Chapter 12: Sword of Damocles
"In Flagrante Ira."
("In Blazing Rage.")
"You know what makes leadership? The ability to get men to do what they don't want to do, and like it."
-Harry Truman
Savior wasn't going to make it, and he knew it.
For all the determination in his heart and soul, it just wasn't enough to put the wings on his feet that he needed to reach the helicopter in time. That wasn't stopping him though, as he ran and used the Shimmer as much as he could to cut into the distance between him and the falling aircraft. As Savior had said many times, he was a metahuman, and if you insisted on calling him it, a superhero. He was not a god: his powers didn't let him cross vast distances in the blink of an eye or be in two places at once.
And it appeared that that fact would result in Maddie Fenton's death (and Danny's, though Savior didn't know he was on the helicopter). And there was nothing he could do.
That didn't slow his pace any.
He ran and leapt as fast as he could, even though he knew there was no way he'd make it.
And afterward, if the boy or his family and friends wanted to blame him for the death…let them. He'd shoulder it. He'd done it before.
It was part of the life.
To take the blame for the death.
Danny couldn't care whether Noel Collins was willing to let himself be the magnet of the hate and blame that would result when the helicopter crashed, because he was determined to ensure there was no reason to target him with such vitriol because he was GOING to get his mother free. He had forgotten everything outside of that determination…including the point that even if he could somehow break the handcuffs, he had no way to get his mother out of the helicopter safely: there was nothing to jump onto or for except the ground, and even if the fall didn't kill them, it would certainly injure them enough to prevent them from moving before the helicopter landed on their heads, or landed nearby and killed them via the explosion or shrapnel.
Such a dearth of hope didn't even register with Danny Fenton, neither did the blood on his hands or the utter exhaustion in his body, as he yanked and tore at the handcuffs, as the Fenton-copter continued to spiral to the ground in its death throes…
"Da...nny…"
Danny looked up.
His mother was look at him, faintly, through a slightly milky eye. Sizzle's unneeded ability to generate fire while using the weapons of the F.U.M.B.L.E had allowed her to devote all her strength to keeping Maddie Fenton's consciousness tightly locked up, which had been very handy: while some of her other possessees had fought her control, none had done so with the ferocity of Maddie Fenton, and when Danny had turned back into a human and Maddie Fenton finally realized she was fighting her son (the hosts could see everything Sizzle did, they just couldn't change it, and when the link between them was severed, it screwed up the brain's synapses and made them forget everything they had seen), the fighting had increased tenfold. It was testament to how great Sizzle's psychotic rage towards Danny Phantom was that she had managed to hold down the righteous rage of a mother…but as it had been said, what had happened to her was inhuman to the extreme, and against such a force, most human qualities simply cannot compete, not even the desire of a mother to protect her child.
A tragedy.
"Mom! Hold on! I'll get you out!" Danny yelled, as he continued to claw at the handcuffs, even as the helicopter corkscrewed down…
"Danny…I'm…oh…Danny…" Maddie Fenton whispered.
"Mom…" Danny replied.
And then the tail rotor hit the side of a skyscraper, and the helicopter, briefly caught up, lurched downward at an extreme angle, throwing Danny into his mother. He barely seemed to notice as he tried to get back up and pull himself over to the handcuffs…
And then he saw it, at the downward angle out the window…how close the ground was…and he knew then he wasn't going to get his mom free.
So, he tried, once more, to go ghost.
And he found that option was gone to him as well.
And he realized that for all his fighting…he'd failed. Now he would die…and so would his mom, and that was what hurt the most, as he turned and looked back at her, and yet…there was a look in her eye, a look of acceptance, like she had accepted her fate…and…
Pride.
"My boy." Maddie said, as she brought up her hand and brushed the side of Danny's head, in the way only a mother can.
Danny looked at her, as the helicopter spun the final time.
And then he hugged her.
"We hope you enjoyed the ride!" The computer chirped.
And then it all seemed to go in slow motion, the helicopter slamming into the ground, tail end first, a terrible rumbling going through the machine even as the weight and downward momentum began to crush the machine against the ground like a tin can, even as new explosions erupted from the aircraft, what was left of the cockpit shattering around Danny and his mother, as the fuel tank ruptured and gas began to pour out, almost immediately meeting sparks from all the tearing and rending metal…as Starfire flew down, grabbed the handcuff, snapped the chain like it was made of sugar glass, and then grabbed Danny and his mom, pulling the woman from her harness like it wasn't there, and flew upward as fast as she could even the Fenton-copter exploded beneath them, a gigantic pillar of flaming death clawing up after the three as if in a rage that these two had been lost to it, even as Starfire spun and flew away from the exploding machine, as it emitted a noise in its death throes like the final cry of a beast long lost in the primordial ooze in the past.
It was so shocking it felt like a punch in the stomach to Danny, and before he realized what had happened Starfire had finished her upward flight and was now floating there, taking a few deep breaths.
"Looks like…my timing…was most auspicious." Starfire said, and smiled slightly at Danny.
"…Suh, suh-Starfire?"
"Yes Danny, it is I. Sorry I could not recover and return to aid you until now, but I think you can forgive…"
And then one final explosion shook the ground, as the last remaining ammo and missiles went up, and then suddenly it was there, as the main rotor of the helicopter flew off and up into the air like the devil had thrown it himself, a spiraling clutch of blades wreathed in flame and as black as pitch that spun up towards the three floating figures as the Fenton-copter made one last gasp in its apparent desire to drag its occupants to hell.
"Oh dear." Starfire said.
And Danny found his mother and himself in freefall again as Starfire let them go, even as the whirling, fragmenting death curved slightly, and even as the Fentons fell past it the blade whirled up, as Starfire twisted and contorted her body into a shape she should not have been able to make, the twirling slicing thing eager to slice her body into sashimi…
Several strands of Starfire's hair and a bit of her skirt was snipped off as the rotor missed by the length of a pinkie finger, and as Starfire spun away it flew past and tore into the side of the building nearby, glass shattering and furniture exploding into fragments even as the rotor broke apart and fired off more shards of deadly broken metal, turning the entire floor of the office into a war zone.
Good thing the employees that usually worked here had cleared out a while ago. Not every building was stupid enough to keep working when someone was flying a helicopter around and shooting everything that moved.
Danny didn't even get time to scream again when Starfire zipped down and grabbed him and his mother once more, his air going out of him in a whoosh.
"Let's get away before any more of that machine tries to come over and say hello, shall we?" Starfire said, and flew down the street and around the corner. Setting down near the end of that street, Starfire let Danny go and laid Maddie Fenton down: by now the woman had finally passed out.
"Is she ok?" Danny asked. Starfire laid her index and middle finger on Maddie Fenton's neck.
"Strong pulse. No apparent injuries. Breathing seems ok." Starfire said, as she briefly slipped into the mindset of a Tamaranian warrior, who had to see if comrades could still fight, combined with what Robin had taught her about Earth medicine. "I think she'll be ok Danny…" Starfire said as she started standing up.
And then, in an odd reversal, Danny was hugging her as hard as he could.
"Thank you." He gasped. "Thank you."
Starfire looked a bit confused, probably because of that aforementioned role reversal, and then she smiled slightly and returned the hug, lightly. She had to be careful, her alien strength could easily crush Danny.
"It was my pleasure." She said. "We…"
And then she let out a slight gasp.
Even as Danny was suddenly aware of a burning sensation around his hands.
"Star?" He half asked half whimpered, as he pulled away…
Sizzle backhanded him so hard Danny flew across the street and crashed into a pile of trash cans and rotting garbage. Said rotting garbage kept him from breaking his back, and only the fact that Sizzle had a bad angle had saved Danny from having every rib in his front shattered from her blow.
"Not anymore." Sizzle said in Starfire's body: Danny was too busy being stunned and gasping for air to reply, even as the new horror came fully to him. Sizzle was back, she'd possessed Starfire, he was out of power…what did he have…except…
And then, with one final dagger in his being, Danny realized the special Fenton Thermos, the one he had strapped to his back before he'd pulled his insane stunt to save his mother, was gone from its fastening.
Instead, it was in Sizzle's hand.
Danny's eyes widened in shock and horror, as he managed to pull himself up a bit from where he lay in all the garbage, and was rewarded with a wave of agony through his form as his front and back complained at what had just happened, sapping all his strength and basically freezing him on the spot.
"Well well…a special toy from your Daddy to lock me up?" Sizzle said, as she waggled the Thermos back and forth slightly.
And then it was gone, as Sizzle crushed the device in one quick squeeze.
"Awwwwwwww." Sizzle said in false disappointment as she opened her hand and let the destroyed device fall to the ground in pieces.
"No…." Danny said, as he tried to get up…and only made it about a fourth of the way before he ran out of strength and fell to his knees, his palms smacking into the ground as Sizzle laughed quietly to herself.
"You got more lives then a cat, kid." Sizzle said. "And that's REALLY pissing me off."
Danny looked up as Sizzle raised a hand, Starfire's green power, the Starbolts, power gained from the alien's ability to absorb solar energy and manifest it as destructive blasts, green destructive blasts, a green that was turning crimson. "So…I don't think I'll just kill you…no…"
And Starfire raised her foot…and slowly placed it on Maddie Fenton's forehead.
"Mommy dearest goes too."
"No!" Danny said, trying to get up again. Spirit all too willing, flesh far too weak, as Danny fell again.
"And because of you…she goes first. You should have just rolled over and died kid. Now you have to pay the price of fucking with me." Sizzle said, and raised her foot.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Savior swooped down and lashed out with a Shimmer assisted kick so fierce it knocked Sizzle right off her feet and sent her flying the several dozen feet like a bullet before she hit the parking lot at the end of the T-Shaped street, crashing through the small toll taker booth and continuing on until she hit the brick wall at the end of the parking lot and went right through that as well, her body buried in a shower of baked mud rocks.
"No curb stomp for you. This ain't American History X." Savior said, and then he leaned down to check on Maddie Fenton. Finding the same thing Starfire had before her unfortunate possession by Sizzle, Savior scooped her up via the Shimmer and put her in a nearby alleyway, out of the way…hopefully. He was about to move on when a noise caught his ear, and he turned to look at Danny.
"Still alive kid? You badly hurt?" He asked.
"My mom…"
"She'll be fine. Hopefully. Where's the Thermos?"
"Sizzle…ah no...she…" Danny gasped, and pointed. Savior looked down at the shattered ruin that had once been their lone hope to contain Sizzle. His jaw clenched, not just at its destruction, but at the fact that had been the only one they had.
"Fuck. Well, you got any ommph left kid?"
Danny just fell down to his knees again, gasping for air.
"I'll take that as a no." Savior said, and started walking away, up the street, towards where he had kicked Sizzle.
