Disclaimer: I don't own the TT
Everyone was huddled into the tower, Superman and Batman included, devising a plan to attack. "The Watch Tower has a high proton laser here, here, here, and here. From the pictures of the satellites, there are beasts..." Batman pointed onto the screen. "Demons." Kyre interrupted. "Right. We'll split into two teams. Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, Superman. You'll be distracting the demons on the outside. Razor, Mark, you two will provide cover for the rest to get inside and dock with us. Inside there are three doors locked electronically. If they're not deactivated then the tower will activate its interior defensive system. Nightwing and Beast Boy will be in charge of the deactivation. After the three doors we'll come across the main room. Inside is an elevator that leads to the control panel up top."
The screen turned to a picture of the center of the Watch Tower's main room, "Once we have reached the control panel, we'll be able to shut down the Watch Tower. If this happens, the tower will no longer possess a threat. Kyre, you're with me; we'll be the ones to access the control panel. Darien, Razor, Mark, you three will defend us while we work our way to the control panel. Blackfire, you'll be our eyes. Using the satellite and once Nightwing reaches the computer to deactivate the three locks, you'll be able to access the security cameras. Warn us of any danger."
"What if we run into Odin." Beast Boy questioned. Everyone looked at each other, well, almost everyone. Razor kept his eyes closed as he was leaning against the wall. "Final Strike." Darien broke the silence. "Say what?" The metal titan on the couch was baffled. "We'll have Razor use the Final Strike technique. His sword is stronger than mine, plus Mark doesn't know how to use it. With it, we'll be able to knock him into one of Mark's portals and back to Lythia." "What's this Final Strike?" Starfire questioned.
"Final Strike is a knight's last resort when up against a heavily armored foe. They force their remaining power into their weapon's blade to strengthen it and sharpen the edge. They only have one chance. Once the blade touches something, the energy explodes out violently in a vortex to draw them inward. Pretty much guarantees a hit but it has its cost."
Raven's eyes trailed over to the red armored knight, "Like his father did when he used it against Odin, he'll lose his life." The Dark Knight's eyes quickly shot open, though they were covered by his sunglasses. "Losing your life just to defeat your enemy?" Cyborg almost choked.
"It's a sad fact but sometimes it's the only way we can protect the ones we love." Superman sighed. "You can't really be asking him to throw his life away like that!" Cyborg's voice was loud, angry. A trait rarely turned toward his friends, but when it was, it usually was justified. "Cy, I'm sorry. But, we've already talked it over. It's the only way. Razor agreed to do it." "But what about Rae? She'll be hurt!" Starfire blurted in. "I already know about their plan." "You...do? And you're going along with it?!" "It's not like I have a choice. If not, then how else are we supposed to protect Earth?" Razor sighed and slowly crept out of the room.
He strolled down the hallway carefully placing each step at a time. His mind raced through many questions, but, no matter how many times he asked a different question, the same answer popped out. 'It confirms it. I know who my true enemy is.' "You ok?" A voice was heard behind. He turned around to come face to face with Nightwing. "I am." "Are you truly sure you want to go through with it?" They stared at one another, neither speaking for what seemed minutes. "I see. If that's the case, all I really can say is sorry for not being able to find another way." "I always expected the to happen. Tell me something." "Huh?" "Have you ever discovered something perfect. But eventually found out that it was too perfect to be true?" "Can't say that I have. Why?" "No reason. I'll meet you in space." With that, he left.
Near the edge of the Ozone Layer was a silver armor drifting around. A strange silver aura surrounded his body, providing him with air and protecting him from the coldness of space. Suddenly a series of small words with four red squares appeared on his sunglasses. "They're here." Was all that escaped his lips. In front of him, barely within sight was the T-Sub and Javelin 7. The T-Sub suddenly split into five different parts, each one a smaller ship. In the middle of all six ships was a lone figure wearing armor and wielding a sword in each hand. A silver aura blazed around his body in a brilliant display.
"Razor, this is Superman. Do you hear?" Superman's voice came into his helmet. "I read you loud and clear. I've estimated at least two hundred demons defending the tower." "Roger that. Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, let's do it." The man of steel appeared from the hatch on the side of Javelin 7, he wasn't wearing his normal suit but instead a suit designed for space. He immediately took off toward the tower with the other three, all flying ahead. Before Razor's eyes erupted a battle of fire and flesh. Demons erupted in flames as lasers from the ships tore open their scale hides. Lasers from the tower shot out at the four attackers, barely missing and catching its own in its blast.
"Let's go." Nightwing ordered. The Javelin 7 and two smaller ship sped toward the tower, Razor and Mark beside them providing protection. As Batman landed the Javelin 7 in the hanger, Nightwing yelled out into his communicator. "Hurry it up DK." The Lythian knight pulled his sword from a demon's chest and made a mad dash toward the hanger door. Armor's transformation parts activating to add more speed. As he landed onto the hard steel floor, he rolled over from the rough landing and into the wall. "Be careful and don't fowl up." Came Batman's scowl.
