Chapter 30: Genocide
Up in heaven, or wherever, whatever gods or forces of the way gangs of metahumans will pair off when two groups fight each other rolled a cosmic dice and sent the results down to the Titans and Genocide.
Ok, having read the previous sentence, I realize it makes absolutely no sense. So let's just say that when the Titans got close, Genocide split up and countered.
Savior and Raven headed for the Lord again, but Raven never made it. The man called Shadowmaster abruptly showed why his name applied as he leapt forward and dove into the shadow at his feet, vanishing into the darkness. Before Raven could blink, Shadowmaster appeared out of the shadows next to Raven and pounced on her, and as she yelled in surprise both vanished into the darkness again.
"RAVEN!" Savior yelled, and then he had to dodge as the Lord was on him, swinging his sword. He leapt backwards as the Lord followed. He swung the Shimmer at him, but the Lord dodged it, seemingly with ease, and sliced it with his claws. Savior screamed, and was starting to collapse when the Lord ran up to him and kicked him in the face. Savior flew several feet, as the Lord did a lazy twirl of his sword. Savior got up, his body shaking with pain.
"Care to continue this little game?" the Lord said.
"I'll show you how to play!" Savior snapped back, leaping at the Lord.
The Lord dodged aside from the lunge, grabbed Savior by his jacket, and drove his knee into Savior's waist, knocking the wind out of him as the Lord snaked his hand up and grabbed Savior's white hair, pulling him back.
"Like I said, a game. Let's play for real now. And keeping with that motif, Simon Says bleed." The Lord said, and smashed Savior backwards with a cracking jab.
"Dammit!" Robin said, as he watched this unfold. Well then, he'd better…
A sparking rod suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. Robin recoiled a bit. The sparking had come from Murdercrow, who was now holding what looked like a modified taser in her hand, a normal part to grip and a glowing part that crackled with electricity. She had swung it not AT Robin, but in front of Robin so that he would stop.
"If you want him, you go through me." Murdercrow said quietly.
"If you say so." Robin said, twirling his staff before suddenly snapping it out. It was a very good move, well executed so that the person didn't know they were being attacked until the last second, and by then it was too late to dodge.
Murdercrow dodged it. Which was pretty damn scary considering she was wearing a blindfold. Robin spun to avoid a counter…
Too late, as Murdercrow jammed her taser into his thigh. Electricity blasted through Robin's leg, simultaneously causing him great pain and messing up his own electrical signals, causing his muscles to seize up and cramp. Before he could react, his knee buckled, and Murdercrow swung out her leg and kicked him in the head, sending him flying.
"ROBIN!" Starfire cried, and then her eyes shone green as she began firing Starbolts at Murdercrow. Murdercrow dodged them with ease.
A shadowy portal appeared above the T-Tower, and Shadowmaster tumbled out of it. He landed on his feet as Raven appeared, her hands glowing.
"Azarath, Metrion…"
Shadowmaster snapped out his arms, crossing them as six small daggers appeared in both his hands, and then he hurled them at Raven with deadly accuracy. Raven gasped and tried to dodge, but one flew right into and THROUGH her shoulder and another slashed open her cheek. More angry then hurt, Raven growled in her throat and lifted up some rubble from the top of the T-Tower, flinging it at Shadowmaster. She missed by the proverbial mile, as Shadowmaster dove back into the shadows at his feet, teleporting away. Blast, why had she used up all her projectiles on the Lord?
"Well Beast Boy, looks like we get the hot one!" Cyborg said as he looked at Sizzle.
"Yeah, let's kick her most likely psycho butt." Beast Boy replied.
"Stupid boys. Don't be confusing your pistols with your privates. Neither are a weapon." Sizzle replied.
"That's not what you were saying last night!" Beast Boy quipped.
WRONG thing to say. Sizzle's eyes blazed, and she screamed in a rage so pure that it send shivers down Cyborg's spine.
And then Beast Boy burst into flame. And this wasn't a "I dropped my cigarette" fire, this was a "poured gasoline on oneself and light it fire". Beast Boy's scream echoed through Victor's ears.
Time almost seemed to slow down as Beast Boy thrashed, but in the back of Cyborg's head facts began popping out. If Beast Boy wasn't put out ASAP, the flames would kill him. If he didn't burn to death outright, the great amount of third-degree burns left in the wake of the fire would kill him just as badly. But he had nothing to extinguish the flames so quickly, unless he…
And then in a crazy move (abet the only one Victor had), Victor aimed his sonic cannon and fired, blasting Beast Boy back. He flew off the Tower and fell, screaming, into the water below.
