Black and White

by Legend Maker

It all begins here. The Titans will meet a new metahuman who will join them, and mark a beginning to their greatest challenges, triumphs, and tragedies. For while youth is fleeting, heroism is forever.

31. Justice: Monster

Chapter 31: Monster

Writer's Note: At the end of this chapter, you may be depressed, saddened, and even scared. To recover from these feelings, go and read BobCat's "The Epic of Gauntlet" and you'll feel much better, trust me.

"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."

Milton

"There is no point in saying less then your predecessors have said."

John Simon

Robin opened his eyes to find himself looking into the blank orbs of Murdercrow's eyes. He tried to recoil, only to find his arms were tied firmly above him and his feet were manacled to the ground. He couldn't move.

"Interesting thing about Murdercrow here…"A voice suddenly spoke, as the Lord stepped into his vision, his hideously scarred face calm and controlled. Robin twisted his head, looking away from the terribly damaged visage and at the same time looking around. His utility belt was gone, and the rest of the Titans were tied up in similar ways around him.

"Can you tell where her name comes from?"

"Why should I care? Let us go you nutcase!"

The Lord punched Robin in the gut, driving the air out of him.

"Be nice in front of the lady, child. Now would you like to guess?"

"Bite me!"

The Lord pulled the sword out of his back and jammed it through Robin's foot. Robin screamed.

"ROBIN!" Starfire said, struggling against her own restraints. But she could not get free, and her powers didn't work.

"Maybe THAT will teach you some manners." The Lord said, pulling the sword out and laying it on a nearby table. Robin realized they were in one of the storage rooms where they kept spare furniture and other things they might need (it was where Noel's guns had gone after the defeat of Aberration). The room was empty now save for the table and the special restraint systems the Lord had apparently prepared in advance.

"Robin! My powers don't work!" Starfire said.

"Neither do mine…" Savior groaned from another direction.

"Since you don't want to answer my question, I'll tell you. Murdercrow didn't exactly have the best life…hell, I'll just say it, everyone and everything savaged her. Same with all of us. But that is beside the point…you see Murdercrow was so miserable, she decided to try and use a black magic spell, a very POWERFUL black magic spell that she had no business using, to try and make things better. Well, it didn't work out so well…something kinda appeared in the form of a flock of black birds and pecked out her eyes. Well, not so much pecked them out but…well, something, who can tell with dark forces? Whatever happened, it cost her her eyesight, but in return for this sacrifice, Murdercrow here has superhuman senses and the ability to sense danger untouched by anyone else. In this universe anyway. Hence, her name. You can always call a group of things just "a group of things", but lots of things have "special" words to describe a group of them, most of which are "amusing" puns. A bawl of infants, a prey of lawyers, a crash of rhinoceroses…in any case, since her eyes were taken by black birds, she named herself after what took them. A murder of crows. Murdercrow."

"Oh how fascinating. What the hell do you want?" Robin snapped. He tried to get out of his bonds and failed.

"Don't bother. Mad Mod may have been a senile old coot, but he knew his restraints. He made sure those would hold you unlike his last ones when he took his revenge. At least that was his plan until I "convinced" him they would better suit MY plan." The Lord said.

"Well what do you WANT THEN?" Robin said. And he meant it: he wanted to know why the Lord hadn't just killed them outright.

"What do I want? I want a perfect world. I want a practical, well run society without all the disease and waste that this one is choking on. Always have, always will. And believe me, revenge is not practical…despite how easily I beat you this time. What, you thought you had me before, Savior? I was toying with you and your little lovebird there. You saw what happened when I took you seriously." The Lord said.

"Lord, could we please GET ON WITH IT?" Sizzle said.

"Now now, no rush Sizzle. In fact for being rude I think I'll talk some more." The Lord said. Sizzle rolled her eyes.

"Not the most polite lady, but hey, getting raped by your father, brothers, and about seven other men throughout your life tends to rob you of the charm." The Lord said. "You questioned my intentions, Robin? Let me tell you a story."

"There were these two children, and by great luck and some skill, they managed to get the best of me, hurt me fairly badly, though as Savior will tell you, not as badly as they thought. So I crawled away, licking my wounds, and while I was healing I put my quest on hold while I did some thinking, some reading…and then fate showed me the door. I won't bore you with the details, but I found something that will take my name and make it a reality. I will go from being just someone who has ascended beyond his human flaws to a true Lord of the Night."

"Are you sure of that or did you just dream it up?" Savior snapped. The Lord ignored them, his back to Robin. He appeared to be fiddling with his repaired mechanical arm.

"However, I have a vexing dilemma. In order to accomplish this task, I need to complete a ritual. Problem. This ritual was written so long ago that a good many of the things needed for it no longer exist. Ah, but fear not. After much research, I found that while I perhaps cannot complete the ritual as such, I can find the proper substitutes to complete it anyway. I have some of what I need, some of which was quite difficult to get…but the rest need to be improvised. Vis-a-vis, you." The Lord said, raising his arm. Robin's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the cruel tool that the Lord had formed at the end of his arm.

"Now Robin…you have devoted so much time and effort to bring your human, non-enhanced body to peak condition and beyond…well, I need some of that muscle tissue you worked so hard to develop."

Robin thrashed, frantically trying to break out.

