Chap. 15

By the Pricking of my Thumbs...

20 minutes ago

"Man, this place seems to go on forever." said Nighstalker, as they walked through the tunnel. "It has to end somewhere." replied Raven, as she paused to pull her foot out of a hole in the earth. "Yeah that' what worries me." Said Nightstalker, as he looked up. "If I'm right, there's about twelve tons of seawater right over our heads. If Slade wanted to trap us..." "Ok, now I'm getting depressed." said Raven, "Let's just keep going." "Yeah, right." muttered the man-bat, as he continue to move along,

Suddenly, a voice began to echo from ahead. "Hurry, we don't have much time before the ritual must be done." Both heroes turned to each other and mouthed, "Slade." They quickly crouched behind a large rock to gain a view of what was ahead of them. What they saw was quite impressive. Slade was supervising a team of his robots in the construction of a large, golden arch. It stood on four legs and seemed large enough to hold a man underneath it. On top of it was a strange decoration, that resembled something used to hold an egg. Slade looked at it, almost longingly. Then he turned, revealing the gem cradled in his arms.

Both heroes saw this. Quickly ducking behind the rock, Nighstalker whispered, "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." "Shakespeare?" Raven whispered back. "And Bradbury. We've got to get that thing away from him." "If you can take down the drones, I might be able to levitate it out of his hands." "No problem." He said, unsheathing his sword. There was a brief hiss as it left the metal. Slade cocked his head. Suddenly there was an inhuman screech and a blue figure leapt up and slashed a droid right in half. "You always did like the direct route." said Slade, as he noncommittally watched his druids fight on. "What can... I say?" panted Nightstalker, his sword a deadly wave. "It's.. the fun way." "Good too see you again you know." replied Slade, as he began to walk towards his foe. "I was starting to miss the challenge the B.R.A.T.S gave me." "What, can't handle the Titans?" said Nightstalker, as he slashed the last droid. "Not as well as I'd like, but now..." Slade paused for a second as the gem in his hand suddenly glowed black. He looked at it for a moment, then shook his head. "Don't you know it's wrong to steal other people's property?" Slade gave the gem a slight squeeze, and the black departed. Following was a scream of pain. "Raven!" Nightstalker yelled in fury, as he charged his foe. But Slade simply pointed the gem at him, and Nightstalker found himself enveloped in a beam of light.....

"Uhh.." Raven opened her eyes to find Slade leaning down into her face. "I'd heard you were strong." He said. "Looks like they were wrong." "Let's find out." She growled. "Azarath, Metrion, Zin.." "Don't bother." Said Slade, cutting her off. "Even if I wanted to find out your strengths, you don't have any at the moment." Raven then realized, that she was chained to the wall. "Don't bother struggling." Said Slade. He patted the gem, which was glowing with a strange light. "You see, you and the bat draw your powers from otherworldly sources. The gem is able to negate them, and leave you powerless." "What did you do with Brett?" Raven asked, ignoring her predicament. "Nothing.. yet." He answered, moving aside to reveal an unconscious Brett, unarmored, and chained to the wall. "You know," spoke Slade. "he does look quite pathetic like that. Perhaps I should wake him. And I know just how." Turning his head to Raven, he continued. "Being the Shadow Knight does have one weakness, you know." As the glow from the gem became brighter and brighter, Slade pointed it at Brett and finished, "An extreme intolerance for concentrated light." Suddenly, a beam of light shot out and struck the Elemental. Brett threw his head back, and let out a huge screech of pain as the light flowed through his body. Slade watched for a moment, then turned the beam off. Brett collapsed, panting, then he looked up and saw Slade. "So...you...learned... some.. tricks." He managed to get out. "More then you know." Said Slade. "You're not the only one who can mix technology and magic." Slade bent and placed a cylinder on the ground. Pressing a button on it's side, he stepped back as it opened and projected into the air an image of Raven. "Nice holoprojecter. How's it gonna do you any good?" asked Brett. Slade held up his hand. In it was a Titans communicator. "I thought we'd invite some more friends to witness my re-birth as a god." Said Slade.

10 minutes ago...

Outside the pier house, the air began to chill. Suddenly, a flow of ice began to appear, seemingly from nowhere. As the slide solidified, it's maker fly off it, and onto the ground. Behind him, his half-man companion slid off and fell hard. Shaking off the impact, Cyborg stood up and said, "Can't you guys do anything simple Like let me get a cab or something?" "Well yeah." said Heatstrike as he landed. "But this is more super-hero, don't you think?" "Whatever." He muttered. Looking over the pierhouse, he said, "This is defiantly the place the signal came from. But where are they?" "Well somebody's coming." said Polar suddenly, pointing to the sky. Cyborg looked up and saw Scarlet Whimpernel and Starfire flying down to the docks.

"So you guys got the message too?" asked Whimpernel as he landed. "Yep." Said Cy. Suddenly, he noticed that there were a few strands of dried purple goo stuck to heir clothes and hair. "Did something happen to you guys?" he asked. "Plasmus." Replied Star. "Ah. So, do you think anyone else is coming?" "Seems possible." said a voice from above, as Bartman and Robin swung down from the sky. "Is this it?" said Robin. "Yeah." Answered Cy. With that, Robin turned and began to walk towards the building. "Determined isn't he?" said Heatstrike. "Hold on Rob." Said Whimpernel, stepping in front of the boy wonder. "We should wait till we're at full strength. We' don't know what's in there." "Actually we do." said Neuron, suddenly whizzing into view. Jumping back few feet, Robin asked, "Can you please not do that?" "Sorry, but I've got some info. Beast Boy dug under the house and managed to figure this out. There's about three tunnels in there and two of them lead into the ocean. He managed to find the right one and he's waiting there for us. Shall we go then?"

Now..

The group of young heroes made their way through the tunnels. "Are you sure about this?" asked Beast Boy. "I can't see a thing." "Yeah, it's darker in here then it is in my dad's head." agreed Bartman. "He's gotta be down here somewhere." Replied Robin, in a tone that suggested he wasn't going to be deterred. Suddenly a burst of light of light lit up the tunnel, blinding them. "Okay, maybe I was wrong." said Beast Boy. "Come on, he must be activating it!" yelled Neuron, as he sped ahead. The others followed in hot pursuit.

They reached the end of the tunnel, but what they saw made them stop in shock. Slade was standing inside an arch-like structure, and the light that had surrounded them was pouring into his body. He stood there transfixed as the raw power flowed into his body. On his sides, Raven and Brett were chained to the wall. Brett appeared to be straining against some kind of pain, and Raven looked drained. "Come on!" yelled Cyborg as he, Beast Boy, and Polar ran over to the wall. They began to pull apart the chains, only to suddenly hear Brett scream, "No! Stop Slade! Hurry, it's almost finish..." Suddenly there was one final burst of light, followed by a wave of pure force that shattered the chains and threw everyone back. As they attempted to detangle themselves from one another, they saw Slade walk down form the arch, his body glowing with the light. He raised his fist then pointed it at the wall. A dart of light shot out, blasting a hole the wall that dynamite couldn't have done. Turning back to the group, he said two words; "Who's first?"