes going wide. Was this what his lady had become?
"Ah Noel…" she said, smiling. Her eyes showed nothing but cruelty. "I believe it is time to finally break your heart. Literally."