"Now now, if you struggle it will just hurt more…" The Lord said. Then he stopped, apparently giving it some thought. "Actually, it will hurt like hell no matter what you do."

And then he jammed the device into Robin's leg.

Robin's screams rang through the room through the whole twenty seconds the Lord worked, Starfire echoing his cries as the Lord did his work, finally withdrawing the tool and leaving Robin slumped and trying not to pass out from the pain.

"Now you." The Lord said, walking over to Starfire. Starfire's eyes bugged out as well, and she did her best impression of Robin.

"Alien physiology. Fascinating…" The Lord said, as the tool shifted on his arm. "I need some of your skin."

Starfire screamed as the Lord took just that, carefully peeling off a section of skin from Starfire's torso. He left her weeping as he moved on to Cyborg.

"There's nothing I have you can use!" Cyborg cursed, trying to break out and smash the Lord's head in for what he had done.

"On the contrary. Your circuits have something I need. Specifically, gold. I'm sure you know that a lot of systems have a VERY small amount of gold in them, and while the amount is very small…all I need is a small amount. However…I will still have to do some surgery…" The Lord said, as his arm reformed into a buzzsaw. "Sizzle, if you would help me…"

Cyborg's torture lasted a lot longer then Robin and Starfire's, as the Lord methodically cut open his arms and chest, removing parts and melting them for their gold as he needed. If there was some comfort, Cyborg couldn't feel the pain the same way Robin and Starfire had, but he still felt a terrible sense of violation.

"And onward we go…ah Beast Boy. You have the ability to turn into any animal at all, right?"

"I'll never do anything for you! Nothing!" Beast Boy snarled. The stretchy ropes he was tied in had resisted all his escape attempts, and eventually he had stopped after Murdercrow had come over and started zapping him with her tasers.

"Yes. You will. Or I'll go back to your friends and start REALLY working on them." The Lord said, looking deep into Beast Boy's eyes. Beast Boy's anger faded somewhat under the intense, vicious gaze the Lord brought.

"I need the feathers of a bird. Specifically, the passenger pigeon. Thing is, your stupid greedy destructive species drove it to extinction nearly a century ago. So I guess you'll have to do. Here's a picture. Transform." The Lord said, holding up a picture. Beast Boy grit his teeth, and then did so.

He wished he hadn't, as Murdercrow immediately zapped him with the taser again, and then the Lord violently removed nearly thirty feathers, which was quite painful. Beast Boy became human again, his mind swimming from the pain, large patches of his skin and some hair missing due to the Lord having removed the feathers in his previous form.

"And you, the one who defeated me beforehand…" the Lord said, looking up at Savior. "Think you're clever?"

"I know I was right." Savior snapped. The Lord chuckled, and then the tool on his arm reformed once again into a cruel, sharp instrument.

"WRONG."

And then the Lord jammed the tool straight up Savior's nose. Raven screamed, but all Savior could do was a low groan as the Lord thrust the tool up higher. A loud cracking noise was heard, and then the Lord withdrew the tool.

"Brain tissue. Thank you child. Maybe in your next life you'll think twice before crossing the fate of the world. You certainly won't be doing any more thinking in this world."

"No…" Raven said, as the Lord left Savior, slumped over as blood and worse leaked from his nose. The Lord walked over to Raven.

"And you…wonder what I want?" the Lord said.

Raven spat on him.

The Lord returned the favor by punching her across the face. Raven's vision exploded in bright colours, and she went limp in her restraints. The Lord grabbed her by the chin and lifted her head up so she could look at him.

"Nothing. I have the blood of your father. And your allies have given me the rest of my substitutes. So why am I over here? Just to tell you…this is your fault. You shouldn't have stood against me, interrupted my quest."

"I thought…you said…revenge was not practical…" Raven whispered.

"Heh. I lied." The Lord said, and let Raven go.

"Well well, one of the ones who dared stand against me is now a vegetable…and by nature of their relationship, perhaps that is punishment enough for the other…on second thought, no."

The Lord went over to the table where he had stored all the things he had taken from the Titans in special containers.

"I will begin the ritual in five minutes. The stars and moon should be in place in eight minutes after that…and once it begins well…Murdercrow, Shadowmaster, come with me. Sizzle?"

"Yeah?"

"You seem particularly irritated at this time. I don't need the Titans any more. Kill them. Play with the males first if you like. I wouldn't recommend Savior thought. I don't think he can feel anything any more."

"My pleasure." Sizzle said. The Lord turned and left with his "artifacts", as Sizzle turned around and headed towards the Titans.

"Oh what fun this will be."

Robin's finally managed to bring his mind out of the swirl of pain when he saw Sizzle approaching him, her eyes filled with rage.

But two steps away from him, she stopped, as her eyes grew thoughtful.

"No. I have a captive audience, why waste it on the usual? Let's make this special…" Sizzle said, and she turned and left. Before she did though, she stopped and picked up the katana the Lord had left on the table. She gave it a once-over, shook her head, and put it back down. Then she left.

"Robin…" someone was saying. Robin, balancing on one leg to try and keep the other from sending surges of agony through his body, turned his head. His eyes widened when he saw the damage did to Cyborg.

"That nutjob messed us up bad…Savior may be brain dead. Raven and Starfire have passed out, and Gar is totally out of it as well. It's up to your Fearless…if you don't help us…we're all dead…" Cyborg said.