"Hey…!" Danny half-yelled.
"What?" Savior asked.
"…How could you?"
"How could I what?"
"Kick your own teammate!"
Savior didn't answer: he just turned his head back towards the mound of bricks at the end of the road…a mound he felt had about another ten seconds, at most, to exist.
"That wasn't my teammate." Savior finally said.
"But…"
"You want to stay in this business rookie, you better learn not to just conceive of such choices, but prepare for them as well. Now shut up and lay low, I don't want you getting in the way." Savior said as he resumed walking down the street. Danny just stared, and then he tried to stand up again, lost his balance and fell back among the garbage.
Savior was ordering his mind, the front part preparing for combat and the back trying to conceive of a new plan when his communicator went off. Savior pulled it out and flipped it open in one crisp motion.
"Savior."
"Ah…fuck! Savior! This is Cyborg! I'm buried under a ton of rubble at the corner of Masser and Bloor! My power cells have been severely depleted, can you come and help dig me up?"
"I'd like to but no Cyborg. The Fenton-copter has been destroyed and Maddie Fenton has been retrieved, but Sizzle has changed hosts. She's got Star."
"What? OH NO!"
"That was pretty much my reaction. The rookie's completely burned out, and not seeing Raven I'm assuming she's down as well. And believe me, I'd rather be hunting for her, but if Sizzle's power can pull the shit she did in normal humans, I don't want to see what will happen if she gets to play with the warrior princess of the Tamaranians. Can you dig yourself out?"
"Uh, yeah, but it'll take me at least twenty minutes…!"
"Keep calling for Raven, that timetable is not optimum for me." Savior said as he walked past the shattered tollbooth and into the parking lot. "In the meantime, I'm going to try and keep Sizzle occupied."
"What? You're going to fight Starfire?"
"Screw that, I'm going to beat her if I have to."
"WHAT?"
"Yeah, I know. But Kory, despite what a lot of people might think, is a soldier Cy. She'll understand. Even so, I don't like to do these things."
"Then why are you DOING IT?"
And the mound of bricks exploded, and smoke plumed out and enveloped Savior as he saw the shadowy silhouette rise up from the wreckage. His eyes narrowed.
"I don't like to lose either." Savior said, and turned the communicator off.
The smoke and dust cleared as Sizzle set down, looking more confused then angry. She brought her hand to her face and found once again the fingers were coming away wet with blood, blood she almost didn't recognize for a bit as it had a strange purplish tint to the red of it, and then there was a slight cough and Sizzle looked up at Savior.
"Funny, I didn't think I had enough impact to cause Starfire to bleed. I'm either better then I thought, or your taint actually weakened Starfire. I think it's the latter myself." Savior said, his tone a perfect blend between dismissal, smarminess, and baiting.
Sizzle's eyes glowed bright green, a green that immediately shot through with red, as Sizzle screamed and raised her hands, green and crimson energy swirling into existence…a lot more then Starfire could normally muster. Savior's eyebrows arched.
"Well, that's not right."
Sizzle shrieked and fired off a Starbolt/Sizzlebolt/Stizzlebolt/Sizzirebolt/Whatever I'll Call It A Starbolt, shooting an energy blast the size of one of the cars in the lot. It would have vaporized Noel Collins right out of existence if he hadn't jumped up via the Shimmer, the massive blast flying below him, ripping the concrete to shreds as it flew down the street, turning the wreckage of the tollbooth into nothing, and then zipping past where Danny still lay and continuing until it hit a brownstone at the end of the street, a gigantic detonation erupting as the stone building buckled and then collapsed under the impact of the blast. Glancing over his shoulder, Savior hoped there weren't any people in the building…
And then more important matters were occupying his attention, specifically Sizzle flying up at him, screaming as she prepared to do with her fists what she had failed to do with her blast.
Of course, for that to work, she had to actually touch Savior, and he wasn't going to let THAT happen, and since he was in mid-air and it was immensely difficult for people in mid air without flying powers to effect any kind of successful dodging maneuvers, he improvised, as he thrust out his arms and fired off a myriad of Shimmer strands that coiled out and wrapped around Starfire's body. Sizzle didn't even seem to notice, as she continued flying up and swinging…and Savior used the alien's body as his brace to yank himself out of the way, and just as Sizzle began to realize what was going on Savior pulled himself back, Sizzle's body instinctively resisting the powerful tug and keeping it from moving, which in the end was a mistake as it kept her in one place and allowed Savior to slam his foot across her face. Stunned, Sizzle could only look up as Savior spun around and yanked himself back down, once again planting his foot in her face at a downward angle. This new blast of pain finally woke Sizzle up, and she screamed and tried to fire…and found Savior pulling himself out of the way of the blast. Snarling, she finally reached down and grabbed for the Shimmer ropes, trying to yank them off, but the energy turned fluid and viscous, preventing Sizzle from getting a grip on it, and while she pulled at it Savior took the time to swing around again and flew in, belting the woman across the face that wasn't hers…
And finding Sizzle's hand grabbing his jacket.
"Oops."
Sizzle threw Savior to the ground (had she had a clearer head she might have just made the teen spontaneously combust when she had grabbed him, but wise battle strategy rarely keeps up in the grip of great anger, and nothing helps great anger bloom up then getting struck in the face a few times). Savior decided it would be best not to drag the alien down with him and possibly let her get another, close range shot and released his ropes as he twirled and immediately sheathed his back in Shimmer energy. This shielding maneuver was what let Savior take blows like going through walls, impacts that would reduce a normal human's body to jelly, and keep going. Savior used it so much it was as instinctive as breathing to him, and it let him survive impacts like the one he made when he crashed into the hood of a car…though it didn't make it any less painful at times, as the huge collision sent a shockwave through Savior's form and stunned him. He blinked and tried to get his head back together…
Sizzle came shrieking down from the sky, a mythical harpy come to life and wanting to feast on Savior's flesh, or more accurately burn it to a cinder. Savior managed to move, or more accurately the Shimmer managed to throw him out of the way before Sizzle crashed down, burying her glowing hand shoulder deep into the car before her Starbolt detonated, turning the damaged vehicle into a fireball and exploding several surrounding cars from the heat. Savior flew through the air as the Shimmer sprang up to protect him from shrapnel, and while it kept any razor sharp bits of metals from going through bad places like a skull or a lung, it couldn't protect the teen entirely. Then again, it wasn't like Savior hadn't had the joyful experience of having one's skin riddled with tiny bits of metal before. In this business, you were around a lot of explosions.
Thick black smoke spewed out from the destruction, and Savior was just getting to his feet as it enveloped him. He coughed violently and then formed a mask over his mouth even as more Shimmer strands formed crude fans to blow the smoke away, as Savior's head darted back and forth and up, trying to find Sizzle. His only advantage was superior tactics, and he couldn't use those if…
He never saw the hand, and it's a good thing the blow was purposely half hearted, otherwise the backhand probably would have knocked Savior's head right off his shoulders. Even so, Noel got an introduction to Danny's previous experience as he flew backwards and then bounced and rolled along the ground a bit, losing some more skin as he came to a stop. He gasped, and then collected himself, breathing in hard through his nostrils as he got up.
"You know…I've been going about this all wrong…" Sizzle said as she walked forward. "Why blast you into nothing? Why kind of a fate is that for the man who seems to take such pride in striking women, especially myself, in the face?" Sizzle said, pointing to her nose.
"You're no woman." Savior replied.
"Oh, and you're not half the tactician you believe yourself to be, asshole…or should I say, Noel?"
Savior's eyes briefly went as wide as saucers, and then he realized how Sizzle knew that name…though about the same time as his realization, Sizzle was speaking the reason.
"Oh, don't look so surprised. Everything old Koriand'r here knows…I did pronounce her name right, right? Well, I know it too. Including every memory she has of fighting beside you. So why don't…"
A lashing Shimmer whip struck Sizzle across the face.
"Unless you plan to talk me to death, better step up or get stepped on bitch." Savior said.
Sizzle slowly turned her head back, an angry dark line across the orange skin of the alien she was in.
And then she did the last thing Savior expected: she smiled.
"You ask me to step up, yet you have clearly forgotten just who you are asking to start stepping."
And then fire exploded under Savior, throwing him straight up into the air, and before Savior could react Sizzle flew up and grabbed him by the jacket.
"Just because I have all the resources of this body at my command doesn't mean I've forgotten what brought me to the dance. And since you so clearly want to keep me occupied and away from innocent people and that fucking boy, I'm going to make sure you regret it. No blink and done incineration for you asshole. I'm going to beat you to death with my bare hands."
And then Sizzle slammed her head forward, smashing her forehead against Savior's nose, and even as Savior's head snapped back Sizzle laughed and hurled him to the ground. Shimmer strands sprang out immediately, grabbing the concrete and throwing Savior away…and then a Starbolt flew down and detonated, blowing up another dozen cars and sending Savior flying again. He crashed into the left building of the three that surrounded the parking lot and caved part of the wall in, groaning as pain shot through his body and bricks fell down around him. He shook his head and stepped forward…
Only to find Sizzle there, floating in front of him…holding a car above her head. Savior's eyes widened.
"You can't beat me fucker! In this body I'm as strong as fifty Valkeries!" Sizzle laughed, and then she hurled the car, spinning end over end, at Savior.
Savior stood there for another second, as the car flew at him, drawing in close, the two and a half ton vehicle about to crush him against the wall…and then Shimmer strands sprang behind him, and Savior leapt/dove/was thrown forward and upward, thrusting his body out and drawing his arms and legs together as tightly as possible, even as a Shimmer shield formed over his hands.
And much to Sizzle's astonishment, Savior crashed through the front passenger's side window and flew through the car before crashing out through the driver's side window, having gone perfectly through the car before it could continue turning, flying through the air towards Sizzle as the car crashed into the place where Savior had been, cocking back his fist as the Shimmer wrapped around it and increased its density as much as possible before Savior slashed his arm out, slamming his fist into Sizzle's chest and sending her shooting down to the ground like a comet, her body smashing through a car windshield, and even in mid air Savior was still going, thrusting out his arms as the Shimmer flowed off the limb he had previously enhanced and sprang from the other one, reaching out and grabbing the car, Sizzle still laying stunned on top of it, part of her body stuck in the broken windshield, and as Savior landed he lifted the car above his head and swung it back down, top first, onto another car, crushing Sizzle between them, as the Shimmer sprang off the car and grabbed two more on either side of the two compacted vehicles, which were picked up and smashed on each side of the wreckage like a pair of cymbals, leaving Sizzle totally entombed in a mass of crushed metal.
"Then I'll kick your ass fifty times." Savior replied.
