Chapter 14: She Was Horrid

"For every evil under the sun,
There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try and find it,
If there be none, never mind it."

-W. C. Hazlitt, English Proverbs

You ever have a term that you dearly want to remember, but never could when you needed it?

That was what Danny was trying to do right now. There was a double irony considering what the term was. It was originally in French, and that was the term Danny couldn't remember, but he could remember what the English translation of the term was: "Spirit of the Stairs". A strange idiom, but it made sense when you knew what it applied to: that moment after an argument, perhaps five or ten minutes after its conclusion, a conclusion which you found dissatisfying, where you thought of the perfect retort or comeback to a phrase or bit of knowledge that your opponent had pulled out, a phrase that had either turned the argument to your opponent's favor or pretty much crushed you right then and there. The Spirit of the Stairs was a perfect rejoinder that was now worthless to you because the argument was done.

Danny was having a moment like that at the, well, moment, as he helped Sam out of the living room. Not in regards to the argument, because he had actually managed to say everything he wanted there. No, his "spirit of the stairs" problem was that he wanted to say something to Sam now…and he had absolutely no idea what. What did you say to someone like Sam, who was so strong in mind, after someone who had an equally strong mind and a burning desire to crush the spirit of rebellion that lurked within her had basically dissected her? A spirit that nearly HAD been crushed, that was the hard part. If Sam had stayed strong in the face of Savior's invective, this might have been easier, but she had been on the verge of breaking down entirely, like a child who had been brutally teased by older peers. People like Sam thought that couldn't happen to them…and when it did, they tended to deny it and anyone who had tried to help them when their own strengths had not been enough. Hell, they could get quite angry with their rescuers, seeing their need to be rescued as weakness and resenting it and the person who had reminded them of said weakness by helping in the first place…

Yes, indeed, Danny was quite confused on what to say to Sam now, considering the utter mess she might be inside, as he stopped and let her go, Sam finally finding her feet again. Should he just open his mouth and see what came out? Should he say anything? Maybe he should commiserate with her on how much of an asshole Savior was…

In the end, Danny didn't have to do anything: Sam did it all, as she turned slightly and hugged Danny so fiercely it almost drove all the wind out of him.

"Thank you." Sam whispered, trying to blink back one final set of tears and not quite succeeding. She'd been wrong about Danny. He hadn't been chewed up, spit out, and given up, he'd just been down again, before his amazing strength had once again lifted him up, lifted him higher then even she realized, and knowing that perhaps he had been able to hit that peak because of her…

She didn't want to name it, the deep rumblings of emotion that were within her, growing stronger as she hugged him. Somehow, naming it would make it official, and despite that in a way that would be wonderful, Sam was too young and too uncertain on what she wanted to do with her life to have something so…strong in it. She had to keep it down for now, assess it, see if it fit into her goals…even though a small part of her was telling her to just throw it all to the wind and do what part of her so desperately wanted to do…

….No…not yet.

Maybe someday.

But not yet.

That someday might have been more concrete, had Sam known that Danny was experiencing almost a mirror version of what Sam had been feeling when she had grabbed him so tightly. However, his thought process wasn't so refined, so he was a lot more confused at the strangeness he felt in his heart, his head, and (though he'd never speak of it, hell he'd never admit it to himself) his testes. This roiling murk in his being caused him to stand still for a few seconds before he reached up and returned the hug, slightly, much like Starfire had when he had hugged her…

"Uh…yeah…you're welcome Sam…you're welcome…" Danny said.

Sam pulled back, and her eyes, glistening with tears and yet shining with something, something Danny couldn't nail down but was wonderful and scary all the same time…Danny wanted to say something, except his tongue had seemingly swelled until it filled his entire mouth, and so he just stared, as they looked at each other for a bit…in what some people call a real 'moment'.

Then reality inserted itself back into their world, as Sam came back to the senses that had first been washed away by Savior's fierce personality and then with gratitude towards Danny, as she suddenly blushed lightly and wiped at her eyes.

"…I must look a mess…" Sam said. "I'd…better go to the ladies room and tidy up."

"…Yeah. That might be good." Danny replied. Sam nodded lightly, and then turned and walked away. When their eye link was broken, Danny finally came back to the world he knew.

"Whooo." Danny said, feeling his face flush and not certain why it was doing so. "What was that? That was…intense."

Danny blinked, and then he put the way he was feeling back in a box as he recalled the more unpleasant part of what had just happened. He'd just told Savior off, and while it had seemed at the time that he had won that fight, Savior might yet win the war. He could very well decide to just pull the Titans out of Amity Park, effectively throwing Danny to the wolves if his powers didn't come back soon. And while Danny didn't think Savior was that juvenile (a jerk, yes, but he was a mature jerk), he wouldn't put it fully past him. No one likes losing an argument, especially one where he had been out-spoken by someone several years his junior…where the junior had been right. Even the best of us can throw temper tantrums and take their balls and go home.

But if that was going to happen…Danny was going to make sure the other Titans knew it: that they were leaving not because of any possible tactical advantage but because Savior didn't want to play any more. And if it came to a head over that…Danny was certain that the more likely scenario from the other Titans would be mutiny, not blind obedience. The Titans might be good soldiers, but they weren't thoughtless drones.