Robin blinked, and tried to focus his mind. His belt was gone, but he always had backups. He just had to reach the spare tool sewn into his glove…

And then he realized his gloves were off. The Lord had indeed though of everything. And soon, one of his allies, an insane man hater, would be coming back to play with them.

He had better think of something fast, or he had a feeling that the hell would just be beginning…

First, the Lord needed his own blood.

He cut his arm open, and then used a special funnel system on his other, mechanical, arm to carefully drip the blood onto the ground in the proper shapes. Then he went over the shapes with his hands to finish the symbols properly.

Second, Trigon's blood. There was a lot less of it, but the Lord's superhuman sense of observation allowed him to use all he had properly and effectively.

Once that was done, he started laying the artifacts out. Once properly placed, he would perform the ritual.

If it didn't work, he'd surely die, but he was certain it would work, and he would weigh the odds of failure after all the research and studying he had done to the gift the ritual would bring him.

The ritual itself was not specific: the beings that would perform it would add their own special touches in order to get a certain result (indeed, such a procedure was necessary: if they just asked for "power", they may very well get all the power in the universe. And nobody could hold that kind of power, even the Lord). The Lord had no idea how many times the ritual had actually worked, or what it had done (though he HAD heard a rumor, which had no real foundation but was interesting none the less, that this ritual had had SOMETHING to do with the formation of the Green Lantern Corps. Exactly WHAT something wasn't know, that was the nature of rumors after all, but it was interesting nonetheless, as mentioned), but he knew what he was going to use it for.

The power of the night itself.

Once it was completed, the Lord would go even beyond the higher state that his body of flesh and metal had become, and become one with the night, and all it represented. Every shadow would grant him power. Every darkness and blackness would be his to command. And considering how much of reality was tainted by darkness, from the infinite cold of space to the metaphorical darkness in the human heart and soul, his power would be considerable indeed. He would be a god.

And as a god, he would make a Utopia.

Some time ago, when a giant cosmic creature had actually devoured the Earth's sun (before it was restored by another being of great cosmic power), newspapers had, in the grateful aftermath, dubbed it "The Final Night". They had been wrong.

This was the Final Night. For all of human civilization. They had failed, and failed terribly, and it was time to make things right.

To make things practical.

Robin had no real idea how much time had passed. His pain and effort distorted all chronic senses: all he knew was that he had to get free before Sizzle got back. But he had run out of options, it seemed: the Lord had secured him well.

But, maybe there was one way left…

And then it seemed that way was lost to him as well, as Sizzle returned, carrying something.

Knives. All the knives from the kitchen, to be exact. She laid them down on a table and picked up the largest one.

"Stupid kids, letting your knives get dull. I had to sharpen most of them again. I don't like to be kept waiting…" Sizzle said. She glanced up. "Funny, I thought the Lord would be finished by now. Must be a long ritual. Wonder if I'll get to see any of it by the time I'm done with you."

Having selected her knife, Sizzle started over to Robin. Robin, finding new energy in desperation, began thrashing about trying to get free.

"That's right, squirm. It never works. It couldn't keep dear daddy off me. It couldn't keep any of the men off me…" Sizzle said, her eyes distant and lost in her own psychosis as she approached Robin. "You know, you men are so good at violations. There's no real way to make you feel how it is to be forced to do acts against your will…"

Sizzle stepped up to Robin.

"But I'll tell you anyway. It feels like a knife being jammed into you. And not just any knife. Blades eventually kill you and grant you peace from the horror, but what you do is like one that just cuts you over…and over…and over…well maybe I can't duplicate that…"

Sizzle seized Robin's mouth and pulled his jaw open.

"But I can try. Open wide."

The Lord knew she would be coming even before she arrived, as he set the final piece down.

"Murdercrow." He said.

"Master…" Murdercrow replied in her mousy tone. She may not have been able to see, but her other senses more then sufficed in helping her get around.

"I thought I told you to stand guard with Shadowmaster."

"Yes, my Lord. But before you ascend, I needed to tell you something…" Murdercrow said. The Lord didn't look at her, finishing up his preparations. Murdercrow clearly struggled with what she was trying to say, but in the end she managed to get it out.

"I love you."

The Lord stopped.

"I have ever since I heard your voice. I knew then…you were the one for me…" Murdercrow said. "I thought…maybe when the world is cleansed…we can…or maybe…"

"You love me." The Lord stated.

"Yes." Murdercrow replied. She could hear, and sense the Lord getting up and walking towards her.

"I don't care about what you look like…looks don't really matter much to me…but I know that even without seeing you that you're the one."

"Really…" The Lord said quietly. He seemed to be thinking.

"Yes." Murdercrow breathed.

"Murdercrow…why did you forget what I taught you?"

Murdercrow's face showed confusion.

"What?"

"Murdercrow, you may think you were sure of this, perhaps more so then anything in your life…but you are wrong. I do not love you. I never have."
Murdercrow's eyes, once again, despite lacking the full ability to express like normal human eyes, nevertheless showed a sudden crush of horror as she realized what the Lord was saying.