Crimson-seared green light streaked forth from within the crumpled mass, and Savior figured he had better get out of the area: it was about to suffer some serious collateral damage. Shimmer strands flew out and began coiling around and beneath him.
The cars exploded outward as Sizzle blew them away from her with a scream, and Savior did a Matrix dodge backwards as one of the spinning, flaming automobiles flew over his form, and even as the cars crashed down and Sizzle flew up, Savior leaned back up and then was in the air, flying up and backwards as Sizzle let loose with a barrage of rage-imbued Starbolts, and suddenly every single car in the parking lot was exploding, the entire ground beneath Savior erupting into an inferno of flame as he flew up and back, aiming for the building behind him…
And then Sizzle exploded up from the flames, heading straight for Savior. He saw her coming…long enough to get out one word.
"Shit."
Sizzle's uppercut, her power enhancing Starfire's great strength, could have cracked Savior in half, or at least smashed her arm straight through his rib cage and out his back…if the Shimmer hadn't come to the rescue again, as the white energy sprang out and formed as much as a shield it could over the expected to be struck area…as Sizzle uppercutted Savior so hard it sounded like a gunshot. Danny, from the street where he had managed to pull himself (or at least until the explosion of the parking lot had knocked him on his ass again), winced in pain as the sound rang through the air over the dull roar of the fire, and with a yell Savior was thrown backwards and off into the distance, smashed straight across the city limits.
Sizzle smiled with wicked angry satisfaction.
"Shoryuken."
She had not been killed by the missiles, indeed, their explosions hadn't gotten anywhere near her, as Raven had teleported at the last second. Too last second, as while the explosions had not harmed her, the shockwave had seriously disrupted her concentration, and when you were utilizing such a talent as instantaneous movement between one area and another, having your concentration disrupted can be lethal, and though Raven had managed to return to the physical plane, the disrupted concentration had made the trip even worse to her head and body then when she had had to stop all the vehicles on the highway. Now, tucked away in an abandoned convenience store, lying in the isle that sold chips and cookies at way too high prices, Raven tried to gather herself. This had been a long long fight, and Raven had limits. And when exceeding those limits can result in the literal explosion of your head, one must be careful when one is going to push oneself.
But she wasn't so banged up that she couldn't tell a few things about the battle, and it filled her with dread. Starfire's essence, the happy yet fierce spirit Raven knew as her friend…she had felt Sizzle possess her, felt that essence suddenly fade and grow murky and dim, covered by something so horrible, so full of pain and rage and hate, that Raven dared not look at it directly lest it damage her sanity. Raven could feel Cyborg as well, trying so hard to get out and help, pushing against the limits of his mechanical body like he had before…and Danny, the poor kid, who had fought so hard and so long and yet in the end had lost anyway, at least in the sense of the Thermos. And Noel…her love…
He was about to hit ground, and it was going to hurt.
That wasn't what worried Raven.
What worried Raven was that even after such a blow, Savior would probably keep fighting, all by himself.
And his last name wasn't Stu. Against Sizzle in Starfire's body, Noel could only give the madwoman the runaround for so long, and then he'd be toast.
Literally.
Savior came down on an area where Amity Park was expanding its suburban neighborhood, a large construction site filled with several neat rows of the wood frameworks of houses surrounded by heavy machinery and piles of materials that would be needed for the assembly. Fortunately, the workers for this site had the day off, probably because the same company that had been building the steel building structure that Cyborg had inadvertently turned into a house of cards a few chapters ago was doing it.
Savior went crashing straight through the roof of one of the houses, the Shimmer doing what it could to protect him from the velocity of the fall combined with the whole falling through a tough wood framework. The result of said protection was great for any serious damage to his form but not so great for stopping the pain.
The wood in the house was good stuff, which in the end mean that Savior only went through the first floor under the roof framework before he had bled off enough momentum to stop his fall, crashing down onto the second floor down amidst a shower of wooden debris and sawdust. He spasmed once, violently, and then lay there, blood leaking from his wounds.
Savior saw the world splitting into threes…and then it was coming back to ones as he forced his brain out of the murk. His right arm twitched, and then reared up, the fingers clenching, and then slammed down into the wood with determination.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body…" Savior hissed to himself as he pulled himself over onto his stomach. "Pain is weakness leaving the body…" He repeated as he shoved himself up, bits and pieces of wood falling around him with dull clunks. "Pain is weakness leaving the body…" He said a third time as he got up to his knees, clutching his left arm, which was now dislocated at the shoulder. The Shimmer fixed that swiftly, popping it back in as Savior screamed through clenched teeth. "Pain…is weakness…leaving the body…"
And then Savior began to sweat. It was suddenly very hot.
There was no gradualness in what happened: the entire wooden structure of the house suddenly exploded into flames, and Savior reeled back as he found himself right in the middle of an oven. And the fire wasn't just there, it was spreading, as house after house went up like they had been coated head to toe with napalm.
But while the entire house was on fire, much like in the movies, the general area around Savior was free of anything save superfluous flame. And Savior knew there was a damn good reason for that.
Sizzle floated up before Savior, outside the house, smiling contently, her contamination twisting Starfire's normally joyous smile into something horrid, and then she raised an arm and gestured to Savior to come to her. "Just Bring It", once more: Dwayne Johnson should be getting paid.
Savior brought it, as he growled and leapt at Sizzle, the Shimmer springing out, a myriad of clutching, slicing, thrusting lines, an attack designed to confuse and panic…which didn't work in the slightest as Sizzle found her way through all the lines and once again backhanded Savior. This time, she wasn't so gentle: Savior felt his jaw wrench and come on the verge of unhinging even as he flew backwards, crashing through two more frameworks of wood that would have formed walls one day had Sizzle not decided to turn the area into her own personal playground. Savior's body hit the floor and nearly slid right off the periphery of the house, only the Shimmer stopping him from falling off the edge. Savior was vaguely aware that his clothes were smoking slightly: Raven's amulet might have provided some protection from the flames but it certainly wasn't going to let Savior do a dance in them.
"I don't know why you bother…" Sizzle said as she floated through the holes, as Savior got to his feet (well, more like the Shimmer shoved him up onto his feet and helped hold him up). "You've been with this team a long time Noelly. Starfire's seen a lot of what you do, and what she hasn't seen, well, the ladies don't do girl talk very often, but they do it, you disgusting freak."
"I'm not disgusting." Savior replied with finality. He didn't care about whatever memory Sizzle had accessed; she would spin it until it suited her pre-conceived views about males.
"You all are. Genitalia with legs, doing all your thinking with your smaller head…I think I'll make you eat them…" Sizzle was saying…
The Shimmer strands exploded from behind her.
And Sizzle snapped out her left hand, grabbing the strands as they came from her rear, stopping them dead.
"I told you! Everything! Including how you like to stand still and yak a bit while you stick your little lines out your foot and under the ground, but this time…" Sizzle said, as she glanced behind her and laughed briefly, before turning back. "You…"
She shouldn't have glanced back.
Because that's what Savior had been planning on: that Sizzle would know the move, but assume that said move was his attack plan. It wasn't. The plan was for Sizzle to look back at what she had grabbed…and when she had Savior had started sprinting, and there wasn't much distance between the two, as Sizzle's eyes widened and then her right hand exploded in crimson green energy, thrusting it out…
Savior made it there first, as he leapt up, his right foot kicking up and striking Sizzle's hand, sending it up as well, the Starbolt flying past Savior at an upward angle, smashing through the roof and arcing down several homes away and blowing one of the already burning houses to bits, and even as that happened Savior followed the right foot up with the left one, striking Sizzle under her chin and using other Shimmer strands to add as much oommpphh as he could. Which was a fair amount, as Sizzle was sent flying up through the wood floor, smashing another hole through the burning timber, even as Savior completed the flip and landed on his feet.
He placed a Shimmer filter over his mouth and took a deep breath so he wouldn't choke on the smoke (which, due to the framework nature of the houses, wasn't gathering too much), and then he used the Shimmer to pull himself up to the top floor, where a pissed off looking Sizzle was getting up. Savior looked around, and then he thrust out his hands. The Shimmer spiraled out and formed into two rough fans, fans that began to spin and blow the flame away, right at Sizzle, flame that she stared at as it enveloped her…and then she scoffed.
"Fire? You're using…?" Sizzle said, before she realized this was clearly a distraction. The fire wasn't supposed to hurt her, it was supposed to block Savior from her vision…so he could swing around the house while picking up a flaming two by four, a two by four he was now swinging into her head, the flaming wood thunking loudly on the side of the alien's skull, actually stunning Sizzle, just for a bit, which allowed Savior to whack her with the wood three more times before he fell through the floor, at his own accord, as Sizzle finally recovered and was about to blast him. Her eyes blazed, and she thrust up her hands, preparing to nuke everything below her…and then Savior erupted from the floor behind her, the fire having weakened the formally tough wood. Sizzle turned around to get a mid air snap kick to her face, making her stumble back a bit, but the blow just seemed to make her angry as she flew back at the teen, thrusting out her fist with the intent to take his head right off, except Savior grabbed the blow with his hand and the Shimmer and redirected it over his shoulder, even as he leaned forward and twisted his leg up, slamming the sole of his boot in Sizzle's face with a scorpion kick, and then as he leaned back he yanked, hurling Sizzle over him. The woman flew…and then stopped, as Sizzle kicked in Starfire's flight powers, turning around, only to find Savior had already kipped up and was running at her, already right in her face, as he leapt and actually stepped on Sizzle's outstretched leg before he pushed off it, flying up and over Sizzle…
As the woman finally wised up and spun her own body up, her leg lashing out and catching Savior in the chest. Savior flew out of the burning house, crashed straight through another one, and then hit the ground and bounced/slid into the ground floor of the next one.
Sizzle corrected her position, cracked her neck, and then smiled contently as she flew out of the house, the battered, burning wooden structure finally collapsing behind her. She floated through the second house and down to the floor of the third one where Savior was managing to get up again. He was glaring balefully at her, but that just made her happier.
"Loss of power and control and you're all upset. Classic signs of a batterer exposed." Sizzle almost chirped.
"Oh fuck you and whatever twisted murk you pulled your would be degree from!" Savior snapped, and fired off a Shimmer line. Sizzle effortlessly dodged around it and flew up to Savior, who seemed to be ready as he caught her with a powerful right hook to the face, then a left one, and then a…
Sizzle caught his hand.
"You know…you're landing a fair amount of blows…but I might as well tell you…they're not really hurting me." Sizzle said.
Then she started squeezing as she yanked the arm back. Savior screamed as she ground the joints of his wrist together.
"But…I can certainly hurt you." Sizzle said, and then slammed her head forward again, smashing Savior's nose with her forehead and finally getting the blood fountain she'd wanted the last time, before she drove her knee deep into his gut, took a step back, and then lashed her foot up, smashing Savior backwards through another wall. She chuckled and then flew over to where the white teen was trying to get up.