The group slowly pressed through the tower, weapons ready for any danger. "No demons. Is it a good thing or a bad?" Beast Boy questioned. "Bad." Replied the former Boy Wonder. They came toward a fork, one leading right, another left. "Nightwing, you and Beast Boy head left. At the intersection turn right and pass three doors on the left. The next will be the security lock's computer room. Batman stared at Nightwing, and he stared back. Then, the titan leader left down the hallway with the green one close behind. The others pursued down their hallway.
All believed that the next thing they'd see would be the locked door. But they were proved wrong. The walls were covered in ice, along with the ceiling. "Like it." Andreal's voice was heard. In a bright flash of light, Andreal and Calrestria appeared before the group. "Damn, not now." Kyre cursed his luck, "Batman, Razor, Mark, Darien. Leave these two to me." "You can't be serious." Darien was not at all shocked at Kyre's request. "We can't afford for all of us to be slowed down. I'll take care of them and then join you." "Sorry boys, but your assault ends here." Calrestria smirked as she pointed her staff at Kyre. Winds erupted from it at high speeds, capable of blowing them far back or ripping through the flesh that wasn't protected.
Razor immediately jumped in front of Kyre and unsnapped his bracer and ripped off his metal glove. The jewel on the aura gauntlet started to glow as the winds ceased to exist while a strange blue energy was pulled out of the air and into the gauntlet. "Typhoon. Interesting spell." He slid on his glove and picked up his bracer and snapped it back on. Kyre quickly drew his axe and sword before charging passed Razor. With one gigantic swing of his axe, two pillars of fire erupted from the ground and encased the two skylians. "Now go!" He didn't have to ask twice, for all three of them dashed passed him and the two skylians and out of sight.
"Damn, Kyre, you better not die." Darien cursed out loud. "He'll be fine." Mark reassured. They slowly came to the first lock. It was a large metal door with a humongous lock in the center. Batman approached it as it slowly unlocked and opened itself. "They made it. Good." "Careful. Five demons are waiting behind the second door." Blackfire warned them through their ear pieces and helmets. "Describe them." Mark ordered. "Giant lizards with black spikes on their shoulders. All of them are wearing some kind of leather and holding a spear." Mark and Razor looked at each other, "Lizardmen." "Gotcha. Thanks. Fortunately for us I know what spell to use." Darien smirked as they came to the second locked door.
The door opened slowly and revealed three demons, each armed with a spear. Darien pointed a hand at them, "Mist of Kivera!" A chilly breeze erupted from his palm and collided with the demons. "Heh, frozen statues. I could become an ice artist with work like this." He joked. The others groaned at his comment as they ran forward. "Ok guys, they next door has a large man made out of rock." "Rock golem. Darien." Razor said as he looked at his partner.
Coming to the third door, it opened faster than the other two. The rock golem behind it roared in fury as it charged with its gigantic stone club was gripped in one hand. A blinding circle of light surrounded the golem, paralyzing its very movement, as Razor leaped into the air drawing Neo and split the creature in half. Without even taking a breather, all ran down the rest of the hallway until they came to an automatic door. As it opened, they were presented with a surprise capable of killing any man by just mentioning it.
Odin himself was present. He black armor outlined in gold in certain areas reflected the light from up above. In his hand was a long glowing red spear, while at his side in its scabbard was a large single edged sword. On the side of his right forearm was a green glowing claw attached to what one would conceive as a firing mechanism with a chain or rope inside. On the left forearm was large device housing the tip of a blade glowing yellow. It was clear that he could easily extend the blade as he willed. He turned toward the young group of men, his dark brown eyes moved from body to body as he tucked a lock of long black hair behind his ear. He stepped closer and closer, causing his crimson cape to sway left and right.
"Razor and Mark McKlan, Darien Therous, ah, and Batman. What a pleasant surprise." The chilling voice of Odin rung through the room. "Batman go." Whispered Mark. The caped crusader dashed toward the elevator and dove inside, pressing a button to close the doors and make it rise. Razor took two steps forward as Odin stopped. "Mark!" As the Astral Knight crossed his blades, a portal appeared behind Odin, leading to the one planet containing the power to destroy him. "Fools, what makes you think you could easily send me back!" "Simple, Razor, use it! Final Strike!" Darien ordered.
Darien and Mark turned their heads to watch as Razor took a stance, readying his blade for the attack. Then, without any warning, he turned around with the tip of the blade touching Darien's throat. "Who are you!" He commanded. "Rayz, bro. It's me! Darien. What are you doing?" "You're not Darien. This is all an illusion. You're an illusion!" "What makes you think that I'm an illusion?!" "So many clues pointing that fact out." "Raven, Kyre's betrayal, Mark's back attack, you desperately wanting me to use the Final Strike, and Kyre's failed attempt at explaining the technique."