"I cannot feel love, Murdercrow. I'm dead inside. I always will be. I told you from day one, that love is impractical and a bane on this world. Not only can I not feel it, but I have no desire to. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"No…" Murdercrow said, her voice thick with grief. "But…I need you…"

"But I don't need you." The Lord said, and he turned around and left, as the sheer weight of realization came crashing down on Murdercrow, and she staggered back. She would have started crying, except it was very hard for her damaged eyes to produce tears. All she could do was step back, and back…

"Wait…"

The Lord's voice cut through her grief, and for a moment hope bloomed again. Maybe she had been wrong…maybe HE had been wrong? Maybe walking away had made him realize he did have feelings for her. She could hear him approaching again, and then she felt his hand on her cheek.

"Master…" she cooed, bringing her own hand up and placing it against his face, ignoring the scars. She didn't care. All she cared about was him.

"I have need of you after all."

And then the pain tore through her as the Lord jammed the blade from his arm into her, piercing through her heart. Her eyes went wide as saucers, and her mouth opened to emit a tiny gasp of surprise.

She blinked, finally realizing that the man she loved had just stabbed her through the heart, and slowly her blind eyes slid up to where she knew his face was.

"…..why." was all she could say.

"I said I needed two bloods for the symbols. I lied. I needed three. Trigon's, my own…and the blood of a broken heart. Yours, Murdercrow. I knew you had fallen for me the second I saw you, and I made sure those feelings developed for me. But just for this, Murdercrow. Your blood."

Murdercrow wanted to do so many things. She wanted to cry and scream and rage and…sleep…just sleep, as numbness replaced the pain in her chest, even as her blood ran down the blade coming from the Lord's arm and into the vial, collecting it.

"The funny thing is, Shadowmaster fell in love with you as well, and he meant it. But you chose me instead. And that, above all, shows the flaws in the human species that I must get rid of. You were never anything but a means to an end, Murdercrow. Just a pawn in a game of kings. Goodbye. Perhaps you will find peace in the hereafter, but most likely you will just find oblivion."

Murdercrow's eyes finally faded. The blind orbs went from being damaged to truly empty, as she slid off the blade and fell down the stairs behind her, coming to a rest at the bottom.

The Lord snapped the blade he had used on her back into the five claw points that extended from his fingers, as he removed the vial of blood he had collected from Murdercrow and turned to finish up the ritual. He was just finishing up the last drawing when he sensed him behind him. He raised himself to his feet and turned to look at Shadowmaster.

Shadowmaster, usually so calm, so collected, so unemotional, stood there. His face had been so unused in expression for so long it seemed stuck that way, but the fire in his eyes said it all. And for the first time since Shadowmaster had met the Lord, he spoke.

"YOU EVIL FUCKER."

"Yeah. I am." The Lord replied.

Shadowmaster's arm snapped out, hurling five daggers at the Lord, but the Lord was quicker, raising up his metal arm and blocking all five in a blur of motion, and then thrust his arm out as his claw blades fired off, piercing through Shadowmaster's chest.

Shadowmaster staggered back.

The Lord looked at him without emotion.

"Just die already."

Shadowmaster tumbled down the same stairs his love had just gone by, as the Lord turned back to his ritual. It was time.

No one saw Shadowmaster come to rest next to the body of Murdercrow, whom Shadowmaster had found and propped against the wall before he had gone up to try and avenge her death, a vengeance that had gone unsated. For a moment he was still, and then he managed to get an arm up and crawl over to Murdercrow, even as his life's blood pooled onto the floor. He took her hand.

"I'm here for you." He said.

And then he was gone.

Robin was saved from Sizzle's bizarre blade phallic transference torture by a single whispered word.

"Bitch."

Sizzle stopped, her ears pricking up. The word was followed by another.

"Whore."

Sizzle turned her head towards the sounds. Robin did so as well, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Savior?" he said.

Savior was still hanging by his restraints, seemingly dead to the world. But it was clearly his voice that had somehow whispered the words. Words that had angered Sizzle even more, as she let Robin go and strode over to Savior.
"Well well, the Lord made you a retard and yet you are still somehow a pig. Find then, you can be first." Sizzle said, lifting Savior's head up, his eyes dull and blood still running down his face from the lobotomy that the Lord had performed on him.

Sizzle raised the knife as she drew Savior's face towards her.

And then Savior's eyes cleared, suddenly and abruptly, and as Sizzle's eyes widened in surprise he rammed his head forward, slamming his forehead into her nose and sending her flying backwards with a surprised and painful squeal.

"ROBIN GO!" Savior yelled, and Robin realized what Noel had done: he had drawn Sizzle away from him in order for Robin to make his last ditch effort. How Savior had known or guessed that was a mystery, once that Robin would ponder later as he only had seconds and what he had to do was extremely painful and yet it was the only way…

"ARGH!" Sizzle screamed on the floor.

And Robin met her scream with his as he twisted violently and forcibly dislocated his left shoulder. The injury sent shockwaves of agony through his torso, but it also provided the leverage he needed to finally pull his hand out of the bonds above him. A hard yank freed his other hand, as the restraint was designed to keep both hands immobile and couldn't work with just one.

"I'LL BURN YOU YOU…!" Sizzle was screaming as she got up, even as Robin tumbled to the floor, his badly damaged leg from the Lord's muscle extraction unable to hold his weight, but he didn't need that, all he needed to do was reach the emergency panel on his boot, hoping that while the Lord had been thorough he hadn't been thorough enough and that…

It snapped open.

