Flashing lights and sounds

by Jedi-And

The official sequel to Legend Maker's "Wings Of The Eagles." New day, new problems, as the Titans are faced with a foe with a name even more pretentious then Savior. But can he back it up...?

20. Humanity: Fake Progress

Flashing Lights and Sounds

By Jedi-and

Disclaimer: I do not own TT, nor do I own Mr. Noel Collins or Robert Candide, but I DO own my own characters.

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Chapter 20: Fake Progress

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What was the creature Vanity?

Well, roughly six years ago, a young girl named Sally was winning beauty contest after beauty contest, not so much for any reason because she was one of the world's loveliest ten year olds. She had looks, charms and enough personal awareness to use that to her advantage. She had been even Little Miss Jump City a few years ago. Her parents, caught up in the frenzy that child beauty pageants could inspire, used what money they had to try and make her more and more beautiful; the most expensive make up, the most fashionable clothes, the best of personal trainers, everything a girl like her could want…

Yet she still wasn't happy…because she wanted more. And one must be careful with blind desire, because it can lead to truly terrible things…

Puberty set in. Her body changed and her centre of balance was thrown off, which meant that she could no longer do the gymnastics for her act like she had done to win most of her previous awards. Then spots came, though she desperately tried to hide them. And then something else, and something else. Being told by many people that you are perfect when you are young can never led to good things, and it didn't here. Having found she wasn't as attractive as she wanted to be, she started to pay people to help her, from plastic surgeons to dieticians. She had everyone by her side to try and make herself more beautiful to at least try and regain some of her former glory.

It never happened. Sally may have had the knowledge to know how to use her looks to get what she wanted, but her wisdom didn't expend to the fact that anything involving so called 'professional beauty' was a giant meat grinder that chewed up and spat out people like her, dozens and dozens, never needing to save any as there were always more, all believing their looks could bring them happiness. But human beings are far too complicated to be happy on such a simple thing. And when you cannot learn to master such complications…bad things happen. And they did to Sally.

Then she disappeared.

Just faded from existence. She didn't have many friends, but the ones she did have eventually noticed that she wasn't there. People started to look for her, with no luck. Her parents couldn't do anything, as they too didn't know were she was, nor could they even give a place to start looking. The Missing Person's Bureau also searched, but all that had been left was her hair band, and it failed to provide any leads. Sally had ceased to exist.

And the world, in the way it did, continued to spin on its axis, seemingly content that a relatively attractive young woman had disappeared. It had more important matters, and so it and people moved on, and she was forgotten about.

Until today.

"It's rude to come into a ladies room without permission." Sally, now known as Vanity, chastised as she stalked towards her prey. The room was dark and messy, akin to the bottom of a sewer or basement. Dirt (and possibly worse) had washed into the room, while blood smears spread across the walls and floors. The men backed up a little, hoping they didn't have to fight this thing unless she had to. It didn't share their hesitation, as it limped in towards them. The shadows almost seemed to recede as the creature came from the darkness, each step from its massive legs sending off a boom of noise from the ground.

"Um... We...er... We're sorry for falling in here! Perhaps if you could help us find a door out of here, then we'll just be on our way!" Cyborg stammered/yelled, hopping that it would distract her somewhat. He wasn't scared, by the way: he just couldn't find the right words. Her knew from her conversations with the other Titans that Vanity still possessed some of her human side, and maybe by appealing to it, they might be able to get out of here with nothing more than their pride damaged.

Of course I don't think I need to tell you if it worked or not, but I'm going to tell you anyway. Of course it didn't work. What? You're surprised? This WOULD be a very short chapter if it had worked...

"I may be kind to the beautiful women on your team, but you are undeserving. You are revolting men who would take advantage of a girl like me!" Vanity snapped, as she moved forward a little more, backing the Titans further and further against the adjacent wall, the men slipping up ever so slightly on each bit of congealed blood that lay on the floor, assumingly, HOPEFULLY, from the raw meat they seemed to feed her.

And then they ran out of room.

Vanity just smiled as Cyborg's metallic back touched the rusted steel walls behind him. No room left to back up.

"Um, perhaps you would be interested in a trip to a health spar?" Gauntlet asked, pulling another leaflet from his back pocket. "It helped Marge Simpson!"

She just screamed and charged.

"Great. Titans! Go!" Cyborg shouted. Scalpel dashed one way while Gauntlet peeled off the other way, leaving the metallic teen to run straight down the middle. Thankfully, Vanity wasn't expecting such a bold move, and became confused quickly, though her rage began rising just as quick. The three weaved in and out of her remaining limbs to confuse her, which worked, as half of her body tried to turn one way while the other half tried to latch and grab onto the Titans the other side. Such scrambled commands rarely work in any effective way, and by the time she had gotten her head sorted out, the men were at the other end of the room, searching for a way out.