"Oh god I hope I was quick enough." Cyborg said. Their outfits were designed to protect them, and Cyborg could only pray that Beast Boy's costume had been burned but not Gar himself. If not…
"YOU BITCH!" Cyborg roared, turning and firing his cannon at Sizzle. The blast took her in the chest, knocking him backwards and nearly throwing her off the Tower as well. Cyborg charged, preparing for any fire: his metal body could…
"Don't blame me for your kind's sins!" Sizzle hissed as she got up, and then she slammed her hand into the ground. Fire towers exploded…on three sides around Cyborg. The attack stopped Cyborg, the heat being even more intense then he had expected. Before he could react, the towers of flame surged forward and combined around Cyborg, exploding and consuming him in terrible heat.
The Lord dodged Savior's punch and retaliated with one of his own that made stars explode in Savior's vision. He sent out a hoard of lashing Shimmer strands to keep the Lord away from him, but so caught up was he in his pain that he didn't even realize the Lord had walked around him until he tapped him on the shoulder. Savior swung, lashing the Shimmer, but the Lord ducked under it and then balanced on his hands as he slammed his legs into Savior's gut, driving the wind out of him.
Murdercrow did a full split as Starfire flew in, dodging two more Starbolts and then spinning up, slamming her feet across Starfire's face. Starfire staggered back, and Murdercrow swung up and…
Her ears pricked, and then she snapped her head to the side as a Birdarang barely missed her. But she wasn't quick enough to dodge the other one fully, and it snicked the side of her head. The bandage was severed, falling off, as Murdercrow turned to look in the direction of the weapons.
Robin, who had managed to massage his leg muscle back until it worked again and then thrown the Birdarangs at Murdercrow, gaped as he saw Murdercrow's eyes.
They were almost completely white, milky and dull, the pupils and cornea so damaged they could barely be told apart from the rest of the eye. Good God, she's blind.
Then again, Robin had halfway expected that. What he hadn't expected was for Starfire to fire a Starbolt at Murdercrow's back, and for Murdercrow to duck. The blast took him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him tumbling backwards.
"OH NO! ROBIN!" Starfire said in horror, but her attempt to go aid Robin was stopped when Murdercrow whirled and zapped her in the shoulder. She screamed and then hit Murdercrow with a point blank Starbolt, sending her flying backwards.
Shadowmaster's head turned, and then he suddenly whirled away from Raven, dodging the brick she had thrown at him out of sheer luck rather then an actual attempt to dodge it, and dove into the shadows. As Murdercrow fell off the edge of the Tower, Shadowmaster appeared, catching her and pulling her back from certain death.
"Thank you Shadowmaster." Murdercrow said. Shadowmaster nodded, and then Savior went flying past them, propelled by the Lord's attack.
"Enough. Let's finish this." He said as he walked past. Despite being nearly incapable of expression like normal human eyes, the blind eyes of Murdercrow could still be seen to "light up" at the sound of the Lord's voice. Also could be seen was the quick look of grave distaste on Shadowmaster's face, and then Murdercrow was running at Robin.
A piece of metal slammed against the side of Shadowmaster, and he staggered before he tumbled back into a shadow warp again. Raven saw this and warped herself. Shadowmaster appeared out of the ground several feet away, and then Raven appeared behind him, driving her foot into the back of his head.
Robin swung at Murdercrow with his staff, but she blocked it with her tasers and Robin yelled as an electrical shock carried up the staff and jolted his arms, making him drop the weapon. Murdercrow punched him across the face, and then Starfire flew in and kicked her in the head. Murdercrow went with the blow, cart wheeling away.
Sizzle had spent all this time pouring flame onto the place where Cyborg had last been, until he finally came charging out of it, his metal parts scorched and blackened and his face burned. He slammed his fists into Sizzle, driving her back with a cry, but she placed her hand against his face as she fell and detonated a huge burst of flame there, pushing him back as well. Switching to a tool that he hadn't use in a while, Cyborg activated his machine gun autocannon and blazed bullets at Sizzle. But a wall of flame appeared before her, the heat so intense the bullets vaporized before they reach her.
"Oh, think that's impressive? Block THESE!" Cyborg said, as twin sections of his chest snapped open and half a dozen mini missiles fired out.
The wall of flame dissipated as the missiles armed, and as they launched, Sizzle looked at Cyborg with a look that combined utter hate and yet pity as she snapped her fingers.
Cyborg only saw a brief flash of light as Sizzle ignited flames within his weapons, and then all the mini-missiles exploded in his face. He flew backwards and fell into the still being repaired hole Evil Raven had made in the roof of the T-Tower, falling several stories and crashing through one more before he came to rest, unconscious.
Raven stopped Shadowmaster's next flurry of thrown daggers in mid-air and then fired them right back at him. He disappeared into the shadows, but Raven was waiting for him and met him with a telepathic bolt as he reappeared. He flew across the Tower, but he recovered in mid-air and landed on his feet. He was about to resume his attack when he heard a cry. He glanced over.
