Shifting Tides:
A Fanfiction by Keystone
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't em. Sorry. Especially the tunes. Wish I owned them.
Author's note: Okay, chapter three is up. I hope you all enjoyed the transformation of the Titans and the introduction of the new threat. So, for this one, trust me, take some time and download the following song:: 1776, by Iced Earth. I will instruct you wen to play them. Trust me, they're cool to have. Anyway, thanks to those who have read and reviewed. Oh, and be sure to go check out a story called "A Hero Is Born", by Dr. Evans. It is a fairly cool little fic and I think you'd enjoy it.
Shifting Tides
As the dust cleared, the Titans were left alone in the clearing. All were again fully clothed and could feel the holy power surging through their veins. They seemed to now be able to combat the horde of monsters on their own terms. Thinking their powers may have been supercharged by the angels, Cyborg decided a small test was in order. He exposed his sonic cannon, which hummed a cool blue, and sighted a nearby boulder. Then he fired on it, aiming dead center.
He expected it to be shattered on impact, like his blasts usually did to such things, but instead was surprised to see the beam focus down and pierce the stone, front to back, while leaving the rest of it untouched. A rather pleasant development he found.
The rest of the Titans were busy examining their own powers and new outfits. Robin had discovered his staff, when extended, would glow with a golden light, and seemed to radiate cold fire. He swung the radiant bo straight down, then completed a series of twisting strikes, lunges, and charges which left a golden trail fading through the air.
Starfire charged her hands. The normally emerald aura about them was this time replaced with a scarlet dome of power. She fired the at the surface of the lake nearby, and watched in surprise as two separate geysers of steam erupted from the top of the water. Instead of going through the lake and impacting on the bottom, they boiled away all the water they touched. Testing her eye beams, she discovered they too were now red, and fired in a laser thin line, slicing a tree clean in half.
Nodding in appreciation, Beast Boy went through his most powerful animal forms. First, the gorilla, then the Tyrannosaurus, then a bull, then a bear, then an eagle, then, on a hunch, he attempted to become new creatures. The blessing of God had allowed him also to shift into two new forms: the Holy Dragon and the Phoenix. As he flew though the air, describing a large number of circles, he experimented with the Phoenix's fire abilities ad then descended to the ground and took his dragon shape. Contrary to his belief about the form, the dragon was about the size of th gorilla, but covered in rippling iron bands of bands of muscle. He also possessed a powerful tail and could not breath any kin of attack, much o his dismay.
Raven observed her friends new skills, and then herself began to experiment. "Azerath Metrion Zinthoss!!" she yelled, directing the now white energy to a patch of the water on the lakes' surface. Expecting the water to rise and form a wave, she discovered instead that her words created a maelstrom, then a colossal wave, then formed into the shape of a humanoid water creature. She yelped in surprise and lost control of the water, and it all disbanded. Turning to the stones around her, she picked up stones and hurled them at each other, watching in delight as they shattered. Then the rubble began to swirl and form a man sized form of stone.
Realizing that she could summon these elemental soldiers at whim, she began to focus on the rest of her abilities. Now she could project blasts of mental shockwaves from her hands, capable of shattering anything unwise enough to stand before her.
After a few minutes of experimenting with their newfound talents, Robin turned to address the fellow members of his team. "Alright, now we can fight on our terms," seeing every member of his team smile at te thought of sweet vengeance, then added with his own charismatic smile, "Tenn Titans, Go!!"
No sooner had he spoke than a large cerulean vortex manifested and swallowed them up in its cavernous maw. Falling through the now common gates, the five soldiers wondered where they were going when a familiar voice broke through. "One final gift," the voice of Michael echoed in their mind, "When you need to travel great distances, you merely need to focus on the destination and the Holy Fire will take you there..." then trailed off.
Each teen absorbed this profound info and steeled themselves for the battle ahead. "Everybody focus on the Tower," said Beast Boy, "That's where we last saw them. Besides, that's our home, not theirs. Their not even paying rent." He said.