Only to come across nothing.

"They've locked the damn doors!"

"And we can not ascend upwards." Scalpel stated, looking up at their drop point. Apart from the fact it was quite the way up, the gap from which they had fallen into Vanity's chamber had closed.

"Looks like we'll have to wait till someone opens the door..." Gauntlet replied. He knocked lightly on the wall. "Hello? Pizza Delivery for the High Priest..."

There was a pause.

"You didn't actually expect that to work did you?" Cyborg asked.

"Well knowing this author, I'd say no..."

"Quick! We can make it though where the fourth wall was!" Scalpel shouted, pointing in a random direction.

That didn't work either, and before they could try something else, the open palm of Vanity came crashing down in between them, the massive monster having finally turned herself around and gone on the offensive again, which once again sent the Titans to try and find a new way out. Which would not be easy as Vanity was amongst them and probably not as prone to confusion again. In the end, the Titans had to fight: it would be better NOT to fight the thing head on, but they had no choice.

What made things harder was they were all ground based Titans: Vanity had heavy armor on her underside and they had nothing to get higher up. After a few ineffective ground blows from a sonic cannon and yellow energy rams and blades, Scalpel tried to climb up the walls, but his claws just slid off the rusted metal construct. So they were all forced to run across the muddy, dirty floor that would, as mentioned, look wonderfully at home in a sewer, but unfortunately, trying the same plan twice backfired, as the insect leg lanced out sideways, clotheslining Scalpel, as the other hind leg kicked back, smashing Cyborg into Gauntlet, making the pair roll across the ground. The two quickly got up, only to be knocked back down again as Scalpel was thrown into them at an alarmingly high speed. Having had people, especially their own, thrown at them before, the Titans fell onto their backs just as Scalpel struck and rolled him, using the alien's momentum to push him up and over them, as they kicked back up as if they were in a martial arts movie. This wasn't done in an offensive matter though, but rather a recuperative one, as Scalpel hit the ground rolling, but he was able to use the momentum given to him to spin back to his feet, actually rolling on his head a little before he finally landed heavily on the ground, his metallic feet clanging against the metal construct that lay beneath the mud. And he stood up, after that rather unique pose…

And fell over from being dizzy.

"Not a cool way to do that." Gauntlet stated.

"At least you didn't say hip, or I'd think we might have regressed back into the 50's." Cyborg replied.

"Well I can say that. I can't say what's going on now, as I can't understand it. I mean, Shizzle? What the fizzle is that all about?" Gauntlet stated, throwing his arms upwards in mock confusion.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before Vanity decided to get into the act once again, rushing forward and attacking, not letting anything get in her way. The pair of Cyborg and Gauntlet quickly darted, once again, to each side of her, faster than they had done before…however, this time, she lashed out in all directions to try and stop them. Fortunately it didn't work, as she hit just a few centimetres short of her targets.

That was a small comfort though, as Vanity had decided she was going to get serious, and she had an idea, as she readjusted her position, thrust her legs out, and lifted her massive body off the ground. Now suspended upon the walls by her legs, she decided that she was going to use this new found ability to cling onto things.

So she ascended.

She went up and disappeared into the shadows above them, as the lights in the room were set in the floor, and they weren't very strong, as they didn't fill up the whole room with light, only the bottom half, leaving a good deal of space at the top with no illumination at all. It was enough to hide Vanity anyway, though that always seemed the case: there was enough shadow to hide a creature with malicious intent. Always.

All there was to comfort the Titans was utter silence. And it wasn't much of a comfort.

"Ok, this CAN'T be good." Cyborg said.

---

Things weren't going too well for the 'rejected' Titans, but upstairs it wasn't much better.

And I know that being chased by a huge monster girl who looked like a blonde rejected villain from one of Koji Suzuki's films, who in turn was grafted to the frame of a boss monster from one of the Resident Evil games, wasn't the same as being strapped to a table, but you'll see why in a moment…

(Oh wait, don't recognize the name? Well most wouldn't, however you should know him as one of his films was remade a few years ago, a little horror film called The Ring. It was a wonderful piece of horror literature alongside a darn good movie, in its original form anyway. Unfortunately the Americans tried to change it to appeal more to their demographic, which rather than the cerebral horror that the Japanese use to really mess with your head, is a more kind of jumpy horror, a horror that builds you up and up and even up again until they hit you with a fake wall…from which you relax and then they hit you with the horror 'brick' anyway. One scene that demonstrates this is that the Japanese show Sadako, the Japanese young girl, coming out of the TV in several, slow continuous shots so the suspense could build up under your skin so much so that you can not take the pressure and mentally break down, in a small sense anyway, while the American version of the girl, Samara, comes out of the TV, and seems to jump across the room towards her victim in lots of short, quick movements to help create a lot of shock horror, not letting you recover from one 'horror brick' before they begin hitting you with the second one, and maybe a third one as well. I personally prefer the Japanese version, but that is just personal preference.