A vicious albeit controlled so it didn't kill him, yet, kick to the ribs sent Savior flying and rolling several more feet, and he came to rest over a few bits of burned out but still rather hot wood. He started getting up…
Sizzle came down on him, one foot planting itself on his back and the other stomping down on the side of Savior's skull. Savior screamed again as his cheek was forced down on one of the wood embers. Sizzle laughed.
"What are you? The master of the world? You? This?" Sizzle taunted, and ground her foot, twisting Savior's face against the smoldering ember, Savior screaming again as he felt his own flesh burning, so close he could smell it…
"No. You're just pathetic, worthless, sick, SHIT. And you're where shit always ends up: under my heel." Sizzle said. "Oh, I just wish it hadn't been so easy, but how can a fight go when you know every trick a person has?"
Savior growled something.
"Oh? You have something to say, daddy's boy?" Sizzle asked.
"Not…EVERY!" Savior snarled, as he finally managed to twist his foot in the right direction and then slammed his heel down.
Twin sections popped off Savior's boots, and with two quick bangs Savior's form was suddenly enveloped in thick, noxious smoke. Sizzle's eyes widened, and then she started choking and retching as the gas, part concealment and part disabler, bloomed up around her before she could react. She felt Savior pull himself out from underneath her foot, but she couldn't see where he went as the gas hid him from her vision. She screamed in rage and tried to blow the toxins away, but she couldn't quite manage it. That, and the fact that Savior was so paranoid that he'd made a gas that he was immune to but his teammate was not and hid it in his boot and not told anyone…well, Sizzle's contented cruelty was quickly flashing back into blazing rage.
So when she saw the silhouette to her side, she immediately swung at it.
And found her arm getting caught, as Savior fell down in a controlled move, yanking Sizzle with him, his left arm pulling her arm aside and out of the way as he simultaneously snapped his knee up and slammed his right hand out in a hammer motion, the two limbs smashing into each side of Sizzle's head, the blow royally screwing up the alien's equilibrium, which left her wide open as Savior let go of her arm, cocked back his left hand as the Shimmer wrapped around it, and slashed it back up, striking Sizzle right between the eyes, sending the alien girl flying back through the house and out of it, as she flew a dozen more feet before colliding with the side of a bulldozer so hard she left a dent. She fell on her arms and knees, trying to regain her senses. As mentioned, Starfire's body was so tough that Savior couldn't, for all his efforts, damage it. But that didn't mean she couldn't be stunned.
Or otherwise inconvenienced, as Sizzle was just getting her symmetry back when she saw Shimmer lines fly over her head, at least a dozen of them, and grab onto the bulldozer behind her, and she looked over as Savior landed in front of her, all the lines extending from one hand.
"Who am I?" Savior asked, the terrible burn on his face only making his intense expression more potent, as he twisted the Shimmer around his hands. "I'm Savior. I beat the bad guys."
And he yanked backwards with all his might, and Sizzle could only look up as the bulldozer tipped up…and then over onto her with a dull crash.
Savior withdrew the lines, and then he leaned over, gasping. Contrary to what you might think, he had not just cold-heartedly utilized an extreme measure that could have seriously injured his teammate. As mentioned, heavy rains had made the ground extremely wet: the mud under Savior's feet was up to his ankles. That, combined with Starfire's tough body, probably prevented any injury. He'd probably taken more risk with the cars before. He just hoped she didn't suffocate…
The bulldozer suddenly flew back up, and Savior grimaced as Sizzle's standing form tipped the bulldozer off her and all the way onto its other side, mud splattering on the back of the already covered in it alien girl. He'd hoped the weight would hold her longer then a few seconds. He could use the time for a breather, and hopefully a delay until some backup arrived.
Strangely, Sizzle didn't look angry. No, she actually looked…amused. Somehow, that made Savior more worried then if she had been screaming mad. Angry "burn baby burn" Sizzle was dangerous, but at least Savior knew what to expect. But Sizzle when she was actually calm enough to think…not so much.
"Not so good at the bad girls I see though." Sizzle said, and then the mud on her form suddenly lightened, instantly transformed into dirt that cracked off Sizzle like dead skin, leaving her relatively clean. "You know, I've realized two things. You can't really hurt me, and you're annoying. So I think I'll hand you off and go deal with someone who really deserves to know how he fucked up."
Savior didn't need to be a skilled tactician to know whom she meant: Danny. Powerless, helpless Danny.
"Go ahead then. Run away like the bitch you are." Savior replied.
"Ah…trying to become the focus of my fury, Noel? I'd be glad to do that…except I know, or rather she does, that that's just what you want. So no, you don't get my attention. Maybe later." Sizzle said, and rose up from the ground. "But I do have a lovely parting gift!"
Savior was already in the air after Sizzle: he would have caught her if she hadn't suddenly called a wave of flame off the burning houses around her, putting it between her and him. Savior recoiled away, not wanting to jump through a wall of flame that was under Sizzle's control, and as he drew back his eyes widened as the flame spiraled down…and contracted as it formed a shape.
A humanoid shape.
Savior stared at it. Sizzle had made a fire being, human in profile. If Savior had belonged to another comic book company he might have thought the creature looked like a certain somebody known as Johnny Storm…except that Storm had a body covered in fire. This body WAS fire, the shifting heat giving the form a mirage-like feel, as if it was barely there.
"Have fun playing!" Sizzle laughed, as she flew off. Savior's eyes snapped back to her, and then he was back in the air, heading after her. He'd be damned if he…
And then the fire being was there, again putting itself at its mistress' defense, as it lashed out with a crudely formed leg, and while it looked gaseous it certainly didn't feel that way as the limb slammed into Savior's chest and sent him down into the mud again. Savior rolled with it and came up to his knees, hissing through his teeth as he grabbed his chest. The damn creature's body acted like a branding iron: Savior's clothes were flame retardant but getting intense heat pressed right up against you isn't the kind of defense flame retardant clothes offered.
Sizzle was already disappearing into the distance, and the flame being was heading for Savior. Savior's eyes narrowed: he didn't have time for this, and he lashed out with a Shimmer line.
It went right through the fire being. Savior's eyes widened.
And then it was right in his face, showing scary speed. Savior was nothing more then a pro though, as he backflipped away from its punch and then fired off several Shimmer bludgeons. They all went through the creature, as its flame body slithered away from the lines and went for Savior again as he landed. Savior recalled the lines, frantically trying to think, and then the creature was there, lashing out with a roundhouse kick. Savior used the Shimmer to flip right over the creature as it attacked…and then the flame being twisted the top half of its torso around and backhanded Savior in mid air, sending the teen flying again. He managed to flip and land on his feet, growling and snarling as he grabbed his arm where the creature had struck after twisting its body around like Stretch Armstrong. Then again, it was an entity made of fire: it didn't have to worry about such things like muscles ripping and bones breaking when it performed its moves…
And speaking of moves, it was moving right for him. Savior growled as he wiped his mouth, wincing as his dirty jacket probably made his face worse…and then he realized he was standing in mud.
And what's one of the ways one can put out a campfire? Smother it. And though sand is usually called upon for that task, Savior figured a few hundred pounds of mud would do just as well for the charging flame figure, as Savior lashed out with a powerful, precise strike at the ground, sending a huge wave of mud up and over the being…
No, the mud wasn't going over IT, IT was going over the mud, due to a powerful leap. Savior snarled again as it landed before him and started towards the white teen like nothing had happened. Well, he was out of plans: time to fall back to the basics.
Savior wrapped his arms in Shimmer energy, and as the entity drew in close he lashed out with a punch. The head proved to be as malleable to Savior's fists as it had with the pure Shimmer, the general shape breaking apart from the blow and then reforming, and that just made Savior angrier as he fired off punch after punch, each having the same result…at least until the flame suddenly solidified around Savior's arm as he punched through the head, and Savior screamed again as the flame shifted around his appendage so the flame being was holding his arm in its crude hands, even as the heat seared through his jacket, and then the being was throwing him, and Savior flew across the lot and crashed into the windshield of a dump truck.
Groaning, Savior pushed himself out of the cab with the Shimmer, rolling off the end of the truck and falling to the ground, blinking to try and clear the blood that was now running into his eyes.
And then he saw it, the flame being running at him, leaping into the air as it prepared to swoop down on him, and as it did all Savior could think of was that this wouldn't serve him well at all, so he better prevent any impacts, and since the creature was already in the air he had better change its direction as best he could, as the Shimmer flowed out and formed into another crude fan that Savior thrust up…
A little too late, as Savior ended up thrusting the construct right into the fiery being's body as it came down. But Savior didn't realize this until he had already sent the mental command to "turn the fan on."
And it did, right in the middle of the fire entity's chest. It made no sound as the whirling Shimmer caught the flame of its form and disintegrated it, and Savior's eyes widened as the flame creature was swept up and torn apart, the high winds pulling its figure apart and casting it away, the flames fading out of existence.
Savior stopped the fan. The fire did not reconverge back into the humanoid shape.
"Ah." Savior said. So that was it: the fire being could hold itself together but only to a certain degree.
Then Savior recalled that Sizzle was after the damn rookie, and she had a considerable amount of distance on him. Cursing to himself, Savior ran out of the flaming construction site as the houses collapsed behind him.
Out of the fire…into the what?
Danny knew what he wanted to get into: a hospital. Not for him, his mother. Unfortunately, Amity Park only had one hospital open at the moment: the other was closed due to a bad something or other, and said working one was all the way at the end of the town. But that didn't daunt Danny in the slightest, as he continued to carry his mother down the street, her arm slung over his shoulders. He found that easier then carrying her in his arms, but even so, it was tiring. He'd hoped that he could find some police or an ambulance or something…but city services were mysterious absent. There wasn't even any sirens, where the hell was…
And then Sizzle dropped down in front of Danny.
Danny stopped dead.
"Hey kid. Thought I forgot about you?" Sizzle asked.
"…….I had hoped." Danny replied.
Sizzle's Starbolt exploded at Danny's feet, sending him flying back with his mother. He rolled to a stop, gasping, and then realized he had lost his mother during his trip.
He spotted her several feet in front of him.
Sizzle was heading right for her.
Danny pulled himself to his feet and stumbled/ran to his mom, managing to get to her before Sizzle did, putting his body between him and the lunatic who was determined to kill him.
"Forget her! She's done nothing! Kill me if you have to, but leave my mother alone!" Danny yelled.
Sizzle paused.
And then she chuckled.