The small emergency Birdarang fell into his hand.

Sizzle finally realized that Robin was free and turned away from Savior…

And Robin hurled the Birdarang, praying to all the gods of accuracy and luck that he…

The Birdarang slammed into Raven's hand restraints. It didn't sever them, but the part he needed to hit was scored, a direct bullseye.

The part built into the restraints that blocked Raven's powers.

And Raven, having woken up and seen what Robin was doing before Sizzle had returned, was ready, as the table suddenly glowed black and flew through the air, the knives on it flying everywhere as it slammed into Sizzle and smashed her into the wall behind her with another scream.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted, as all the restraints holding the Titans glowed black and then were torn away.

"YOU BASTARD!" Sizzle screamed as she threw the table off of her. The Lord's discarded katana lay near her, and she picked it up as fire exploded into being on her left hand. Robin was closest, and she fired a blast of intense heat at him.

Shimmer strands flew out and wrapped into a shield form so quickly it seemed almost instantaneously, protecting Robin from the fire. Robin recoiled from the heat, and then the gods smiled at him again as the corner of his eye caught his utility belt hanging on the wall nearby. He hadn't been able to see it before because of the angle it was at compared to the point of view he had possessed when he had been tied up. With his one good leg he pushed out, rolling towards the belt, even as Raven, the only uninjured one, flew forward to confront Sizzle as the Shimmer strand retracted.

And then it all happened at once.

Sizzle abandoned her fire attack to charge at Raven with the Lord's katana.

Raven blocked the slash with a quickly summoned black energy shield.

Robin reached his belt and pulled it down, fumbling for the nearest weapon compartment, not caring what he got as long as he could use it.

Raven took a step back as Sizzle raised the sword for another swing.

The Shimmer lashing out.

Robin grabbing a random disc, not knowing or caring what it was as he turned and threw as best he could.

The Shimmer whacking the sword, knocking it out of Sizzle's hands.

The disc missing Sizzle, flying past her.

Raven reaching up and catching the sword on an impulse…

As the heat disc Robin had drawn exploded behind Sizzle, the pyrokenetic completed focused on Raven and not knowing anything had been thrown behind her until it exploded, the blast wave throwing her forward…

As Raven's arms lowered the sword.

SQUKILSH!

The shock in Sizzle's eyes matched Raven's as Sizzle was impaled on the sword. But as Raven's eyes remained wide in shock at what had happened, at what she had just inadvertently done, Sizzle's shock turned to confusion.

And then, the final expression, one that would haunt Raven the rest of her days, as Sizzle's face suddenly looked…happy.

And then she was dead, her body dragging the sword out if Raven's hands as her corpse fell at Raven's feet.

And Raven realized she hadn't just won a battle by a means she hadn't wanted to use but had happened by accident.

She had just taken part in a very elaborate suicide ritual.

"Noel…good god, how are you ok?" Raven said. A few minutes had passed. Raven had made herself forget about Sizzle, about a woman so miserable with life she had looked upon her impending death with happiness. Instead, she had focused on healing the Titans, giving them their energy back as best she could. However, fixing up flesh wounds was one thing, but Raven was certain she couldn't regenerate brain tissue. But that point seemed to be moot, as Savior seemed to have recovered, somehow, from the Lord's lobotomy.

And the truth was, Savior had no idea what had happened either. He had felt the Lord jam something up his noise, and then everything had kind of gone grey, a soundless fog that Noel had no idea how to get out of. And there he had floated for who knows how long, and then suddenly light had appeared, and eventually his vision had returned to a view of the floor of the room he was in. Just in time for Sizzle to come back in. Savior didn't dwell on the how as he did on what was happening at the moment, and he had distracted Sizzle, hoping that Robin had something up his sleeve. And he had.

"I think so…name's Noel…you're Raven…I love you…the year is…"

"Ok, we can ponder this miracle later! We need to go!" Raven said. Savior got up, testing his limbs. They seemed to be working. The Shimmer came at his request as well.

The Shimmer….

Noel called the end, and it hovered over him, almost as if it was looking at him. It was now widely accepted that the Shimmer came from his nervous system, which was mutated.

"Did you do this?" he asked it. The Shimmer, whether it possessed any sentience or not, didn't give him an answer on whether it commanded the ability to regenerate brain tissue. Savior would dwell on the possibilities of it later.

"Titans." Robin said. Everyone looked at Robin, except Cyborg, who was busy replacing the parts the Lord had ripped apart with new ones (wait a minute, where had he gotten those? Did they crawl over? Oh who cared, he had them, ponder the why when he had time, Noel thought). "Is everyone ok?"

"I won't be ok until we take that psycho and make him pay for what he's done." Beast Boy said. All the other Titans nodded.

Robin looked around at the group he had grown to regard as a family. They may have been able to heal their physical wounds with Raven's abilities, and Cyborg could always replace his damaged parts, but the deeper wounds may never heal. They had no physical form.

Robin's face contorted into a look of rage. The Lord of the Night was going to learn the true meaning of pain before the night was over.

"Move out! Make for the roof! And watch out, he has two more fellow nutcases still running around!" Robin said, and turned and ran, the Titans at his heels.

Starfire found them first.