I'm on a tangent again aren't I?

"Yes! Now get back with the plot!" The cast of Flashing Lights and Sounds shouted.

Alright, alright, I'm going.)

Anyway, upstairs. the other Titans, the ones who had been deemed useful by their captors, remained shackled to the table on which they had awoken, each one chosen for their own reason, yet a reason that remained similar: they were chosen for the one thing that helped them to become super heroes, their powers.

And so each room sealed itself off, and the men and women who formed one of America's most premier superhero team were split up into their own divisions, in which each would be worked on a certain way for certain things and so on. And they didn't like it one bit.

Savior had by now dropped into what some Titans might called his 'dangerous' rage. Having known Noel Collins for a while now, most of the Titans that Savior had several expressions of anger. There was his 'annoyed' rage, which was usually directed towards Gauntlet or the Titans playing jokes on him and was usually halfhearted and not serious. There was his 'teacher' rage, where he would get mad and attempt to use the anger to try and explain or teach someone something. There was his 'righteous' rage, which was usually spurred by villains doing bad things like targeting innocents and blowing up buildings. There was his 'frenzy' rage, which was immensely rare but happened at times, where Noel would go berserk and attempt to trash anything that got in his way, including his teammates. There were a few more. And then there was his 'dangerous' rage, the dark side of his righteous rage, in which Noel's anger essentially became super-condensed and so potent it almost became a weapon unto itself. The good news was with the right situation, this anger could be calmed and stopped without anything happening. The bad news was, if Noel managed to affix a target for his dangerous rage, there was literal hell to pay for whatever had set into his crosshairs.

And with the Titans all tied up and helpless, the odds of the perilous fury that was coursing through Noel's veins being stemmed was unlikely, to say the least.

"Tell me the truth, High priest, and answer the condemned a few simple questions if we are all going to form some... 'Greater good'." Savior spat, as Dr Nickleson slowly stepped towards him. He was doing so so he could taunt the white Titan some more: people who inspired dangerous rages rarely understood what they had awoken until it was too late.

"Well, your obvious distaste aside, I may as well reveal to you my true plans." He paused and raised a brow. "Even though it seems all the villains who do that fail, and if that is the case it will probably only get me incarcerated in one of your many pleasant insane asylums. Then again, the leader of the 'Way of Peace' rebellion didn't get much recognition either, even though he stopped some of the most powerful foes of his era." Nickleson said, his expression remaining the picture of a calm melancholy as he continued to speak to the white haired teenager, his voice holding its higher, noble tone and not letting any of his emotions be revealed via any pitch changes in his voice.

"Very astute of you." Noel replied.

"Well, unlike all of your previous foes, you will not have the privilege of putting me in jail. As you see, I am here for a higher purpose, and will not spend my life in some cell to rot away. No I will not, and I know this to be true."

"Been there, heard that, bought the T-Shirt and thrown it out." Savior snarked.

"Yes, as much as I would like you to believe me in your heart and soul, I know that will not happen. So I will have to make you believe the only way you know how, and that is to show you, as that is the one and only way in which you believe things."

"My girlfriend is half demon. I don't have to see it to believe that." Savior spat again.

"Yes, but you haven't tried to make love to a god in your bed, and god knows where else, have you? I mean, you'd settle for bending over and screwing some demon whore over a counter, yet you won't taste the true forbidden fruits of this world."

Wrong thing to say, as Savior tried to lash out at this comment, only to once again be reminded that he was well and truly fastened to the table.

"Still as human as ever."

"Untie me and you can see how HUMAN YOU ARE!" Savior screamed, trying to demand the Shimmer to work, trying to will it, force it to just get up and smash this guy's teeth so far down his throat that he would have to sit on food to eat it. Of course, these demands were just returned to sender, as the Shimmer didn't seem to be home at the moment. Or rather it was home, just locked in a closet.

"Touchy." Nickleson calmly replied. The good doctor pulled a knife from his belt and dragged it along the edge of the table, scratching and scraping the surface. "But even after you refuse that I show you the sights that no one else can offer, I wish to explain my plan to someone. Sitting comfortably?"

"I would say no, but it's not like you'd make me any more so." Savior replied, glaring daggers at him.

"On the contrary, I would have. but seeing as you have acted like that, I think I may not."

"Well, D'OH." Savior said, saying Homer Simpson's annoyed grunt of a word like he couldn't give a damn if Nickleson poured barbeque sauce on his head and uncorked a box of fire ants.