"Still don't get it, do you." Sizzle said. "Things have gone far beyond that fucker. Maybe if you'd been a good little boy and died back when I got out…but no, you had to fight. You had to be a MAN. So now everyone dies Danny. You, your family, your friends, this town. You fucked with the wrong girl kid. I've been fucked all my life, and believe me, when you get fucked a lot you learn HOW TO ROYALLY FUCK BACK!" Sizzle screamed, her eyes awash in psychosis, and Danny was no longer certain if Sizzle was still talking about him and her or what had happened to her long ago. He thought even she didn't know, past and present pains meshing together, forming one huge tableau of atrocity that Sizzle was determined to repay in spades, and he was going to bear the brunt of the sins, real, supposed, and imagined…
But he was ready to be Atlas.
"You're as bad as the ones who made you. No, you're worse." Danny said.
Sizzle went quiet.
Danny, though every instinct in his body was screaming at him to run, stood his ground.
"You…dare…SAY…" Sizzle said, as the heat exploded off of her, as her voice began to built to the same mad scream she had used when she was in Paulina and his mom's bodies…
But whatever Danny would have endured from his words was spared as Savior finally caught up, leaping from behind and above Danny and planting both his feet into Sizzle's face, sending her flying backwards into a Laundromat.
Danny blinked as Savior landed in front of him.
"…Thanks." Danny said. Savior looked back at Danny, and flashed him a quick thumbs up, though his tense expression didn't really convey any comradely sentiments.
"Best book kid. She'd gonna be REALLY pissed now." Savior said. Danny didn't argue: he grabbed up his mom and dragged her down a side street.
The Laundromat exploded, and then Sizzle floated out, clearly caught up in uncontrollable rage again.
"Hey bitch. Thought I forgot about you?" Savior asked.
Sizzle yelled as she thrust out her hands, and fire from the burning building behind her spewed out and formed into three more flame humanoids.
"Break his bones and then feed him his guts!" Sizzle yelled, and the three beings ran forward. Savior held his ground, striking a combat pose as they approached…
And then the ground erupted underneath them, throwing the creatures off balance, and then several Shimmer lines emerged and immediately combined into a giant whirling fan. Sizzle's eyebrows raised as the creatures were swept up and dissolved by the whirling tendrils, Savior pulling the lines apart so the flames couldn't combine into one big super-being. The flames didn't: instead they petered out and vanished. The lines retracted, and Savior gave Sizzle an arrogant smirk and waved a finger at her as if chastising her for forgetting one of his favorites tricks so soon.
Sizzle just snarled and called more fire from the burning building, this time forming seven fire humanoids. Savior didn't know why she was using that choice of tactic, but he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth as the new group attacked. Savior formed a whirling fan blade with the Shimmer on his arm and thrust it out into the first one, dissolving it and then flipping away as two more attacked him. He reformed the Shimmer energy into arm guards, blocked several punches and kicks, and then did an interrupted backflip, leaping back and then cutting short the escape as, using the Shimmer to balance properly, he form two more disrupting fans on his legs and thrust them into the two entities attacking them. As they were torn apart, another leapt in to strike, but Savior was already on the move, resuming his backflip via the Shimmer and coming down to a crouch as he lashed out a leg, catching the creature by its ankles and throwing it into the air even as Savior formed another Shimmer fan and thrust it into the being, reducing it to nothingness. Savior didn't have time to celebrate: the final three flame humanoids were on the attack, and Savior was forced to go completely on the defensive as they punched and kicked at him, forcing him backwards and burning holes in his jacket and shirt as…
Savior did one final backflip, revealing that he hadn't just been retreating: he'd been leading.
Right to a fire hydrant.
Too bad the fire beings had no faces: Savior would have liked to see some kind of shocked expression when he tore the fire hydrant open. The water quickly did its job, quenching the flames immediately and dispelling the last of Sizzle's soldiers.
And she wasn't happy: the expression on her face made that clear. But no matter: she'd just make fifty new ones…
Until Savior attached the Shimmer over the shattered fire hydrant and rerouted the water straight into Sizzle, sending her flying back into the flaming Laundromat with a scream.
Savior couldn't help himself: he gave a haughty chuckle/snort, one side of his mouth curling into a sneer.
Then the Laundromat started to shake.
"In retrospect, maybe that wasn't the best choice of maneuvers." Savior said, and fired off a Shimmer line and started swinging.
The flaming Laundromat exploded into bits as Sizzle flew out in an eruption of fire, as she screamed and fired twin Starbolts after Savior, gigantic explosions erupting behind him as he swung around the corner and headed down the street (not the same street Danny had taken, though).
"Ok, I'd better stay in the center so I…" Savior was saying to himself before Sizzle flew around the corner and fired off a Starbolt. Savior banked a hard right as a giant explosion erupted behind him, and then swung back into the center. He glanced over his shoulder and then banked hard to the right again as another Starbolt flew at him…and then he squawked and pulled himself back to the center as Sizzle zeroed in on where he was, her eyes glowing bright green before she fired out beams of energy from her eyes, Savior barely pulling away from them as they raked across the side of the building and the street behind Savior, an explosion erupting alongside the line's wake. The end of the street was coming up, and Savior fired off one last Shimmer line and had it yank him upward instead of swinging on it, as he flew up and onto the roof of the building…
As a Starbolt flew to the exact same place. Savior's eyes widened.
"Shit!"
The explosion blasted across the entire roof and sent Savior flying back up, this time in a more uncontrollable arc, and the Shimmer flailed out, trying to find a purchase point, as Savior's vision spun around him from his out of control trip through the air.
And then the Shimmer grabbed something firm. Savior's trip was stopped, and he shook his head as the Shimmer reeled him back to its perch.
Which turned out to be one end of a roller coaster. Savior blinked and looked around: he was on the grounds of a fair that had been set up in one of Amity Park's, er, parks. Savior looked around at the rides and exhibits.
"Huh. Homage." Savior said.
And then Sizzle floated down in the distance in front of Savior, her eyes ablaze and her hands crackling with power.
"Not one I think I'll like though." Savior said, and ran for it, springing to another part of the roller coaster as the part he had just been standing exploded in a blast of heat and power, shards of metal and wood flying through the air.
Savior leapt again, and a second later a Starbolt flew to the spot where he had just been and blew it apart. Savior hit the ground (tracks?) running as Sizzle followed him with her arm, firing blast after blast that just kept missing, as explosions blasted across the tracks of the roller coaster as Savior ran for his life. The entire structure sagged as the detonations destroyed more and more of its supports, and Savior was rapidly running out of room, as he leapt one last time…
The Starbolt exploded behind him…as the second one flew in to the spot where Savior was about to land. His eyes widened, and Sizzle smirked. She wasn't the only one who could lead, as Savior's form came down on the tracks just before the bolt struck the spot, the explosion consuming him with a scream.
"Heh. Bullseye." Sizzle said.
And then Savior flew from the explosion.
Sizzle's eyes snapped open wide, not able to comprehend how he could be back so quickly after being blown up. Indeed, it had been mostly luck: Savior had formed as quick a shield as he could, but what really saved him was where the Starbolt has struck: more the side of the coaster then the actual track. As a result the explosion had only thrown him backwards: the immediately formed Shimmer shield took care of the shrapnel and Savior, thinking quickly, had fired twin Shimmer lines that had grabbed the roller coaster and then violently contracted, sending Savior flying back the way he had come.
"Ditto!" Savior yelled as he lashed out with a Shimmer roundhouse kick, smashing Sizzle from the sky. She crashed through the merry go round at an angle, the older ride sagging to the side as Sizzle finished her trip into the ground.
Savior landed.
And the entire roller coaster collapsed behind him in a tremendous metallic racket. Smoke and dust plumed out and flowed over Savior, but the air didn't stay obscure long, as Savior started walking towards Sizzle's impact spot, his bearing belying a calm he didn't feel.
Sizzle flew up with a scream, and she quickly spied Savior and fired off a Starbolt. Savior darted to the side, the energy blast flying past him and blowing up two game booths. Savior then leapt forward, lashing out with a Shimmer line. Sizzle blocked it and tried to fire another Starbolt, but Savior had kept moving and had actually rolled under Sizzle's floating form. Sizzle turned around as Savior came up with a high angled leaping kick using his shin. Sizzle blocked it in time, only to have the Shimmer spin Savior around so he slammed the heel of his other foot across her cheek. Sizzle was staggered, but far more due to surprise then pain, and she retaliated with her own kick. She only managed to deliver about 25 of the impact behind the blow as Savior was already moving away, but that was enough to floor him, his body hitting the dirt and dragging several feet along it before he flipped back up. Sizzle's eyes glowed green and she lashed out with another eye blast: Savior leapt into the air and did a spinning dodge as the energy beams barely missed him. The explosion they caused, however, did not miss them, sending him flying through the air, crashing through another game booth and then into another ride, the older whirling cups type. Savior shook his head, and then he saw Sizzle fly up into the air in the distance and he had to move, as he fired off a Shimmer line to carry him away as Sizzle fired off another Starbolt. The fairground worked against Savior: there wasn't anything to get any real height with in order to swing, and as a result Savior didn't escape the teacup ride exploding as his back and legs were riddled with shrapnel. He hit the ground at the end of a path between twin lines of booths selling food and offering most likely rigged games of chance and found his legs turning to jelly as he fell. He groaned: he couldn't keep this up much longer.
A yell of fury sounded behind him, and Savior looked behind him and up: the madwoman had already found him and was preparing more Starbolts. Savior looked back in front of him: nothing but booths leading up to the small Ferris Wheel. What could he possibly swing from or go to…
And then the Starbolts were coming, and Savior had to go, and since the Shimmer wasn't going to help at the moment Savior resorted to his feet and ran for it, the stands exploding behind him as Sizzle rained fiery destruction down on the fair, trying to change Savior's position from "in the vicinity" to "all over the vicinity". And he wasn't outrunning them: the explosions were getting closer and closer…
And then Savior saw two more Starbolts arc over his head, and he realized they were going to come right down at the base of the Ferris Wheel, which was where he was heading. And the explosions were still closing in behind him. Unable to go forward or back, Savior went the only way he could: up. And since he had no time to plan it properly, as he fired off twin Shimmer strands, grabbing near the top of the Ferris Wheel's framework, he went a lot farther up then he wanted, as he contracted the lines as hard as he could, and instead of just being pulled away from the erupting blasts he found himself flying straight into the air like a rocket, going up past the top of the Ferris wheel and high into the sky.
"Oh dear." Savior said, as he managed to turn around and saw the fair growing smaller in the distance.
Savior's sorrow was about to be doubled: not only did his ascent go much higher then he wanted, but for some reason it really pissed Sizzle off. Maybe she thought he was trying to get away, as she stopped near the base of the Ferris Wheel Savior had used to get up so high…and then her eyes fell on it.
Then she had a wicked idea.