So Danny walked off, planning to speak to Cyborg first. If they had to strip Savior of command, Danny was certain the teen machine would be the one to assume it…unless, for some reason they wanted Danny to do so.

That thought daunted Danny: he could barely handle himself, could he actually lead a team?

Danny didn't know.

But he would try if he had to.

And if he could…he'd avoid making the same error Savior had made, mistaking leadership for micromanagement.

At least, he hoped he could.


Danny needn't have worried about a possible immature reaction to what had just happened at the climax of the Danny/Sam/Savior argument. Savior was not the type to place his faults at others' doors. Instead, he tended to brood on them, deeply, and that was what he was doing now, as he sat there on the couch, his arms laying on his thighs, as he stared at the area before him, his eyes pondering, reflective, melancholy.

"How long have you been there?" He asked.

"He's right you know." Came the reply, as Raven appeared from the shadows, setting herself down lightly. She carried several large books with her via her dark power, floating nearby. "Just because you see that he still looks at the world with bright eyes and how you believe it would be better to have that brightness extinguished for the sake of survival…even if that might be true in this hard world of ours…that does not give you the right to browbeat him with your know-how until he's willing to do whatever you think is right. I accepted your terms without complaint because I believed that the beneficial qualities of your experience and your mind would overwhelm your failings. I have to wonder if I was correct to take that chance." Raven said, as she walked in front of Savior. He looked up at her, but he found no pity or sympathy in her eyes. Just the harsh slant of someone who had decided to lay it down.

"What you did with Sam was almost inexcusable." Raven said. Her voice was not angry, but she didn't need it to be. "I knew that you two aren't the type to get along. You're both smart and strong willed, and on the opposite of the fence when it comes to thinking. Hell, maybe you're even right Noel. But just because she hasn't spelled the stench of dead bodies and listened to the screams of the dying doesn't mean her views are that of a foolish young idealist and hence without any merit whatsoever. She's young, Noel. There is a bit of polishing yet left for life to do to her. I'd like to hope she has the qualities to keep that inevitability from scarring her, or making her bitter. But that…what you did…politics or no politics, right or wrong, whatever it may be and how you feel aside, what happened…I'd like to think you had it under some control Noel. I'd like to think you were just having a bad day. But it was still unpardonable, and if you had gone one more centimeter in the direction you were going Danny wouldn't have needed to come in, because I would have kicked your ass myself and thrown you off the team. I love you Noel…but that's just a feeling. It's not a guarantee. I know you're not like this…but I hope you don't try and prove me wrong. For both our sakes." Raven said, and while her voice was still firm, there was a bit of her own melancholy in it, as if the thought of Savior changing so much to that degree would be more then she could bear, in some ways.

Savior held her gaze for a bit, and then he sighed and looked downward and to his right, the gesture more a random turn of the head then to actually look at anything.

"What happened to me Raven?" He asked. "I was never the bubbly bouncing type…but here I am screaming my head off at teenagers over immaterial things like history and ordering people around like I'm a drill sergeant instead of the paragon I'm supposed to be as per my title suggests…what's going on?"

"I think you know exactly why you're acting this way Noel." Raven said, as she sat down in front of her boyfriend, placing her books beside her.

And he did…he just didn't want to say it…but he had to…because that would probably be the only way he could truly understand it.

"Light City." Noel replied. "My first mission as a leader."

Raven nodded, knowing all too well of the event. Light City had been a town several dozen miles down the road from Jump City, a former tourist hotspot that had first fallen on hard times and then into the hands of some very bad men, men who had been in the process of turning the city into a crime-infested hellhole. The torture the city was going through finally came to a head when a murderous vigilante called Cauterize had shown up and started butchering the criminal element and everything else he perceived that kept Light City from becoming a "nice town" again. The Titans had been asked by the Police Chief of Jump City to go and help, and Robin had sent a four-man team led by Noel to do so. What had followed was terrible, messy, and destructive, and also the story of one of my better pieces of work, The Cutting Edge! (thumbs up, cheap pop). You don't have to read it to follow anything in this story…but if you like my work, you'll probably love it. Anyway, enough ego stroking, back to the story…

"What happened Noel?" Raven said, her voice now soft and asking a genuine question. "I know it wasn't all wine and roses, I saw some of it firsthand. But when you got back you seemed to be comfortable with it…and then several days later you just started dwelling on it. Why?"

"…You remember the Brother Blood attack that happened a week after we got home?"

"Yes…but that went as well as it could Noel. We got banged up a bit, but nothing serious. We foiled his plan, saved the day, the usual. Why would it haunt you?"

"Not the battle. Just something that happened to it. We were wrapping it up, doing the two-prong final strike…it's just the way Robin looked at me when he ordered me to lead the second prong. Cyborg should have led it, considering his issues with Blood, and yet he told me to. There was something in his eyes…something that was different. Like what happened in Light City made him see me more as an equal…and that…it made me feel like a fraud."

"Why?"

"Because the mission was an utter mess. I fucked up in every way imaginable."

"Oh Noel…you're being too hard on yourself. Really."