"Yeah and I bet their playing all our video games BB," Cyborg added with a growl. All of them had a reason for going back to the Tower first, and as they saw it rush into view, the prepared themselves for the coming struggle.
A single low ranking demon named Hak'ash patrolled the shattered main chamber of the captured humans command center. As he paced back and forth across the burned and dirtied carpet, he let out a small yelp when a large blue vortex appeared in the center of the room. He saw the five individuals exit the swirl and turned to call his superiors when a red beam of power lashed out and pulped all that was his torso. He was dead, again, before he hit the ground.
Expecting more resistance, the Titans stayed in formation, Beast Boy taking a Raptor form for the mobility he felt was needed. When none came, Robin felt that the tower should be restored to their home. "Spread out," he ordered, "Kill all of them you can find, and set up any kind of defensive structure you can make. Well use the Tower as our base of operations, and use the maintenance tunnels down on the Beach to enter and Exit unseen."
They all seemed to agree and each went their separate ways, Robin down the main hall, Raven for the girls corridors, Beast Boy the boys, Starfire the basement and garage, and Cyborg straight up to the roof.
Go ahead and play "1776" now if you downloaded it. Feel the vibe during the fights.
They each searched very carefully, but found maybe two or three demons each. Robin let out a fierce war cry when he came across two snarling forms and charged. Exchanging excited glances from the Angelic scent he now carried on him, they drew horrible looking blades and met his charge head on. Only when he was face to face with them did he do a flip over the confused enemies and sent flying kicks to the napes of their necks. A third monstrosity rounded a corner just as his two companion fell to the floor dead. He threw his black shield to the ground and pulled a wicked spear from its resting place on his back and charged him. Robin withdrew his staff, felt the cold energy wash across it and himself and lept toward his assailant, ducking at the last moment and rolling forward behind the leader. In one single motion he swung the bo around behind him and severed the monsters upper half from his lower. As the body continued to smolder, Robin dashed off looking for any signs of additional creatures.
Raven took advantage of the bulk of the two beasts shambling towards her. Their bodies were covered with mountains of muscle and twisted black armor gave them immense strength, but to Raven's observation, also slowed them down considerably, given the small size of the Towers' hallways. She mentally launched a broken segment of wall at the closest hunter, pulping its right arm. Howling in pain it charged at her and clumsily launched a punch with it's useless left arm. She levitated to the right and moved face to face with the creature. "Azerath Metrion Zinthoss!" she chanted all the while, and launched a white energy cloaked boot towards his jaw in a back-flip kick. Without catching her breath she shoved the creature away with her telekinesis and into his partner. The two tumbled in a mass of muscle and Raven concentrated on the ceiling overhead and brought it crashing down on the two prone, stunned figures. Then she pressed th mass of rubble down, ever harder until green blood seeped out of the crevices. Turning swiftly she moved further through the tower, a hunter on the prowl for predators.
Beast Boy discovered his Raptor form was of great use. He could move swiftly and quietly down the padded corridors of Titan Tower and was able to approach behind a group of three black horned monsters. He had caught them daydreaming and they would pay for their lack of vigilance. Stalking forward in the shadows, he finally lunged ahead and caught the three guards unaware. He dug his toe claw into the back of the first inattentive guard then whipped his tail around and caught the second in the neck with such force it separated his head from his body. His size, combined with his momentum allowed him to bound ahead off of the back of the first slain sentry and he grabbed a mouthful of unholy steak and ripped it free of its owner, who promptly fell forward, dead before he hit. Then he reverted back to human form to scrape the awful goo out of his mouth. "Dude, demon meat? Yuuuuck!!" Then he shifted to a panther and stalked the rest of the Tower for more threats.