Robin and Starfire finally seemed to be getting the best of Murdercrow. Shadowmaster glanced over to the Lord, but he was too busy beating up Savior to notice. The anger flicked across Shadowmaster's face again, and then he focused on Murdercrow, his face set in concentration.
Starfire was coming in for a punch when her vision began to distort. The clear image of Murdercrow began to darken and lose focus, as if shadows were springing up around her. She blinked, and then made a fateful decision as she continued, charging at where she thought Murdercrow was.
She was wrong.
Murdercrow dodged Starfire's thrown-off punch, and then, as Robin, who was getting up from a kick he had taken so Murdercrow would be open and vulnerable to Starfire's attack, watched, she twisted and jammed her taser into Starfire's chest. Starfire screamed and then collapsed, eyes wide open, not moving.
"No." Robin said.
Murdercrow abruptly moved as a stray Shimmer strand slashed out, nearly cutting her in half. A second later The Lord drove Savior back with a palm thrust that caused him to slam into a small structure on the T-Tower's roof that held supplies and fall to his knees.
Robin looked at Starfire, on the ground, her heart stopped from the taser. She would die if he didn't help her, but if he tried to help her, Murdercrow would get him, or maybe that guy Shadowmaster, or one of the group of sickos that the Lord had attacked with, all because of no real reason then some malfunctioning gear in his brain that suggested it would be a good idea…
And an intense anger suddenly washed over Robin, sweeping away rationality and logic, as his mind suddenly set on the only goal it could think of to solve all the problems: GET THE LORD.
"DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!" Robin screamed as he leapt at the Lord at top speed, staff swinging. The Lord looked at him, unconcerned, as the screaming Titan swung in and…
The Lord's hand shot out, grabbing the staff.
"Attacking in a furious rage. Irresistible, empowering…"
The Lord twisted the staff down.
"Not practical."
The last thing Robin knew before the Lord slammed his metal hand across Robin's head, knocking him out, was that he was right. He had acted foolishly, and had doomed Starfire…
Robin's guilt as unconsciousness claimed was unneeded in the end though. Even as he fell, Murdercrow stepped back to the technically dead Starfire, cocked her head, and then pressed the taser against her chest again. Starfire's body jolted, and then she sat up with a gasp.
Right into a cracking kick from Murdercrow. Her head snapped down, slamming into the ground and robbing her of her consciousness as well.
"But…what…?" a confused Savior said.
"Can't have you dying. I need you alive." The Lord said.
The possibilities of those two sentences washed over Savior, filling him with horror, and then he was up and attacking again. He walked right into a vicious uppercut from the Lord, which sent him flying across the roof again.
Shadowmaster and Raven exploded out of another black portal, and this time Shadowmaster got the better of it as he kicked Raven to the ground. Sizzle was walking lazily back to where the main battle was a shriek filled the air and Beast Boy flew up in the form of a griffon. Apparently the water had come in time after all, but the flames had still hurt Gar Logan and the pain had made him snap, as he commenced diving at Sizzle in a mad rage…
Shadowmaster focused.
Sizzle's clear image was swallowed by darkness, and Beast Boy, his mind reacting via animal instincts due to the pain Sizzle had called him, didn't do the smart thing and pull back, but instead did the animal thing and pressed the attack.
Stupid.
Beast Boy missed Sizzle completely, diving head first into the Tower. His heavy body bounced along the roof as the pain made him lose his concentration and revert to his human form, and then he stopped moving, groaned, and passed out.
"NO!" Raven said, drawing Shadowmaster's attention as he turned around, as she thrust up her hands. "YOU WILL NOT-AHHHHHHHH!" Raven screamed. Her arms dropped, and then she fell over, revealing Murdercrow behind her, her taser still smoking slightly from where she had jammed it into Raven's spine, a precise jolt that had temporarily overloaded Raven's systems and knocked her out.
His face a bloody mess, Savior, having missed all of this, was trying to get up. He barely saw Genocide walking over to him, could barely sense anything except the shadow darkening his vision, as the Lord reached down and picked him up via the hair.
"You lose." He said.
And then his fist swung down, and all Savior knew was blackness.
The Lord dropped Savior's body and looked at the rest of his team.
"Nice work. Gather them up and restrain them. I'll get what I need, and then the moment will finally be at hand." He said.
Murdercrow smiled as he walked past.
"At last, the master will become a god, and this world will finally be made a good and just place."
"At the cost of most of its population, but they brought it on themselves." Sizzle said as she dragged Raven over, carrying her by one foot. "Shadowmaster, make with your mojo and help us. I want to get this done so I can get what I deserve."
Shadowmaster nodded, but his eyes still showed distaste, as Murdercrow followed after the Lord like a puppy.
Well, he was better off then the Titans.
When this was done, the Titans would regret Genocide hadn't lived up to their team name and killed them.
In the course of this story, the Titans may believe they seen the greatest depths of human deviance, insanity, and evil…
The Titans were DEAD wrong.