"I have to be. This is a dangerous life and if I fuck up people die. I fucked up, and people died. A lot of people."

"I'd say they were all criminals, but that clearly doesn't comfort you."

"No. It doesn't. Because they all weren't criminals." Savior said, remembering Cauterize's master plan and what had happened because of it. "They were still human. If I start regarding criminals, no matter how cruel and vicious they might be, as something less, then the battle's lost. Maybe they did deserve it, hell in the right mood I would have probably wanted to do what Cauterize did…but I don't. It's like Mark Twain said. 'I am different from Washington; I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't.'"

"Quoting Twain again, well, remember THIS quote from him Noel. 'We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it-and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again-and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.'" Raven said. Noel looked at her: she smiled wryly.

"Still, criminals or not, they were people. 'Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them with justice?' Lillian Hellman."

"'We are a people who do not want to keep much of the past in our heads. It is considered unhealthy in America to remember mistakes, neurotic to think about them, psychotic to dwell on them.' Also Hellman."

Savior's eyes narrowed.

"Getting back to the point. The Light City mission was a disaster on par with Carter's attempt to liberate the hostages from Iran, and at least there's the possible conspiracy that there might have been sabotage afoot to comfort those involved in it. I don't have that. Not only could I not prevent any of the deaths, I almost let Cauterize get away with it. If it hadn't been for sheer luck, I would have had the wool completely pulled over my eyes. What happened at the end of that mission wasn't great, but if Cauterize had tricked me, it would have been worse." Savior said.

"But he didn't."

"But only by chance!"

"You still figured it out."

"But…"

"Noel, you might not have succeeded in all your goals…but you shouldn't just think of how you couldn't see the master plan. You did more then that."

"Like what?"

"You kept your team alive."

"Barely! If Cauterize hadn't been pulling his punches, we'd all be dead! Hell, I still feel guilty over all the abuse Scalpel took, it shouldn't…"

"Noel…Nigel knew the risks. He doesn't blame you, why blame yourself?"

"A good leader would keep his teammates safe."

"Then you went above and beyond your duties. You didn't just lead your team, you helped bring Gar and Tara together."

"That mission was not a blind date! It was a assignment, an assignment I was given, an assignment that…Raven…I can't see how I succeeded in Light City."

"Operative words being you can't see. You did Noel. You're just being cynical."

" 'The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.' George Bernard Shaw."

" Maybe so, but your viewpoint of Light City is still wrong. And not only is it wrong, you're letting it affect this mission, and deep down inside, you KNOW, always did, that that while you may doubt your part in the Light City operation, wondering what you did wrong...you KNOW, KNEW what you were doing here was wrong."

"I was just trying to do a better job!"

" 'When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.' Mr. Shaw again."

"But this requires special thinking…"

"'No man can be a pure specialist without being, in a strict sense, an idiot.' Shaw again."

"I thought the experience…"

"'Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.' Oscar Wilde."

"Stop quoting!"

"Why? Is that your job?" Raven asked.

"Why you…"

"Not my fault we mostly read the same books."

"But all the same…Light City…I just don't want any deaths…I want to help that kid…why does that make me the bad guy…I mean, all things aside, I do have more life experience, more up close and personal encounters with lunatics like Sizzle, the kid…I mean…all condensation and disagreeing aside, but Raven, he IS a rookie!"

"And as Carl Sandburg said, 'Who swindles himself more deeply than the one saying 'I am holier then thou'?'"

Silence.

"You're right." Savior finally said, and sighed deeply. "I went about this all wrong. I just kept looking at Light City and how I messed up…and the main thing that kept popping out at me was that I never had any control over the situation. It seemed like everyone and their mother was trying to work my teammates and I into their scheme, and their machinations and conspiracies kept spinning me around until I couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. And as a result…so much death. And when I got picked to lead up this problem, against something like Sizzle…I didn't want it to happen again. I refused for it to happen again. So I decided that this time I had to be in control. EVERYTHING had to go through me, or otherwise it was worthless. And if anything messed that up…I had to deal with it. I thought that would help me keep the body count at zero, would help me neutralize Sizzle as effectively as possible…but I forgot about the point of the control and just became obsessed with the control itself. I just didn't want to fail again…not for my sake but the sake of the innocents who could get caught in this…and yet…this is how it winds up. Whoever runs this plane of existence has a nasty sense of humor." Savior said.

Silence, as Raven looked at her man. Despite his slight sorrow, she felt content: she knew Noel had enough introspection abilities to know when he was making a mistake, and despite her slight worries he'd done just that, realizing he was in error in his choices, where a lesser man would have refused to relinquish the high ground, even if he only possessed it in his own mind.

"You're a good leader Noel." Raven said. "You're just a terrible puppet master."

"Yes…but you're only half right." Savior said. "I'm a bad leader because I've been acting like the wrong kind of leader for this. I've been acting like a general away from the battlefield, looking at results given to me and issuing orders from that. Even if my judgment is sound, good, even exceptional, I am still encased in a cocoon, away from the reality of the fight. I need to treat this situation more like a medieval king would, riding before his men, acting as their leader and yet their equal both at the same time. In a situation like this…I have to fight a man's war, not a leader's war." Savior said, and was about to say something else when Raven put a finger to his lips.