And what saddened Robin the most when he and the rest of them joined her, looking at the bodies of Murdercrow and Shadowmaster, was that she did not look a bit surprised. She looked sad, yes, but not surprised. As if she had expected she could find something like this.

As if she now understood just how terrible the human mind and soul could be.

Raven kneeled down, no longer feeling any malice towards the two, checking for any vitals just as a gesture. She knew they were gone.

Murdercrow's eyes were the worst, for even their blindness couldn't hide the look of betrayal and pain in them. Raven looked into them, and then reached out and slowly closed the lids.

She got up, looking at the Titans, as her sadness turned to resolve. The Titans mirrored her look.

They could hear chanting as they stormed up the stairs.

"Ylevisluvnoc Gniyfirret Gnimaercs! Ercassam Wasniahc Saxet! Retsnom…" The Lord was chanting, his arms spread wide, when he heard the door slam open behind him.

He lowered his arms, and for a moment he sat in amongst the symbols he had drawn before he got up.

"Well…I guess I guessed right." The Lord said, looking at the Titans.

"End of the line, you monster." Robin said.

"Is killing the innocent not enough? Is your bloodlust so overpowering you must murder your allies as well?" Starfire said.

"We weren't exactly close…" The Lord said. "Well, you managed to recover from my extractions, and come up here to stop me. I'd offer you a place in my new world, but I know you'd turn it down."

"This is not your world. And it NEVER WILL BE." Savior hissed. The Lord cocked his head and looked at the furious teenagers, somehow holding themselves in check. But he knew that wouldn't last.

"It's funny. You know what two words come to mind when I look at you people?"

"What?"

"Andrei Chikatilo."

For a moment the Titans anger faded as they became confused, unsure on what the Lord was saying. Only Robin's face remained unchanged.

"What's Andrei Chikatilo?" Beast Boy said.

"Who, child. Andrei Chikatilo is considered by many to be the world's greatest serial killer. People tend to know Bundy and Gacy and other American names, but the greatest proven body count belongs to a Russian schoolteacher. He murdered 53 people." The Lord said. "What does he have to do with you, you might ask. Simply this. Andrei was EXTRAORDINARILY unsubtle in his murders. He didn't really care who he killed: his victims were whoever he managed to talk into taking a walk into the woods with him. Once he had them, he attacked them like a savage beast: ripping out eyes and tongues, eviscerating with a pen knife, hell he even practiced cannibalism, and would often carry a cooking pot with him when he went out to kill, I kid you not. He terrorized Russia for more then a decade before he was caught. Now, why would this apply to you? Simple. The reason he was able to do so much damage was because the system he was in refused to admit he existed."

The Titans were silent.

"You see, you may be too young to remember the Soviet Union, but I know plenty about it. Like I said, Chikatilo lacked any sense of restraint or skill when it came to his killing. He probably wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the numbers he reached had he operated in the West. But you see, the Communist overlords would not admit someone like Chikatilo could exist. There were a ton of lies presented as the truth in those days, and one of the biggest was that the Soviet Union was crime-free. Why? Because they were Communists, and it was capitalism that produced such deviancy. Their system, on paper, could NOT produce a Western-style serial killer, therefore he did not exist. The truth was staring them in the face, but they ignored it. Hell, they were so good at ignoring the truth and believing their own lies they brainwashed themselves. And the same could be said to you. I speak the truth, and you ignore me, SCREAMING the lies you believe in an effort to make them true, to believe them to be true."

"You're…"

"Right, insane. Sick. Evil. A monster, a killer, a madman, a deviant, shall I go on? That's what I am to you, right? Just like Copernicus when he suggested that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. Just like Aristarchus when he first suggested the Earth was flat. Just like Galileo when he suggested the Earth revolved around the sun instead of vice-sera. The Church threatened him with all sorts of nastiness for that revelation, demanding he renounce actual reality as a lie, because it didn't fit with THEIR truth. Darwin, anyone? Evolutionism? 'MAN EVOLVED FROM APES? LIAR!' And we all know what happened there. Hell, people didn't believe anything Einstein theorized as possible in reality at first. All truth has three stages, Titans. First it is mocked, then it is violently opposed, and then it is accepted as self-evident. And I believe it is time for the world to meet the next speaker of the truth: myself."

"We won't let you." Robin said.

"Right, of course. There's that violent opposition I mentioned. It's funny. You want to stop me because you believe my acts are a threat to the world. Maybe you weren't listening, but your acts threaten the world far more then I do."

"We don't harm innocent people…" Starfire said.

"INNOCENCE IS IRREVELANT. Human civilization can no longer tolerate such nonsense as innocent or guilt, or good or evil. What needs to be addressed is the PRACTICAL ISSUES, and that issue is, CIVALIZATION NEEDS TO BE CLEANSED." The Lord snapped. "Read some history! The Roman Empire conquered nearly the entire known world, and then its leaders grew corrupt and deviant, and it collapsed like a sack of cards. Look at a map drawn during the 17th or 18th centuries by Britain, seems like the only part of the world they don't control is the ocean! Now they've been reduced to a small island with an inbred "royal family" which seems to exist mostly for people to gossip about. And new we have the States. And believe me, people are VERY bad at paying attention to history, so expect them to suffer the same fate. But…in here we have a problem. For while humans haven't changed at all since they were bashing each other over the head with clubs, the weapons certainly have. And this time, the corruption just needs to push a button, and the world vanishes in nuclear fire."