"Let's see how strong this body REALLY is." Sizzle said, as she flew over to the true base of the Ferris Wheel where the rolling circle was attached to the ground brace and began yanking.
"What the hell…" Savior said, as Sizzle growled/screamed, the veins standing out on Starfire's body as she tried to force the Wheel off its moors. As Savior watched with wide eyes, fire exploded on the wheel, and the ride quickly became completely wreathed in flame.
"No way, Starfire's strong but she's not strong enough to…"
With a scream of exertion and triumph, Sizzle yanked the Ferris Wheel from its base. Savior was right: Starfire by herself probably could not have ripped the Wheel off its stand. But Starfire backed up by an enraged Sizzle…that was just enough to tear the ride free, as Sizzle briefly held it over her head.
And then, with another scream, an energy explosion detonated on Sizzle's hands, and the wheel was sent flying up from the force of the detonation.
Right at Savior.
Who had finally run out of upward momentum and was stopping.
As the wheel flew up, Savior rapidly ran through his options. Gravity was starting to claim him again, but the wheel would reach him before it did so enough that he could fall away from it. Raven and Cyborg were still MIA, and Savior had programmed the damn T-Ship to fly back to Sam's house and land there before he had gone to deal with the missiles. And the Shimmer had nothing to grab onto or shove off in mid-air, and he couldn't form anything that would give him the away motion he needed in the several seconds he had. And if he grabbed onto the wheel itself, Sizzle could very well send her flames off the metal structure and roast Savior while he was stuck holding onto the wheel. And he doubted that Superman was going to swoop by and save the day. That happened every now and then…but never when one needed it.
So Savior was down to one option: if he couldn't get away from the wheel, and for the sake of Sizzle's fire control he couldn't grab onto and stay near the wheel…he'd go THROUGH the wheel.
If he could.
Hell, it worked with the car.
Never mind that going through some safety glass and doing through a flaming metal framework without killing oneself wasn't exactly in the same league.
A Shimmer strand extended from Savior's shoulder, and Savior grabbed it with both hands, and then he simultaneously curled into a ball as he yanked on the line, sending him into a tight spinning somersault as he started flying down, gravity adding to his speed. As Savior spun down towards the deadly flaming Ferris wheel, a multitude of Shimmer strands extended from his body and formed into a mass of curved spikes and blades, even as the spin went even faster and Savior became a white blur…
Which smashed into the upper side of the Ferris Wheel as it flew up at him. With a tremendous metallic crash, Savior flew through the other end of the framework, bits of flaming metal flying past him as he continued to shoot down towards the ground.
"NO!" Sizzle screamed as she saw this. "FUCK!"
Sizzle fired a Starbolt at the falling form, but he was moving too fast for her to get a decent shot and it missed him by a mile. Savior didn't even notice: he had a new problem. He'd worked up enough speed to go through the wheel, but now he was falling towards the ground at high and ever-increasing velocity and as mentioned the buildings in the park were far too short to allow him to grab them in order to bleed off any momentum. In the end, it looked like Savior was going to hit the ground. The Shimmer had let him go through the wheel, now it had to prevent him from going splat.
And it was already working, as the white energy reformed from spikes and blades to a octagonal cage around Savior's still spinning form, more lines shooting out and forming a more complicated trellis as Savior plummeted down…and down…
And hit. The impact shook the whole park, and a giant plume of dust and dirt flared up. A few seconds later the Ferris Wheel came crashing back to Earth, making an even more tremendous racket then the roller coaster had.
Then an eerie silence.
Coughing and retching, Savior dragged himself from the hole. His body felt like it had been run over by a steamroller. Well, at least he'd survived without serious injury…though his body certainly wasn't thanking him.
"Dammit Sonic, you make it look easy." Savior said, as he flexed his fingers a few times and tried to get up. His head swam, and he fell to his knees again, gasping. But Noel Collins came from good stock, and he was already recovering from the impact, as he tried to get up again. He stumbled a bit this time, but kept his feet.
And then a scream pierced his ears. Sizzle had found him again, and she wasn't happy he was still alive.
"You know, if a girl with daggers wants to show up and help, I'd much appreciate it." Savior muttered, in a reference only one person will get.
Sizzle flew from the dust cloud Savior had kicked up, heading straight for the battered and burned teen, her hands outstretched and grasping, quite possibly to pull his heart from his chest, rip his head from his shoulders, or just burn him on the spot. Savior didn't wait around to find out, as the Shimmer sprang out and threw him backwards and up…not far enough, as Sizzle readjusted her position and flew right into Savior, her shoulder slamming into his stomach and driving the wind out of him as she flew on, carrying him with her. As they flew out of the park, Savior realized his precarious position and acted, lacing both his fists together and slamming them down on the back of Starfire's head before Sizzle could do whatever she had been planning. The blow was devastating, even to Starfire's immensely tough alien physiology, and Sizzle staggered under it, her flight path screwed up. She smashed Savior's back into an office window, the glass shattering as the two flew through the building, knocking aside and down everything that got in the way, and even as impact after impact rammed into his back Savior was still fighting, rearing up his clenched hands and slamming them on the back of Sizzle's head again.
Sizzle smashed through the window on the other end of the building just as Savior delivered this second strike, and the blow screwed her up even more so that she dropped Savior, falling to the ground. The white teen found himself in freefall along with the alien…
And then they both crashed down onto something.
A subway train, Amity Park's sole short train line that ran from one end of downtown to another, mostly above ground. The two Titans, one current and one currently disposed, bounced and tumbled across the roof. Sizzle put on the brakes before Savior managed to, stopping in mid air and then immediately beginning to fly backwards so her target wouldn't be carried past her. The aforementioned target had finally reached out and grabbed the roof of the speeding train. He shook his head, and then looked around in disbelief at where he was.
"God damnit, WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?"
Sizzle was attacking again, screaming as she flew at Savior, lashing out with a fist. Savior leapt backwards and found that doing so on a rapidly moving train was far trickier then it seemed, as the constant movement beneath his feet caused him to lose his balance when he touched down and then he was tumbling across the train again, the few passengers inside wondering what the hell was making the noise, as Savior bounced painfully across the last few cars before he flew off the end of the train. He was saved from a very painful impact on the raised bridge tracks by a Shimmer strand, which pulled him back as Savior quickly collected himself. He looked at Sizzle, who had realized he was still alive and was heading for him again, and then he looked around at his surroundings.
"Fuck it, might as well go whole hog." Savior said, and then Shimmer strands sprouted from his back and formed into arms that clamped down onto the sides and top of the train, both to give Savior a better brace and to complete the utter and absolute rip off. Hey, at least I'm admitting it.
Sizzle fired a Starbolt: Savior's new arms jerked him aside and the blast missed, and then they pulled Savior down as Sizzle kept flying at him, again trying to punch Savior's head off. Sizzle stopped and turned and got a face full of Shimmer arm/brace/tentacles/etc as Savior smashed her with two of the limbs, even as the other two carried him back across the train. Sizzle yelled as she was thrown with the blow, and then she got control of herself and flew after Savior. Another Starbolt shot at him: Savior dodged upward and then to the side as Sizzle charged at him again, clawing for his face. Savior contorted his body away and backhanded Sizzle: she responded by kicking him in the gut and driving the wind out of him again. She followed up the kick by slashing her hand out in a karate chop to break Savior's neck. The Shimmer pulled Savior away, and then one Shimmer leg lifted up from the train and grabbed Sizzle, slamming her into the metal roof of the subway and then thrusting her out and smashing her into the side of a building, dragging her along the surface in a line of broken stone and glass. Screaming, Sizzle pulled herself from the painful trip and yanked on the Shimmer line, HARD. Savior was almost pulled off the train, the Shimmer legs moving onto the side of the fast moving subway to keep him from falling off completely. Sizzle flew at the teenager, who barely managed to use the Shimmer to dodge out of the way of her arcing uppercut…and then turned, yelped, and just managed to press himself against the side of the train as another train zipped by on the other tracks, almost swatting Savior like a bug on a windshield. Back on the roof, Sizzle began charging up another Starbolt to finally blow Savior to bits…and then the Shimmer leg smashed through the window behind Savior, flew through the train as the three passengers in that car yelled and screamed at this chaos, smashed out the other end, and curled up and around the train to smash Sizzle in the back. She stumbled forward, the Starbolt dying on her hand, and then Savior pulled himself up the side, the three remaining legs throwing him upward as he uppercutted Sizzle under her chin and sent her flying back and off the side of the train.
Savior pulled himself up onto the roof again as Sizzle stopped just before she crashed into the side of another building. Screaming again (poor Starfire's throat was going to be really raw when and if the possession was ever broken), she zapped back after Savior, so quickly Savior barely managed to see her coming before she crashed into him, so hard she tore the Shimmer braces right out of the top of the train as the two bounced and flailed across the top of the subway, Sizzle flying so fast she actually outpaced the train…which Savior found out the hard way as she stopped abruptly and Savior bounced a few more feet and then found he was out of ground as he fell off the front end of the subway.
His hand jerked up and grabbed the edge at the last second, and the conductor yelled in surprise and shock as Savior's legs and lower body thudded into his viewing window. Savior was about to use the Shimmer to pull himself back up when he looked up…and saw Sizzle standing above him, smiling, a Starbolt charged and ready.
"Catch a train." She said, and fired.
Savior got a Shimmer shield up, but it didn't matter: the explosion blew him right off the edge, the window in the front of the subway exploding and sending the conductor stumbling back, as Savior fell down and then under the wheels of the train. He didn't even get a chance to scream.
"Ha ha! YES!" Sizzle said as she looked over the edge and saw nothing but constantly approaching track. Laughing again, she turned around to go back to the other end: she'd take a look at whatever hamburger the train had ground the bastard into and then she'd locate the boy again. "Farewell, forever, to that misogynistic woman beating…"
The shadow portal opened behind Sizzle.
And Savior flew out of it, his right foot slamming into Sizzle's back. Sizzle flew forward with such rapidity she quickly passed the entire train while still in mid air, and even as the last of the metal cars disappeared from under her Shimmer strands wrapped around her body and threw her to the side, her body smashing through another building and disappearing.
Savior landed on the tracks, even as the shadow energy formed into Raven and she tried to float down to Savior's side. She mostly made it before she collapsed, Savior preventing her from falling onto the tracks. She'd grabbed him at the literal last second, and paid for it, as she hadn't fully recovered yet. But she couldn't let her love keep fighting alone; he was going to get killed…
"Hey. You ok?"
"Just…got dizzy for a second…"
"Rae, you need a few more minutes. Stay here…"
"No. We have to stop her. This has gone on too long…have to…" Raven said, the determination in her words rendered rather ineffectual as she sounded like she was stoned.