"Allow me." Raven said, as she stood up and inhaled.

"THEY MAY TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT THEY WILL NEVER TAKE…OUR FREEDOM!" Raven bellowed in a terrible Scottish accent.

Savior goggled, his jaw dropping. Raven giggled. She was normally quite serious and dour herself…but she had her moments.

"That was bizarre and so wrong and I can't believe you just did that." Savior said.

"All joking aside…Noel, you can do this. Just not like this."

"Yeah…" Savior replied. "Yeah, I know that now."

"And I think you owe both Danny and Sam an apology."

"Yeah…I suppose I do. Anything else?"

"Well, you can stop using my toothbrush."

"What?"

"Kidding, kidding."

"Isn't the role of the jokester supposed to be filled by Gar or Rob?"

"You killed my father, you gave me the ability to feel emotions, you have to live with it when I occasionally feel the urge to be a goof."

"Still…what the hell? Shit." Savior said incredulous, still not able to believe his girlfriend had imitated William Wallace or Mel Gibson's interpretation of him anyway.

"'Cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it.' George Washington." Raven said, grinning. Savior's eyes narrowed again.

"'Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.' Twain again." Savior shot back.

"Ok, ok, you win this quote war for now hero. Besides the Danny thing, I found something else that might be of interest."

"Oh? What? A possible binding spell?"

"No, sorry…but something you might want to note anyway…" Raven said, as she reached over and lifted up one of the large dark books she had brought with her. While Noel didn't read Raven's spell books, as she had told him that doing so in and of itself could cause problems, he knew a fair amount about them, including that some were older then several human civilizations, spells woven into the books themselves to keep them from being reduced to dust from the ravages of time. "During the time before our previous meeting, when I was taking a brief rest, Sam brought me something. She wanted to know if I had any insight on it." Raven said, as she reached into a cloak pocket and withdrew the Sumerian artifact. The semi-hexagonal relic was slightly larger then Raven's hands, to the point where her fingers had to stretch to keep it held. It was a deep, deep blue, almost black, with etchings and symbols across its face.

"What's this?" Savior asked.

"A Sumerian remnant of some kind."

"What is it, an amulet?"

"No, Sam didn't think so…and neither do it. There's no hole or braces for a line to hang over someone's neck. Then again, I know some more things about Sumeria then she does…don't look so shocked, many ancient cultures dovetail into spells, one way or another. Back then man was more closely linked to the more primal elements of the universe, before they fell so much in love with science and logic."

"I'm not doubting. But what is it and how does it tie into us at the moment?"

"Well, don't quote me on this…but I think it's a key of some kind."

"You mean it opens a door?"

"Nothing so traditional. Key is the closest word I can find for it. By the slight groves I find on the side…it looks like this was once part of something larger, like a tablet, or maybe a wall. This piece could be removed and reinserted."

"So it's a puzzle piece."

Raven gave Savior a wry look.

"I suppose, but it doesn't complete a picture. I think the words on this completed some kind of message or prophecy or spell or something. Indeed, the top 'sentences' seem to be some kind of incantation."

"What's it say?"

"I really can't tell. These are REALLY old languages Noel. The kind that had been forgotten for eons when Latin was new. Translating them to English is pretty much impossible because languages were very different back in those days. It's not like translating French to Spanish, as those both have root in the Latin language and hence the words can easily be rendered from one form to another. It's like Egyptian, if they hadn't found the Rosetta stone we still wouldn't know what hieroglyphics said. And these languages makes Egyptian look young."

"So you can't translate it?"

"Ah, I didn't say that, My kind…we have done well not to forget the ages past…but I can't give a direct translation. I can only give an approximation. Danny's mother apparently tried translating the last two lines: there's actually a few lines above it that Sam didn't get in her sketch. They're very faint, I barely noticed them and had to use a careful spell to raise them enough to be legible. Danny's mother translated the first one she saw as "Willing and unwilling unite", but that's just one way it could be. It could also be "All come to me" or "I draw on the entirety of good and evil" or maybe "Their might be mine" or something else. But that's the last line in the possible spell. There's a line under it that seems completely apart from it."

"So? What is it?"

"Patience! This isn't a high school French assignment!" Raven snapped. "In any case, I think this was part, as mentioned, of some kind of larger piece of writing…and based on the final line, I think it spoke of some kind of immense power, a power that only a chosen few could access at certain times. Basically, the spell at the end of this is a consolation. It is telling people how to access other, not as great but still formidable, power because only the chosen few can access the special kind of power. The last line, after the spell, seems to be a reminder to the people using the spell that the power gained there is second rate and also a message to the so-called chosen on just how to access that original, greater power. Or it might be something telling people that they can never access the power. Or that the power lies within us all. I can't really tell if it's speaking to both "sides" or just one, partly because the artifact appears to be chipped at the end, which destroyed the last word. Not to mention it's very vague. The whole thing is. I could be going about this all wrong." Raven said.

"Well, I won't fault you for it…but are you saying this thing is dangerous?"