"You ain't the first to think that, you know."

"Maybe so, but I am the first to fully grasp the harsh, needed truth of this era. And that truth is that human society is teetering on the edge of an abyss, the bright lights of those who manage to tap their potential being drowned out by the tidal wave of wastrels who refuse to attempt it, instead hiding behind the notion that they "deserve" something from life instead of having to work for it. No one wants responsibility any more. They just want rewards, and they want them yesterday. This is not a society that can survive. And I will not let the brilliant creature that is the homo sapiens, the only creature on this planet granted the gift of the cerebral cortex, be destroyed by the animals that dare call themselves man, when all they tap is the reptile brain and limbic system! This will not be tolerated any more!"

"That's why there's us." Robin said.

"And that is the apex of the lie you believe. You believe that YOU are the ones who will save humanity from itself. No. You are the manifestation of the deepest lie of all: nothing is wrong. Or rather, nothing is wrong because you can't see anything is wrong. That is the rule that humanity has served under its whole existence, but it is a rule of an ANIMAL. Humanity is filled with ANIMALS. We could all be gods among living beings if we choose, but instead we choose to continue being hairless apes! THIS CANNOT BE ALLOWED! It is folly on a scale so large it boggles even my mind!" The Lord ranted. "You believe you are saving the world by defeating those like you, who wear costumes and claim to be greater then human due to an errant mistake that granted them a mutation, or because they were briefly able to tap their great potential and build something that allows them to destroy things with even more efficiency then what their animal natures can. Our whole civilization is built on trying to constantly find new ways for us to kill each other! We stumbled over all the other things our people made on our quest to make better weapons! You call ME insane? THAT IS INSANE!"

Robin wanted to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

"So…go ahead and believe your lies. Believe you are the saviors of humanity, here to stop me because I am deviant in your eyes and therefore must be destroyed. You are the deviants. You go and put a few people in jail and pat yourselves on the back for making the world a better place, while you ignore men and women harming each other and their children behind closed doors, ignore how people have been massacring each other for centuries because each has a different delusion and won't accept the other people's madness, ignore how people take their need to survive and combine it with their brain and produce nothing but ruin and atrocity. You think you know what you are and what I am? I'll tell you the absolute truth: in reality you are stupid, blind immature children. But I know who I am. I am the one who speaks the truth, the absolute truth, the truth that can save this world and this species. I am the one who will teach humanity to truly tap the nigh-infinite depths of potential life and reality has gifted this species with. I am the one who will take this species from the mud and bring them to the stars. But above ALL ELSE, I am the one who will look upon this world, and see all it's lies and waste for what it is, and I will stand up, take my blade, and I will do what no one else has the wherewithal and courage and ENLIGHTMENT to do: I will draw a line in the sand, and I will say THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER."

And then it was over, as the Lord stopped talking, his breath seething in and out through his teeth as he looked at the Titans, looked at what they would say that would decide everything.

"We'll make sure your padded cell is nice and thick." Robin said as he drew his staff and extended it, even as the Titans found their anger again, preparing themselves for combat.

The Lord sighed. Despite the fact that he known what was going to happen, actually seeing the children decide to continue to believe their lies rather then try and face the truth, as a true human being would muster the courage for, was disenchanting. But that was their choice.

"So you decide to stand against me."

"But of course." Robin said. "No matter what you think, we're the good guys. And as long as we draw breath, we will never let you complete the ritual."

"My dear child, whatever gave you the idea you are doing that?"

Robin's anger faded again as confusion came back. Robin pondered the Lord's words.

And then a possibility came to him that scared him so bad it chilled his blood as cold as ice.

"You claim MY claims are all a matter of perception. How ironic that your belief has come back to bite you. You came up here because you heard me chanting. You thought that my ritual was incomplete because there were no bangs or earthquakes or something of the sort. Child, let it be known that not everything must happen with a bang. Sometimes it is just a whimper. And sometimes people won't make any grand demonstrations until they have a proper audience. An audience that they strung along on their belief when they heard them coming up the stairs by sitting down and chanting some nonsense."

"Robin…what is he saying?" Starfire asked.

"Please don't tell me…" Raven said.

"Oh no…" Savior whispered, coming to the same realization that Robin had.

"Children, the ritual has already been completed. I finished it twelve minutes ago."

Silence. The Titans stared at the Lord. The Lord met their gaze.

"Perhaps you will try to sake the fear pouring through your veins, a true reaction of animals, by claiming I am lying? No children. I have the power. I can feel it within me. And if you really want to see it to believe it, then open up your eyes."

The Lord drew in a deep breath, and then he threw back his head to the heavens and roared.

The shadows, cast by the lights on the tower, suddenly were pulled away from the Titan's feet, being draw into the Lord's being, even as the night sky seemed to distort and then BEND DOWN, the blackness within spiraling downward.

Waves of force suddenly buffeted the Titans as the Lord called upon his new power, drawing on all the darkness within him and bringing it within himself, calling out to every shadow and blackness there was. With a small clang, his metallic arm suddenly fell off, the discarded limb lying there as shadow energy flowed out and formed into a new arm, as black as pitch, darker then any skin tone an "African-American" could ever possess. Living shadows writhed on the Lord's shoulders and then flowed downward, forming a long cloak of living black, the essence of the night itself, even as the scars on the Lord's face suddenly vanished, healing away like they had never been.