Starfire took a different approach and charged head on towards the four black armored devils in front of her. Not even powering up her bolts, she simply collided with the group and fought the old fashioned way. Standing her ground she launched and openhanded strike to the warrior on her right, then grabbed his outstretched hands and tossed him over her shoulder into the fiend on her left. Before the to had even hit the ground she flew over to them and in midair did a straight down vertical spin kick, cratering the basement floor. Then she did an about-face and descended to the floor, rushing the other two soldiers. Intent on sending them back to from whence they had come, she blocked one hastily aimed punch and smote her attacker with an uppercut, removing is head from his body. The leader of this group, if fazed, was determined not to show it. He sprinted for her, swinging his right leg in a sweep attack, which connected. Starfire flipped up in the air and deftly evaded the swung arm from the ebony evil. She did a turn in the air and landed on her feet just in time to be caught by the shoulder of the rushing enemy. She fell to the ground but grabbed his shoulders and shoved her feet into his chest while simultaneously pulling down on his arms, propelling him head first into the steel walls of the garage. It would take a while to clean up the mess, but she paid no attention as she flew threw the maintenance tunnels searching for other soon to be dead opponents.
Cyborg wasted no time in pounding up the steps and blowing the hatch open to the roof. With his new, far more powerful sonic cannon ready he emerged to find one black fighter, roughly his size and build standing there, his two arms formed of solid rock. Sneering at the armored human in front of him, he rushed and attacked, but Cyborg caught boh his punches in his own hands and squeezed. Normally he was the strongest member of the team, now, only Superman himself could possibly stand to challenge him. He laughed out loud and crushed the demons hands arm threw a steel punch straight into the beasts' stomach. He doubled over in pain and Cyborg used the opportunity to raise both fists high into the air and lock them together. Then he kicked straight ahead of him and caught his foe in the chest, causing his body to lurch upward, with his face being thrust toward the sky. The grin departed Cyborg's face as he brought his clenched hands down into his foes face, his body bending under the force of the blow into shapes no body should be able to. Seeing the roof was clear he turned to walk back into the tower, then stopped, went back and kicked the fallen demon as hard as he could, launching him off the roof and into the city below.
After the Titans had cleared the Tower and set up barricades and booby traps throughout the halls, they decided to sit and come up with a course of action. Starfire spoke first. "We should exit our home and try to save the city. With the new gifts we have been blessed with by the Gods, we stand a fair chance of winning."
"Come on, Star. We only won here because we caught them in small numbers and overwhelmed them with surprise." Raven responded. "We need to come up with plan."
"I dunno. I agree with Star. Lets go in and kick some unholy ass! They earned it." Beast Boy commented. Obviously, they all agreed, but knew they needed some kind of strategy if they wanted to really emerge victorious.
Countering the enthusiastic veggie lover was Cyborg. "Think about it man. There are thousands of them. And more are coming through those portals every second. Our first step should be to find a way to close them for good. Once they cant bring in reinforcements, then I say we give it to them good." He exposed his cannon for emphasis.
Listening to his team squabble over the correct course of action, an idea suddenly hit Robin. "Hey, wait a minute. Didn't those angels say they were after a deserter? A very powerful one?" he said, a grin breaking over his face. "Well, maybe if we can find him-"
Beast Boy cut him off "Or her." he said with a sarcastic smile.
"Or her," Robin said, shooting death glares at Beast Boy who promptly became a kitten and hid behind Starfire's legs. "Then maybe we can convince them to join us and we can help them escape and secure their freedom. Michael never said they were evil, just charged with power from that side."
Considering Robins proposal, Starfire spoke up in agreement. "Yes Robin, we shall find this soldier and convince him to join us." she finished with a huge smile.
Now, with a plan and the power to see it through, the Titans assembled and focused on the city plaza. "It seems like as good a place as any to look for a rampaging renegade," Cyborg said.
As the blue vortex sent them to their destination, The middle of the plaza was a war zone. With one figure standing among a pile of twisted and broken bodies. Not human ones, but the horrible bodies of the invading hell fighters. As the swirl appeared in front of him and five individuals stepped out, ready for anything, he decided to greet them. His way.
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So there you go. The Titans strike back at the Devils army and win their first battles. Now tat they have a plan, however, could they convince the Hellspawn to join them for redemption and assistance? Or will the do each other in the same fashion as they dispatched their own foes? Stay tuned. Oh yeah, drop a review my way why don't ya? Thanks.