"This thing? No. Well, not really. Um, how shall I word this…even if you can see the spell, and read the letters…I don't think anything will happen. These grooves, it's not just where this piece would attach to the full writing, it's also where whoever had this artifact would hold it, and do…something. I don't know what. In a way, it's quite clever. Not only could you remove it from the larger piece of writing, hence robbing anyone who shouldn't be reading it of the last, vital part of information they needed…but whoever was in charge of it could detach it and use it…somehow. Maybe. Like I said, it's impossible to be sure. But in any case…you'd have to know exactly how to get this to work, I think. You can't just say the spell, you have to know HOW to say it. That how be a certain situation, a catalyst, a state of mind or emotion, who knows. Maybe Dr. Fate would know how to get it to work, but not the man on the street."

"So what's the point?"

"Well, we have gotten sidetracked. The main point I wanted to make was something I found in my books after I had examined this for Sam, while looking for any kind of binding spell. It ties into what the very last line on this says."

"About how only the chosen can find the true power? If that is indeed what it is saying?"

"We're going into this assuming that that indeed is what it is saying: how to find the true power. I found a few squiggles in here…" Raven said as she opened another one of the large books. "I tend to work my way backwards when I hunt for spells, check the most powerful and scale it back as needed. In amongst them I found something…disturbing."

"What?"

"This…" Raven said, pointing to something that was utter gibberish to Savior. "MIGHT have been Sumerian. MIGHT. It's been heavily bastardized, mixed in with other languages…BUT, if by chance I AM reading it right…I think it also speaks of the same great power that this artifact may have spoken of. The same great power I surmise was actually written more of on the larger section of this thing, the part that the artifact locked into, a part which has most likely been lost to time."

"…Ok. What kind of power?"

"Hard to say. The only thing I can find for sure is that it's HUGE. I mean, HUGE. It might completely dwarf the Sorceress."

Savior's pallor suddenly wasn't so good.

"Hey, don't panic yet. All I can tell for sure is that it's big. How big I can't tell for sure…but big. Enough to cause serious damage in this day and age anyway. Now, ancient prophecies are filled with stuff like that, a lot of which can be explained today in less fearful terms…but like I said, the fact that this can be translated several different ways gives it a possible more serious edge. This was what grabbed me: the term describing someone who HAD accessed that power. It could roughly be translated as 'ultimate forever-being.'"

"Fancy."

"Yes…and I don't see you worrying. I hate to do this…but if you muck around with acronyms, you get another term. 'Prime Immortal'."

"But what…" Savior said, and then he remembered.

"Oh god. Danny's enemy. Vlad."

"I see you remember the debriefing. How Vlad was bragging, through that Ember ghost, that he was something called the Primmortal. And when Sizzle burned him with that Soulcooker or whatever flame, Danny said Vlad couldn't believe it had happened because he was the Primmortal…"

"You think Vlad has accessed this incredible power?"

"Ah, have hope there Noel. If Vlad had truly found something like what is described here, he wouldn't be getting burned by Sizzle. He'd be blowing her out with a gesture. But still, he did throw us around like rag dolls. We might be able to attribute that to his decades of practice and his catching us by surprise…but it was a fair power. But not enough."

"Please tell me there's more good news anyway."

"There might be. When I found this I started cross-referencing with my other books…and don't worry, I cast that "Do Not Repossess" spell on Kory and myself already, no worries about me getting too carried away in research and forgetting that. And I did manage to find a few more scraps of semi-info, the whole "can't really translate it" thing aside…another says that while the power can be claimed, claiming it TRULY is immensely hard. Might even be impossible. So maybe Vlad hasn't found the actual power, but an offshoot, or the surface, or something, and that's enough for him to think he's found the power itself. That's interesting enough. But what was really interesting was something I found in the Book of Vermanthrax here."

"I thought that was the book of Quaserdor."

"No! The book of Quaserdor is over there, and besides its part of the Vylurchinabtyu Prophecies!"

"I thought you traded the Vylurchinabtyu Prophecies for two of Nechrklutkil's Manifestations and a copy of the Wrozxrytasx Io Refoplkiu."

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

"No. Do you?"

"Do you value your scrotum?"

"Depends, what book is that?"

A vein began to throb above Raven's eye.

"NOW who's being a goof?" Savior smirked.

"Well I suppose you don't want to know what might be the key to accessing this power and how this whole thing applies to us."

"You're right, I don't. Ignorance is bliss."

It took three seconds for Raven to slam Savior into the ceiling and then drop him back on the couch, which toppled over from the impact.

"Ow."

"You done yet?"

"Ow."

"You've shrugged off bullets like you were an action movie hero, Noel. Stop it."

"Ow."

"Would you like a spell that reduces everything you say to a monosyllable!"

"No." Savior said, as he sat up. "Uh, I mean…negative."

"All joking aside, if I gather all my books and what they told me together, I might have a very rough idea on when and who can access the so called Primmortal power. Now, as mentioned several times before, trying to match up modern languages and date systems with ancient gobbledygook isn't exactly the most precise science, mostly because it's the exact antithesis of science…but if I am doing this right…the last time the door was open was about 10,000 years ago. This also happened to be about the time the last ice ages ended."