It was done. The Lord could now tap into every kind of darkness as a power supply, an infinite, ever-there battery, much like Trigon could with his tainted land. And with that power at his command, he could use it in any form he chose.

As black horns extended from the Lord's head and formed into a twisted crown, the Lord stopped his yell, lowering his eyes, no longer possessing any pupils, possessing nothing but inky orbs that still saw, looking at the Titans.

The name was no longer just a name.

The Lord of the Night was now a reality.

"So…Titans…do you see the truth now?" the Lord said. The most eerie thing was that despite the fact that he had just ascended to the level of a god, the Lord's voice remained unchanged.

And then Robin screamed as his fury roared back, pushing away his fear and his logic as he charged, swinging his staff.

The Lord lazily lifted one arm and blocked the metal rod. Robin went into a frenzy, combining all his learned techniques and his rage into a dancing fury of blows, going so fast most of the Titans only saw a blur.

And it didn't mean a damn thing, as the Lord, with an almost bored tone, blocked all the blows with his arms, and then to try and drive the point home, borrowed a move from Neo as he put one arm behind his back and blocked all of Robin's attack with one hand.

After several seconds of that, he finally countered, grabbing the staff, twisting it, and kicking Robin, lightly, in the chest. His "light" blow was still enough to send Robin flying back into the Titans, who caught him. The Lord lowered the staff and, with a flash of black power, disintegrated it into nothing.

"Now?"

"TITANS, GO!" Robin yelled.

The Lord almost respected the Titans as they charged. Courage was truly one of the greatest things that the human could do, fighting down the fear that comes with the desire to survive and acting blatantly against that desire in order to accomplish a seemingly higher goal.

A pity they could not let go of the lie that motivated the courage.

And so the Lord flew up as the Titans ran underneath him, stopping and preparing to change direction and press their attack.

"Sorry children." The Lord said, and thrust up his hand.

Some distance away, some people happened to be looking out onto the island the Titans lived on. From a distance, it didn't seem like much was happening.

And then it all changed, as the island suddenly exploded, the T-Tower blown to bits as a gigantic surge of power detonated on the island. A mushroom cloud plumed up as flaming wreckage rained for miles.

Above the smoke floated the Lord, looking down into the destruction he had wrought.

With ease.

"Goodbye children." The Lord said.

It was time to begin the cleansing. And no better place to start then Jump City.

The Lord turned and flew, ready and eager to begin humanity's final night.

Nothing was left of the T-Tower. All the Titans had built had been wiped out with a gesture, as if it never were.

But a building is but a thing. What matters are the people who built it.

Gasping in surprise, Cyborg stood, throwing the broken wreckage off of him. He blinked. What he saw overwhelmed him: his home, and all his friends…gone…

Black energy suddenly encased some wreckage and flung it into the air, as Raven emerged, coughing. A brachiosaur suddenly appeared, rubble raining off its huge body as Beast Boy coughed as well and turned human again.

Starfire appeared, dragging Robin from beneath a pile of twisted metal as she melted and blew it away, and Savior appeared a second later, the Shimmer hurling the wreckage aside.

"Oh god…everyone…are you ok…?" Robin said, testing his legs. Nothing was broken. It was a miracle.

"Yes and no…" Savior said. "We're unharmed…but we're still all doomed."

"How did we survive? Such power…" Starfire said.

"This wasn't meant as a killing strike. It was meant as a warning. I think, in some part of himself, the Lord respected some of our qualities, and instead of killing us, he did this. As a warning." Raven said, looking at the ruin of the island.

"We have to go after him!" Robin said.

"Dude, are you INSANE? You saw what he did! He blew our home into bits with a wave of his hand! Let Superman and the others handle him, we sure as hell…" Beast Boy said.

Explosions suddenly sounded in Jump City, and the sound of screaming suddenly wafted to the Titans. Beast Boy stopped, and then his face turned grim.

"Let's go kick his ass." He snarled.

"Yes. He spared us as a warning. I say fate spared us because we have a purpose. And that is to show the Lord the real ultimate truth." Robin said, as he felt for his belt. Wonder of wonders, his communicator still worked.

"But we won't stand alone." Robin said, as he punched in a code. "C'mon, pick up…yes. Hey Conner, Robin here. Listen up, we have a serious SERIOUS problem. Remember that idea you wafted by me last week? Did you ask the others? You did? GREAT. Get them. Now. Yes, NOW. And get to Jump City as fast as you can, all of you. I'll explain when you're here." Robin said.

"Who was that?" Raven asked.

"The Lord spared us because he liked us? Because we were "stupid, blind, immature children"? Well, I'm going to show him just how much power we "children" have."

"But Robin, why don't you get on the horn to, say, the older, MORE POWERFUL groups, and…" Cyborg began.

New explosions rocked the city. A building collapsed in flames.

"There's no time." Robin said. And he had another, unspoken reason. He and his friends were going to face the Lord…and if they fell, they would have hopefully bought enough time for the others to arrive.

But…

"Titans, GO!" Robin said, as the Titans headed for the greatest battle of their lives.