Mark approached him cautiously with a hand raised in reassurance, "Razor, it's us. Turn your sword around and use it to strike Odin down!" "No! It all makes so perfectly clear now. Kyre would never betray Mark, his honor won't let him. Mark, even though he works for Odin, has a sense of honor and would never attack his opponent from the behind unless strictly ordered by Odin himself to do so. The real Darien would never want me to use the Final Strike so early on. He knows how bad it will drain a person. Plus, Kyre didn't completely get the strike right. How could he? He never saw it in action nor has ever been told by a user how it works. He would only knew about it through legend. And the legend portrays it as a sacrificing technique. The Darien I know would have corrected him, but, instead he agreed."
Everything around him suddenly faded black, his armor disappeared and he was now in his normal attire, trench coat and all, except all of his weapons were missing. Odin in front of him faded and Raven replaced him, except her voice was different. "The question is, is it truly for the technique?" "You're smart. I'll give you that." Andreal's voice was head out of Raven's mouth. "One part puzzles me though. Why did you create a character like Raven?" "You wouldn't use the technique unless you had a reason to. Defending a planet you couldn't really care about isn't reason enough, for you at least. No, we had to create a reason." "So you created her." "Yes we did. We took your personality and created someone who'd match it to an extent so you could find comfort in them."
This of course brought a small laugh to Razor's usually calm demeanor, "You did a good job, I'll admit. Too good of a job. She seemed like she was just made for me in the beginning. That's when I started to get suspicious. And just to satisfy your own needs, you yourself decided to play the role in disguise." "Why not? A body such as yours shouldn't go to waste." "If Mark was so desperate to learn the technique, why didn't he just challenge me to a duel?" "You fool, we also needed information about your power while it's at its peak!" "I see. With my information, he could easily create a defense capable of warding me off and create his own army of dark knights as he desires."
"You catch on quickly. To bad you'll never be...what the?!" He watched an Andreal's face turned to horror. "Stay back! I'm warning you! Dammit!" Suddenly she disappeared before his very eyes as the ground beneath his feet disappeared. He was now floating in a vast emptiness. "So, I guess this time I lost." He sighed as he brought his cybernetic hand to his face and stared at the glove. "Razor..." The voice of a woman echoed in his mind. "No, don't leave me..." 'That voice! Nova?' "Please open up your eyes and look at me." 'I want to but I can't.'
A strange tunnel of light started to form in front of him, slowly his body drifted toward it, as if it where a magnet and he was metal. As he body touched it, he suddenly found himself looking into a room. He was in a large tank filled with a water based liquid. Long cables were hooked up to his arms as a mask was tightly fitted around his mouth an nose. His body was very weak and soar all over. It was clear that he was pretty badly wounded. The wounds on his torso and legs were proof of that. Much of his torn green pants were stained with his red blood, it was a very sickly sight.
He looked to his left and saw several machines, obviously the ones that were used to put him in that strange virtual world and measure his power. Fire were in certain areas of the room, bodies laid across the floor. Many were slain with a blade, others seemed to be riddled with bullets. In front of him was a very stunning skylian. Her mid-back length blue hair, tightly fitted azure robe with a slit all the way up the left leg. 'Nova?' Was the only word that seemed to pop in his mind. "Good! You're alive!" She cried out with joy. Darien appeared behind her in his white armor, twin set of machine guns were in each hand.
"Time to free him." He said as he fired at the doorway to cause a small group of demons to dive back out. Nova took her golden staff and swung it with both hands like a bat, shattering the glass and sending the liquid to the ground. She immediately moved forward to catch the weaken knight in her arms. "Razor, it's alright. You're safe." "What're you doing here bird?" He questioned with a weak voice. "Rescuing you of course!" "Why?" "How many times have you rescued me? Besides, I'd feel bad if something happened to you." "I thought you hated humans." "Hush now. Brother, come on!" She yelled at Darien.
He quickly stood beside her as she said a small chant. With a flash of light, they disappeared and reappeared on the outskirts of the base in a forest. In front of them was a knight wearing gray armor with a katana in one hand. Beside him, stabbed into the ground, was Neo and a duffle bag beside it. A white wolf suddenly leapt up at Razor but was quickly held off by Darien, "Down Chet! He's pretty banged up at the moment for you to go pouncing on him!"
Nova sat Razor down against a tree and knelt over him, "How you feeling?" She waiting for a reply but got none. "You're lucky we decided to go out looking for you. You owe us big time pal! Look, we even managed to take your stuff back." She pointed at the sword as he slowly turned his head to look at it. "Well? I'm waiting for you to say "Thank you Nova". Come on, I know you really want to say it." "Whatever." "Still have that attitude I see." She sat down beside him. "Hmm, with him in this condition, we'll have to take him back to the palace. Hopefully the queen will allow it." "I'm sure mother will allow it." Nova confirmed.
"Nightshade, grab his stuff, I'll grab Razor." Darien ordered. "No, I'll take him. You take Chet." Nova helped Razor to his feet before getting beside him and helped him walk to the edge of the forest, which was only a couple yards away. Once free of the trees, she got behind him and wrapped both arms around his waist before stretching out her wings and taking flight.
END