"You don't think…"

"It was about the time humans started their first true steps towards civilization. Maybe. If what these people predicted was accurate, then the door is open again…it opened sometime back in the 1950's, and will stay open until about 2080, give or take a few dozen years. And now we get to the final, and most imperative point."

"Which is?"

"As I have said, that whole spell on this…" Raven said, raising the Sumerian artifact. "Seems to exist as a substitute for the Primmortal power, because only certain people, or things, or beings, can access it. And if I have read this correctly, and matched up everything, and please keep in mind I could be totally wrong…the qualities to be the ones who can access the power for this period of time are described as thus: 'those who walk in both worlds.'"

Silence.

And then Savior nervously licked his lips.

"So…you think…"

"I don't know. That's all it says. Nothing about ghosts, spirits, the supernatural, nothing. Just 'Those who walk in both worlds.' That could apply to all kinds of things. That could apply to me, because I'm half demon. It could apply to Cyborg, because he's part machine. Hell, it could apply to you, as you have a human form and a metahuman form. But considering what Vlad said…it might very well apply to…well, I doubt Vlad would claim he's something he's not. Arrogant as those kinds are, they like to have a solid ground for their arrogance."

Silence again.

"That's pretty much it. I thought it might be important…if only in hindsight."

"Hmmmmmmm." Savior said. "As far as you can tell, this power is supposedly very tricky to access."

"Tricky is putting it mildly. But it's the same for everyone in regards to that trickiness. The power's not good or evil, it just is. It's essentially clay that can be molded by the findee however he or she sees fit, but you have to find it first. Supposedly that is the hard part. Perhaps the fact that Vlad is claiming to be so really indicates he has NOT found the power, or the true heart of it. Besides that…I don't know what to make of it…except that we might have stumbled onto something big here."

"Great. So what do we do with this knowledge?" Savior asked.

"For now…I say keep it to ourselves. We don't want to go babbling about this, could cause all kinds of problems, especially considering that we have no idea if any of this is actually true."

"Hmmmmm…yes…" Savior said, as he traced the patterns on the relic. How strange: both a spell to gain power and after all that a reminder that the power accessed by that spell is second rate compared to the Primmortal power, which could only be found by…doing what? Being who?

And would it come to bear on this mission…

And then a nearby door opened and Starfire walked in.

"Guys…um…Danny called another meeting."

Savior arched an eyebrow.

"Um…he'd like you all to attend…any issues Savior?" Starfire asked.

"Perhaps, but not to worry Starfire, I'm out of that vein I was in earlier." Savior said, as he and Raven stood up to follow.

They left the books and the artifact on the table. They did not think they would be important at the moment.


Danny was more nervous then he had ever been in his life.

He'd gone and spoken with Cyborg, as he had planned, and then Starfire when she had returned from her sweep (and confirmed that if there was anyone in Amity Park, she couldn't find them), and while neither had agreed with his worry that Savior might call them off this mission, they had both agreed that he was acting rather badly. That had given him the confidence to call for this assembly, but now that he was actually at the table, he found said confidence starting to desert him again. He couldn't help it. And when Starfire had come into the room with Raven and Savior, it had only gotten worse. Danny had been planning to draw on Tucker for support, as his best male friend seemed quite keen on the idea that Danny take over, since Danny was the ghost fighter and Savior was a jerk and all that, but the second Savior had entered the room Tucker had swiftly retreated to one of the corners, as if worried Savior was going to strike him. Sam wasn't there: Danny guessed she was still cleaning up.

The three returning teens sat down. Danny stole a glance at Savior. He didn't seem angry, or worse, amused. Hell, he seemed…rather receptive. Danny, still a bit young and not used to the ups and downs of life, and how some people could do complete or at least near 180's on their opinions, began to wonder if this was some scheme to discredit him, or worse, that all the Titans were really on Savior's side and had just been setting him up for a bigger fall.

"Um…uh…" Danny stammered, wishing desperately he once again had some of the fire he had shown when he had needed to get Savior away from Sam. After all, if he had to wrest control away from Savior and, god forbid, take over, he had to show fire! Ok, maybe that was a bad choice of words. He had to show passion…and….and….and…

"Danny…could I speak first?" Savior asked.

Danny gulped, though part of him felt relieved…and he didn't much appreciate that part.

"Uh…ok." Danny said.

Savior stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen." He began. "History has clearly shown that even the greatest strategic minds can be wrong in crucial processes…"

"Oh, not another speech! Savior, would it kill you to just get to the point?" Cyborg half yelled.

Savior blinked…and strangely, Danny felt much better.

"All right. Sure." Savior said. "Danny, I was wrong. About pretty much everything. I'm sorry. Will you accept my apology?"

Danny was the one who blinked now.

"Uh…uh…"

"Perhaps more accurately, will you accept it before you give yourself a stroke?"

That did it: Danny sat down again.

"Um…" Danny said, not sure what to say.

"Just say yes or no Danny, and we'll go from there."

"…Will the outcome be more maladroit if I say no?" Danny said, and suddenly wondered where he had gotten that word.

"No, no it won't. I have allowed myself too much failing already." Savior replied.

"Oh…well then yes, I accept your apology Savior."

"Noel. My name's Noel."

Danny blinked.