"Yeah, we will. After you rest another minute. I can hold her off another minute. Ok?"
"No…" Raven said.
"Raven…please?"
Raven didn't get a chance to answer: another explosion sounded off in the distance. She looked up at Savior, who gave her a pleading "please I don't want to be the bad guy but I really think you should rest and if you don't I think both you and I will regret it so please stay here just for a bit" look and then he pulled away, firing off a Shimmer line and swinging off. Raven watched him go, and decided that yes, she probably would be more effective if she waited for the murk in her head to fade. She was tough too, it shouldn't take long.
Savior swung around the building and onto the newest street to acquire a crater due to Sizzle's latest venting of temper. And can you blame the girl for being mad? She's basically gotten nowhere for 117 pages!
Sizzle didn't need Starfire's ocular beams to burn a hole in Savior as he landed in front of her. Her gaze should have been enough. Most of her anger and hate had been focused on the boy, but this latest affront reminded her on how much she had hated Savior for the minute or so before her original death.
"So…" Savior said, and perhaps he has taken too many blows to the head from the level of danger he was playing at. "The expression doesn't really suit you…so what do I say…if you can't bring the heat, go back to the kitchen?" Savior said, and didn't give Sizzle a chance to answer as he leapt to the attack.
Sizzle didn't fire or strike at him: instead she brought her hands up and screamed, and then a dome of greenish-crimson energy formed around her, the power striking Savior both like a physical blow and an explosive shockwave, and he was flying again, his body managing to miss the two larger targets of a pair of buildings as Savior flew into an alleyway, flying all the way to the end as he crashed through garbage cans and foul smelling bags of refuse.
"Damn. I forgot Kory could do that." Savior said. "Ugh. That poor kid." He went on, referring to Danny as he got a nostril full of the reek that was now coating him. Trying to summon whatever strength he had left, Savior got up, shoving the garbage aside with the Shimmer.
He took one step before Sizzle's form appeared at the end of the alleyway.
"Well well. Dead end. How VERY fitting." Sizzle said. "You know, I gave you too much credit. Too much originality for you too much effort. Flame creatures and flying Ferris Wheels? No, you just deserve something simple…so…" Sizzle said, as she raised her right hand. She didn't charge a Starbolt: instead she called upon her original power as fire exploded in the air above her palm, growing in size and intensity, the heat driving Savior back…and then the fire went from red to a dazzling, brilliant white. Which was not good, for those who don't know fire: fire was red until it hit a certain temperature…at which point it became white. Indeed, the brick walls and street were already smoking, and bags of garbage were exploding and bursting into flame themselves. Savior was certain that he should be dead already from being close to such heat: maybe Sizzle was manipulating said heat for maximum drama. And pain.
"This body can do more then take a beating." Sizzle said, the fire illuminating her mad look quite well. "It has enough power to let me generate this. White fire. What a fitting end. NOW BURN!"
And Sizzle fired off the white fire as it expanded and filled the entire alleyway, heading straight for Savior.
Savior could only stare at it for a second before he risked having his entire body boiled, and lacking any other option, he went with what had always saved his life, as he crouched down, the Shimmer flying from his shoulders and back and forming a shield around and over him, Savior putting all his power into this shield, as he could already feel the roasting, consuming heat, and even as the Shimmer formed thicker and thicker as it tried to save his host, Savior reached under his shirt, yanked out the fire charm Raven had made for him, and clenched it tightly in his hand as he tried to force his willpower into it in the hope it might give him just the tiny little bit of extra guarding he needed.
The fire approached the white cocoon, and as sweat beaded on Savior's forehead and then immediately evaporated, Savior thought of the last time he'd been on the Watchtower, when Superman had called all their ilk there, as he spoke of how they did much but there was still more they could do…
And then the fire completely consumed him.
Sizzle laughed madly as the fire devoured the entire alleyway, the intense heat igniting what it didn't vaporize right out of existence. It might not have been agonizing, but it was certainly splendid, as Sizzle laughed and laughed…
The white line smacked into her face and sent her across the street, smashing into the wall, her laugh rudely interrupted and then cutting off completely as the line withdrew…and then Savior emerged from the alleyway, the Shimmer carrying him out through the fire and to the front, setting him down, and Sizzle goggled at the teen as he stood there, backdropped by the flame, and actually smiling at Sizzle…a goofy, sheepish smile. He'd survived, again…but his head felt like it was floating. Probably because the backlash of trying to protect its host from the flame had caused the Shimmer to blow more then a few synapses in Savior's brain. No problem, the Shimmer could also regenerate nerve tissue…given time.
And from the way Sizzle was clawing at the air and at her face and hair, Savior probably didn't have much time left: the expressions were those of someone completely teetering on the edge and about to fall off.
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE!" Sizzle screamed, and then she fired off two Starbolts, her aim as wild as her mood, but it didn't much matter as the bolts struck the buildings around Savior and the explosions blew him through the air, the Shimmer only able to provided token defense as Savior crashed down near the street. Screaming, Sizzle flew up and fired two more Starbolts. That explosion sent Savior crashing through the window of a convenience store (ironically the same store Raven had been recuperating in), as Savior crashed through the rows of food and knocked them over like dominoes. The trip ended with Savior banging his head against the glass case that held soft drinks and beer, a spider web of cracks appearing around the impact as the teen slumped down.
Then he moaned and started blinking, systems finally coming back online, so to speak. Savior shook his head and managed to get to his feet again, trying to figure out where he was…
The scream caught his attention, and he looked out the street to see a Starbolt heading his way.
"SHIT!"
The back door was fortunately close by: Savior booked through it and ran for the exit, the store igniting behind him and blowing him out the door and into another alleyway. Savior ran down the alleyway and out of it, trying to orient himself, figure out what to…
Sizzle dropped from the sky, and before Savior could react she punched him across the entire street.
Danny had gone in a circle: he knew it. He wasn't the best at directions, and the current situation didn't help matters. As a result, Danny had found himself looking at the still slightly smoking wreckage of the Fenton-copter, as he wracked his brain trying to figure out where he had gone wrong and how to avoid it.
Then he heard the noise, and he didn't need any real experience to know what was coming. His Ghost powers still weren't turning back on, so Danny quickly booked down another alleyway. He hid his mom behind some (relatively) clean cardboard boxes and then snuck back to the alleyway entrance to check which way the fight was going…
And then he saw Savior fly past said entrance. He started, and then he hid behind some garbage cans in case Sizzle was following him.
Savior landed and bounced once, and then came to a stop, his face covered in purplish bruising. He had nothing left: the heat had completely sapped what was left of his strength, and he knew that Sizzle was getting tired of pounding on him and when she got tired he was dead. He needed a plan, a plot, a miracle, a…
And then he saw it.
Sizzle flew around the corner, looking for her target and finding him quickly. He was past the wreckage of her former ride, which gave her a strange feeling of nostalgia. The teenager was crawling, on his hands and knees, feebly trying to get away. Sizzle, her burning rage dying down again, took great satisfaction at the pathetic nature of the scene, and flew towards him. She wanted a few more good punches.
Danny ducked down behind the cans as Sizzle flew past, and then he popped out and carefully snuck to the edge of the alleyway, peeking around the corner…and watching Sizzle walk up to Savior, pick him up with no resistance, and throw him back first into a wall. Danny winced.
"Well, you're a tough nut to crack…but I certainly think it's about time I cracked those nuts." Sizzle said to the trying to stand Savior, and then she lashed out with a vicious kick to the sensitive area all males have. Savior wore a cup, but when your opponent has super strength, that doesn't help much. Savior fell to his knees, the look of absolute shock on his face most amusing to Sizzle, as she grabbed his hair and then tossed Savior back to the middle of the street.
"Ah man…ah man…" Danny said as he watched the beating. It was clear Savior was out of it, and Sizzle had nothing to stop her from beating the teen to a pulp. Much like Sizzle would have done to him if Savior hadn't intervened…
He owed him, and as Sizzle approached and then savagely kicked Savior in the ribs, sending him tumbling down the street a bit more, Danny crept out from the alleyway and began sneaking towards the woman's back.
"Well…there comes a time in a woman's life when she finally has to stop collecting the garbage and actually toss it down into the incinerator." Sizzle said, as she slowly walked up to Savior, who had managed to get up and crawl a few feet before collapsing again. "But I'd like to actually thank you. You let me judge on just what the boy will be capable of absorbing. That way, I can make sure it's ten times more painful for him then it was for you." Sizzle said, as she continued her approach. Savior was up and trying to crawl again, and then he coughed violently, holding his hand to his chest.
"What, no blood? You must drink your calcium!" Sizzle said, wondering how exactly she should fry Noel's ass.
As Noel, his eyes intense and ready, faked another cough, as he kept his hand to his chest…the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher held close to his torso, tucked under his sleeve from where he'd spotted it on the street and retrieved it before Sizzle followed him. Now she just had to get close, and then Savior would deal with her, as he put on a pained, pathetic expression and turned to look up at Sizzle, his eyes pleading for a mercy he knew damn well she wouldn't give. But Sizzle was too caught up in her moment to recall from Starfire's memories the fact Savior would never beg for mercy (and indeed, she was currently involved in a bit of a struggle with the alien's personality as the alien girl utterly refused to let a teammate die by her own hand, but Sizzle was good enough to repress a mother, she could repress Starfire).
"Oh, look at the little dog. Who's the bitch now?" Sizzle said, as she finished shoving Starfire down, even as fire wreathed her hand. She lifted it up, as she stepped in close…
"You are." Savior replied. Sizzle's eyes widened, as the Mini Coast Catcher snapped from under Savior's jacket sleeve and…
"NO YOU DON'T SIZZLE!" Danny yelled as he leapt on the alien's back.
Savior stopped dead. He'd been so focused on Sizzle he'd never even seen Danny coming. Then his eyes widened as he realized his whole plan was going belly up.
"NO! OUT OF THE WAY KID!" Savior yelled, trying to get in so he could zap Starfire, but she was thrashing about too much as Danny tried to hold on and claw at Sizzle's face at the same time.
"ARRRGGGHHH! YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!" Sizzle screamed, as she finally reached back, grabbed Danny, and leaned forward as she hurled him into Savior, just as Savior was trying to get in close for a zap. The impact knocked him right off his feet and the Mini Ghost Catcher right out of his hand, and as Savior and Danny fell to the ground in a heap Sizzle's eyes were caught by the spinning device…and then she realized what it was, that Savior had it, and that he'd managed to play her for a fool.
Savior shoved Danny off of him and was getting up…as Sizzle screamed and fired off a Starbolt, blowing the Fenton Mini Ghost Catcher into nothing. Savior's heart plummeted.