"This is Victor…" Savior said, pointing to Cyborg, who waved. "And Kory…" Starfire smiled. "And well, Raven is just Raven. I trust that such information will never leave your lips."

"Uh…no…but uh…I'm not sure about our company…" Danny said, as he looked at Tucker…and found the teen clawing at a black energy orb that had encased his head, an orb that vanished as Danny looked at it.

"Ahhhh!" Tucker gasped. "What was that for?"

"Sorry. Misfired spell." Raven said. Tucker gave her an odd look: Savior just smiled to himself. She was always on the ball.

"But Danny…unpleasantness and ego and all such aside, I could see how tense and uneasy you were. You clearly thought the worst, and while I suppose I gave you good reason…and in regards to that observation, I have to ask you: do you think you're ready to lead this group?" Savior asked.

Danny swallowed and considered his words.

"No…but I'm damn sure ready to HELP lead it. We need someone to balance you NNNNN…Savior." Danny said: Tucker looked confused.

"Maybe we do…but there is one thing that still bugs me Danny." Savior said, as he turned and walked away, his back to the ghost teen. "I will admit to have made more then a few mistakes in my thinking process and its resultant conduct between you and your girlfriend…"

"Sam's not my girlfriend!"

"Right, sorry, keep forgetting. Like I was saying, I made errors and I apologize again. But the fact remains that the following battle might still require some very hard decisions. And Danny, I don't want be the bad guy again, but I really don't think you're hard enough to make them." Savior said.

"Maybe not…but I don't consider it a weakness that I don't want to destroy Sizzle."

"Indeed…but you want to fight her, correct?"

"Yes!"

"Then you do that." Savior said, as he turned around, and though the gaze had shifted somewhat to regard Danny with more favor, that hard edge was back in Savior's eyes, the eyes of a man who was willing to make the tough choices. "What about the rest of you? What's going on?"

"All the battle gear has been assembled and ready. And while there's still a lot of bugs in the Oxygen Destroyer, I guess it's about as ready as it's going to be without several days hard work." Cyborg said.

"I couldn't find any kind of imprisoning spell, but I found several battle spells which I believe could be quite useful in the fight." Raven said.

"I cannot really offer anything except my hands…but with the town completely empty, I will use those to the best of my ability." Starfire said.

"And I…I…" Danny said.

"No need Danny. I know what you'll do." Savior said. "You'll fight her. And that's all you'll do, because in the end…we'll be charged with actually dealing with her. I won't burden you with such a hard choice. Unless you've thought of another plan."

Danny noticed Sam entering the room, but she held back, apparently still a bit cowed and uncertain of what was going on. He looked at her and gave a brief thumbs up under the table, but she didn't seem comforted. In fact, she looked a tad bit ill.

"…No. At the moment, despite my dislike of it…you're probably right. With no special thermos, no way to keep her in the Ghost Zone, and that sick mind of hers…I guess we will have to…take care of her." Danny said. That reality seemed to depress him though.

"Danny." Raven said, and he looked at the goth female. "Never forget why we do this. I know this isn't quite the same as pounding on a spirit and then sucking it up in a Thermos…but you did that for the same reason we're doing this. To protect the world, and those you care about. It's great to have a peaceful heart…but that is not the same as supporting pacifism."

"I know…I know that. I…just don't like it." Danny said. He sighed again.

And then he stood up.

"But she made her choice. They speak of nurture and environment taking someone and messing them up so bad they can't tell right from wrong…I really don't believe that. The choice to do evil is a conscious choice, and a choice to revel in such deeds…Sizzle may arouse my pity, but only so much. Whether or not she can be saved…that's not my problem any more. She wants to burn my life and everything in it? Well, she can try. I'll be ready for her." Danny said, and though he never knew what came over him at the time, he thrust his hand out over the table.

Everyone stared at it.

For a brief moment, Danny's determination and resolve in the face of such danger quickly withered away as it was replaced by a new overwhelming desire to crawl under the table and die.

And then Cyborg stood up.

"And I'll be right there with you kid." Cyborg said, as he slapped (well, slammed, it was hard for a superstrong cyborg to slap anything) his hand down on Danny's, Whether he had been inspired by the teen or just wanted to support his imprudent gesture, who knew, but he went along with it.

"As will I." Starfire said, doing likewise, her cheery smile edged with her fierce resolution.

"We all will." Raven said, as she accepted the inevitable and floated over to add her hand.

You would expect Savior to hesitate, but he didn't, as he strode over and added his hand.

"Titan or Phantom, our goal is the same. And none of us will yield, relent, or fade in the face of death. Or the face of hell itself." Savior said.

Especially him, and that was the worst part. Despite his resolution to turn over a new leaf…Savior had kept one final thing to himself, one final plan that might make all his dickishness beforehand seem positively nice. He had to: none of the Titans would accept it if they knew about it beforehand, and Danny sure wouldn't. But if it all failed…Savior knew that all the Titans accepted that one day they might have to give up their lives to save innocent people. Danny, despite his youth, might have a grasp on it too. But even so, his last ditch plan, one he had finished working out just before Sam had come storming in…

He hoped it didn't come to that.