"You…both of you…won't die…won't learn…won't ARRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIRRRRRAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Sizzle screamed, throwing her head back. Savior recoiled as the buildings around him suddenly exploded into fire, explosions that carried all the way down the street and outward from it.
Raven, flying in, recoiled herself as a whole square block of Amity Park erupted into flame, even as Savior, automatically putting himself in front of the defenseless Danny, looked as Sizzle lowered her head, Starfire's green eyes literally alight and burning. It was like looking into the gates of hell.
"Now…if you don't mind…" Sizzle said with eerie calm. "I would much appreciate it IF-YOU-BURRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNN!" Sizzle screamed as she thrust out her hands.
Savior was already in the air, a Shimmer strand grabbing Danny and carrying him along, as a gigantic jet of flame spewed from Sizzle's hands, barely missing the two as Savior flipped over the possessed alien. He let the line holding Danny go, leaving the poor kid to fall awkwardly on the ground with a yell of pain, but Savior didn't care. Danny's good intentions had led them straight into hell…and as a result Savior only had one move left before he and the kid were reduced to greasy ash.
He could have done this at any point in the battle, but he didn't want to. From an attack mindset it was the equivalent of a nuke: it might destroy the enemy stronghold but it also destroyed everything around the stronghold and blighted the ground so nothing can grow. He'd saved it as a last resort, no other options available move…and that time had sadly come.
He still hated himself for it, as Sizzle realized Savior was directly behind her.
"I'm so sorry Kory." Savior said.
And then he thrust out his hands, his thumb and forefinger clamping down on two points on the back of Starfire's right shoulder, even as Shimmer lines flew from Savior's left hand and slammed themselves into four other points around Starfire's lower back.
Sizzle's eyes widened.
And then she started screaming, as her body flooded with pain, absolute utter agony, as Savior pressed down on six pressure points of Starfire's alien body. In Tamaranian combat, the elite soldiers were taught about these nerves centers: striking or pressing certain ones could result in favorable results, in combat terms anyway. But the points couldn't be pressed all the same time by Tamaranians, their hands couldn't do it. But Savior's Shimmer could…even though he knew doing it would result in this.
Starfire's terrible pain hit Raven like a wrecking ball, nearly knocking her right out. To Starfire, it was like every nerve in her body was on fire, much like how Savior felt when the Shimmer was cut by a blade. But that was just a brief albeit intense flash of torment. This was constant for Starfire, a torture right from the depths of hell Sizzle had escaped….Sizzle, who had forced Savior to use this move, because she was so closely linked up to Starfire that everything the alien felt, she felt, and she was screaming right along with Kory as her logic and planning and anger and even her madness was flooded away by pain pain pain unlike any she had ever known and she had to get out out out OUT…
The flaming form pulled itself from Starfire's body, the screams becoming in stereo and then just fading to one as Sizzle pulled herself free and flew away. Savior immediately let go of the points, and Starfire collapsed into his arms, passing out immediately. He held the alien girl, who by her nature cared so deeply for her friends, cared enough that she would share such secrets with them in case they were ever needed with Blackfire or if she went rogue…but she shouldn't have had to endure this…
Sizzle screamed in rage as the pain finally faded away and she realized how she had been kicked out of her host, her mighty host. Savior matched her rage, as he lowered Starfire to the ground and stood up, finding new strength and ready, willing, and able to put Sizzle down.
"YOU FUCK!" Sizzle screamed.
"Fuck you." Savior replied, and fired off an onslaught of Shimmer blades. Sizzle flew back to avoid them, firing a blast of flame, but without a host her fire was feeble and Savior just blocked it with a Shimmer shield and lashed out again…
And then Sizzle saw it, as Raven was again approaching, but seemingly a little loopy, probably because of the pain thing, and Sizzle smiled to herself and flew low to the ground.
Raven flew in.
Savior's eyes widened.
"RAE!"
"Hey girlfriend! Your turn!" Sizzle said as she suddenly flew up, and Raven only had time to gasp before Sizzle flew into her and her being disappeared into the other female Titan. The goth girl spasmed a few times, and then went still, and then her eyes opened, Sizzle's now, as she looked down at an angry Savior.
"No. Fuck YOU." Sizzle replied, and raised her hand.
And then she jerked, like she had been struck from within. She shook her head, made a confused noise, and then she jerked again, her head snapping back like she had been struck in the face.
"What! No! Dammit no! You are mine! You will…!" Sizzle cursed, as her body twisted, spasmed, and jerked in mid air, and Savior knew that his lady hadn't been coming over unprepared. She'd anticipated and been waiting for Sizzle to possess her. And unlike all her previous hosts, Raven was an accomplished sorceress and half demon to boot. God he loved her.
"YOU WILL OBEY! YOU WILL A…Azarath, Metrion!" Sizzle screamed as her voice suddenly turned into Raven's cool, intense tone. "Reversiti Blankus ZINTHOS!"
Sizzle flew out of Raven's chest, spinning around and screaming in rage. Raven gave her a cool smile.
"You fucking bitch! I'll…wha…huh…what happened…what happened! I can't…my mind! I can't remember anything! I was in the helicopter and then…WHAT DID YOU DO! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Sizzle screamed.
"I figured you might have learned some sensitive stuff while in our friend's body. So I had a blanking spell ready when you tried to take me over. Wiped your last thirty minutes clean. Now I'll wipe the floor with you." Raven said.
"FUCK YOU! I DON'T NEED YOU! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL MYSELF!" Sizzle screamed, as she raised her hand.
The electronic arming noise was very loud.
"Somehow I doubt that."
Sizzle twisted her head to look at Cyborg, on the roof of one of the buildings, even as it burned, his sonic cannon charged and ready.
"I'm back bitch. And I'm mighty pissed. Give me a reason." Cyborg said.
Sizzle looked from Cyborg, to Raven whose hands were now alight with black power, and then at Savior who was now armed with several Shimmer weapons, and then around, and finally settling on Danny, who was back near the Fenton-Copter wreckage, his eyes widening as he saw her look at him.
"Next time." She said. "Next time, IT ENDS."
And then she swirled into a loop and vanished, popping out of existence.
Within a second all her fires went out, leaving nothing but smoking ruins.
And Danny collapsed onto the ground, finally letting himself breathe. It was finally over.
For now.
Far far away, in the wreckage of a high school where this battle began oh so long ago, Tucker carefully picked his way over an overturned table, finally spying his target.
"Sam? Sam?"
Sam's eyes fluttered open at the voice, her shifting consciousness finally called back to reality, and she muttered and raised her head, wincing slightly.
"Tucker?"
"Yeah Sam, it's me. You ok?"
"I…I think so…" Sam said, as she tried to get up. Tucker reached her side and helped her.
"Relax, you took a serious hit."
"A serious…oh god, where's Danny?"
"Fighting with the Titans…oh man it was bad Sam. In a good way AND the classic way. Sizzle's vaped a good chunk of Amity Park."
"You think they can beat her?" Sam asked.
"I'm sure of it! They're the Teen Titans!"
"What about Danny?"
"Oh, and Danny of course."
"Right…" Sam said, as Tucker helped her out. She needed a drink of water: she was thirsty as hell…
"Is she all right?" Cyborg asked as he walked over to where Savior and Raven were kneeling around Starfire's prone body.
"Her life signs seem strong." Raven said, her eyes glowing slightly as she examined her alien comrade.
"That might not be the thing." Savior said, her voice both grim and choked up. "Tamaranians…they're strong…their brains aren't used to such pain. By doing that…I'm worried I might have shorted something out…made her a vegetable or something…the Shimmer can fix human nerve tissue, but I never tested it with Kory, I could have…" Savior said, his voice becoming desperate.
"Hey hey, hey man. Don't vacillate yet. Star's tough. She'll be fine, especially with you and Raven here. Relax."
Savior didn't look relaxed, as he glanced down at Starfire. Her face seemed almost peaceful now, but that didn't comfort Savior: it made her look like she was dead, a death Savior may have himself…
"Where's Danny?" Cyborg was asking. Savior gave a general jerk of his hand backwards to indicate Danny's position. "Hey Danny, you OK?" Cyborg yelled. Danny gave a weak wave. "Seems like Danny's not hurt at least."
"Yeah, considering I could have avoided all this if he'd just listened and laid low." Savior muttered.
"What Noel?"
"Nothing. And don't use real names in the field." Savior replied tersely,
"You called Kory Kory!"
"…Right. Still." Savior said. Cyborg frowned.
"Hey man, that's a pretty bad burn you have there." Cyborg said, commenting on Savior's scorched cheek. "Better have Raven fix it before it gets infected."
"Infections take time to take root. Raven can fix me later. You tend to Star now Rae. That's an order." Savior said as he stood up.
"Hey man, you said it yourself. Star's a soldier. She'll understand why you had to do what you did. I'm sure you used your best judgment." Cyborg said.
"Agreed. After all Savior, you're only human." Raven added.
"Yeah, and in this business that's a liability." Savior said, and then he headed over to Danny, needing to confirm something.
Danny watched at Savior approached him from where he was sitting, next to the wreckage of the Fenton-copter. He didn't look happy.
"…I'm sorry." Danny said as Savior came close. Savior had been about to speak, but Danny beating him to it, or more accurately his words, just added to Noel's foul mood.
"…The special Fenton Thermos was destroyed?" Savior asked.
"Yeah." Danny said meekly.
"And your dad probably won't be able to build another one for a while."
"…Several weeks." Danny said.
Savior didn't reply: he just turned his eyes skyward as if he was asking why he had been saddled with this kid, and then he put his hand into his palm, muttering. It made Danny feel bad, not to mention uncomfortable.
"…I just wanted to help!" Danny blurted out. Savior looked up from his hand at the kid: his intense expression, just bordering on anger, just made Danny panic and continue talking. "You saved me…my mom…I just thought…"
"I had it in hand. And I couldn't exactly signal you kid. Don't forget what forms the bricks on the way to the gates of hell." Savior said.
"………..I did my best." Danny said, feeling miserable.
The words made Savior look like Danny had insulted his mother.
"Your best? Your BEST?" Savior said. "Kid, it's the losers who whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen!" Savior snapped. Danny had no reply, and his expression just made Savior angrier.
"Well then, let's review this royally fucked up mess we called a battle, shall we?" Savior said. "No Sizzle, no Thermos, no idea when or where she'll strike next, god KNOWS how much property damage, and if there isn't a casualty from this shitstain of a fight it'll be the biggest miracle since the Red Sox!" Savior yelled, and then fixed Danny with a blistering look.
"Great job, ROOKIE."
And then Savior spun on his heel and walked away, heading back to his teammates. Danny watched him go for a bit, and then looked sadly down at his knees, as smoke swirled from the Fenton-copter and the ruins of his town around him.