But if it did, he wasn't going to waver. Not with the world at state.

"None of us." Raven said.

"None of us." Starfire repeated.

"None of us." Cyborg echoed.

"None of us." Danny finished.

"None of us!" Came a voice, as Tucker slapped his hand down.

Everyone looked at him.

He grinned sheepishly.

"Uh…I did bring cookies, doesn't that make me an honorary hand thing guy?" He asked.

"Eh, sure, why not." Savior replied. His support back and stronger then ever, Danny couldn't help but grin.

"All right, all for one and one for all. What chance does Sizzle have?"

A final hand slammed down.

But not on the grouped limbs.

On Tucker's shoulder.

"EVERY CHANCE IN HELL."

And for Danny, it all seemed to go in slow motion, as the voice pierced into his ears, that terrible female voice, so close…

And then Tucker burst into flames. It was so sudden that the Titans stood there for nearly two seconds, in utter shock, before Tucker began to scream, and then they were all splitting apart and starting to yell as Danny goggled, his heart a piece of ice in his chest how he hadn't had any smoke or burning come from his mouth at all HOW…

"HAHHHHHHHHH!" Sizzle screamed, as she thrust up her hands.

And the entire room exploded in flames.


Outside the house, light streamed forth from the windows and then suddenly the entire middle of the grand mansion exploded, the magnificent structure instantaneously converting to burning ruins, the blast ringing through the empty streets as fire belched into the air and rained burning debris everywhere.

Danny came crashing down on the ground in the large backyard of the mansion, rolling a few times before stopping, gasping, and then the pain of being blown through burning walls and out onto the yard hit him, and he clenched up and moaned, nearly falling prone on the ground, and then what had just happened came back to him, and he tried to rise up…

"No…" He moaned.

And then a fireball flew from the smoke, detonating in front of Danny and sending him tumbling along the ground some more, as he came to a stop a few dozen feet away, his vision blurring and then snapping back as he forced it to clear, as he tried to get up, and then it hit him all over again, as he moaned once more and collapsed to one knee…

"No…no no…how…no…"

"Oh you stupid stupid little boy." Came a voice, and Danny looked up at the approaching figure in the smoke. "You assume that because you've always seen them coming that your talent always will. You assume there's only one tactic I can use. You assume there's no more then one way to skin a cat…oh, I'd almost be stupefied if I wasn't so very amused..."

And then Sam Manson walked through the smoke…except it wasn't Sam. It was Sizzle. And Danny didn't need any kind of special talent to tell, because the female flame spirit's essence hung over Sam like a costume, her body and face slightly superimposed over the goth teen. But the voice that came from Sam's mouth wasn't hers, but Sizzle's…and even now, Danny could not believe it...

"How…why…how…how…?"

"Still bamboozled? Think back shithead. Back to your brave little lady friend at the school yesterday, shoving your coon buddy out of the way to keep him from being burned as dark as his race was called before we started this PC African-American shit…funny how that did him no good in the end, did it? I can still smell his roasting carcass. Delicious." Sizzle said. "Taking the blast of flame I had prepared for him, correctly guessing it wouldn't kill her. And it didn't. But she didn't act so last second that I didn't see that my target had changed, and that was juuuussstttt enough to make one crucial little alteration in my fire blast. She took the blast, and hence you friend survived, as did she…but not without cost, because it allowed me to plant a seed of myself in her, a tiny spark of my essence, in case I needed her later. Originally I planned to harvest her for a host after I took care of you, but when you JUST-WOULDN'T-DIE…well, I needed a different tact. And with those Titans showing up…I figured the best way to solve my thorny little problem was an inside job. So I headed back to your girlfriend after you chased me off from the goth sorceress, and I disappeared into my tiny seed, and I slowly, ever so slowly, made it grow, hidden so deep inside her that neither she or you ever detected I was there…at least until I was ready. And lo and behold, when I awoke and took control of her in that washroom…I was so linked to her you never saw me coming. At least…not until it was too late." Sizzle said, and smiled wickedly, as several more explosions shook Sam's house behind her, backdropping the sadistic flame being with an even more hellish backdrop.

"No…Sam…fight it Sam…fight it…" Danny said.

"Fight me? You think she could fight me?" Sizzle asked. "Could your mother and sister fight me? I think not, and those possessions were just crude drop ins. This…this is a perfect merge kid. I am Sam Manson, she is me, and all the Fenton Ghost Garbage or ghost powers in the world can't separate us. Not that it matters, because you and your Titan fucks are dead. The Titans got off easy: instant vaporize. But you…" Sizzle said.

Danny finally found his feet, and he started backing up, his face a mask of horror, as Sam approached, Sizzle's flaming tendrils trailing after her, her mouth twisted into that cruel, inhumane smirk.

"You just should have died Danny." Sizzle said. "But no. Well, now you've got me good and pissed off. They'll be telling what I did to you for a horror story for generations." Sizzle said, as she flexed her fingers.

"You…you…you're a monster! Nothing in hell has anything on you!" Danny screamed.

Sizzle just smiled.

"You're right. There's nothing worse then me in all of hell." Sizzle said, as fire exploded on her hands.

"Go and see."

To Be Continued