"As I was saying, I was watching you as you fought the Lord of the Night. Very interesting stuff. He turned a huge chunk of the Sahara desert into a glass covered creator, yet you still managed to survive his assaults." He smirked to himself. "And then Whim. What a lovely example of power. A power you also thwarted. You, when so many others mightier then you could not." Another smirk. "These two incidents started me thinking, how could you have twice bested a god?" He continued to circle the table. "And that reason, my friend, is only because you have the powers of a god."

"Perhaps, but I have the heart of a human. That is what undid the false messiahs that the Lord and Whim were. We won against great odds because of our humanity, not in the way se supposedly touch on the traits of the messianic. I am but a man." Savior growled.

"Only on your own, but combined you could be unbeatable." Nickleson said. He paused and started to pick at his fingernails with the knife.

"How did you know how to strike?" Savior said, changing the subject.

"Ah, he asks a question. It has been so long since someone wanted to know my secrets." The doctor pushed himself off the table and continued walking. "A few years after I came across you, or rather a few years after you came across Gauntlet, I ran into a pair of super heroes in a place a little north of here, known as Canada."

"Oh look, you said the name correctly. I was sure you could call it Canandia." Savior replied.

"Don't be lippy child!" Nickleson said, as he quickly slashed the knife towards the temporary leader of the Titans, anger passing over the empty gaze he usually wore. "You're a valued part of our god, but you are not THAT valuable."

"Then watch what you say about my girlfriend." Savior said, glaring, before Nickleson's face returned to normal and he gave a shrug.

"Touché'. I suppose I did deserve that." He simply stated, and continued. "Well, I saw they were strong enough and gullible enough to believe any dribble I spoke about a true evil group down south. And of course, being headstrong and eager to prove themselves against something more then petty gangs and thugs, they bought it whole-heartedly. I didn't expect that damn freakshow member of yours to be there though. One of the few things I had not anticipated."

There was another subtle pause, until it dawned on Savior.

"Myth and Charm." He said, his voice thinking back to the battles they had with them.

"Yes, those were their names, quite a nice pair actually. Brother and sister both fighting for truth, justice, and to get their name in big lights."

"What did you tell them?" Noel demanded, as the face of Nickleson seemed to lighten up into a smirk.

"Exactly what they wanted to hear. I told them that a supervillain group known as the Teen Titans were in Jump City, Florida, and I borrowed a line from a Billy Connolly stand up saying if they did it right they would have their names in big, albeit pink, letters." He placed a hand to his jaw. "Now that I think about it, Myth had bargained for his name to be in blue."

"Cut the crap! What else did you say?" Savior snarled. He never much liked manipulation, especially when it involved his group in some sense, and his anger was starting to flare up from the 'black hole' state it was in.

"Nothing. Some people in Canada haven't really heard of you, especially two under-appreciated young superheroes who just want to be loved, accepted and most of all famous." He snorted lightly. "A little leverage and the right application of knowledge and you can do anything to anyone. "

"So you twisted and distorted the views of two honest, hardworking people until they fit your agenda?"

"No, no, no my dear boy, no. They were always fulfilling my agenda, they just didn't realize it at the time." Dr Nickleson laughed to himself, becoming more relaxed with his own, dare I say, diabolical scheme.

"Right. Fuck you were much, Andy Warhol." Savior muttered. "Well, it didn't work obviously. Instead of capturing us, we defeated them. And in the process you turned a hero into a villain…you son of a bitch!"

The doctor raised a brow at the sudden raised voice and at Savior as he tried to piece the puzzle together himself. Unfortunately, it was like trying to put a square block in a round hole, so to speak.

"Again you jump to conclusions." Nickleson shook his head. "I did not expect victory, even with the HIVE backing them up. The simple fact of the matter is that they were there to test you."

"Test us?"

"Do I have to explain this as well? And you call yourself the smart one." Nickleson sighed as he rubbed his brow with his thumb and index finger, the smile at his own genius turning into a scowl of displeasure as he had to, in a metaphysical sense, sit Savior down and explain to him what he was doing. "Why do you think I got two superheroes? It wasn't to capture you, as I did that on my own accord. No, it was to see which ones of you deserved to be part of my god, pure and simple. We used the information from the microchips planted inside of Charm and her oh so gullible brother to find that out. They only deactivated a week ago. Forgive us for being so cliché covert about this, but it's better to be prepared."

Savior did the mental arithmetic: if the chips only deactivated a week ago it meant that Charm had had it on all the time she was dating Gar.

"I see, so you are methodical in your insanity."

"Methodical, not insane." He continued. "What good would it have been if I had a load of superheroes if their powers didn't mesh together well, or worse, prove to be counter-productive? I chose those three friends of yours to go because one didn't seem to heal properly or swim, despite his obvious advantages, but they were still outweighed by those factors. The second one was composed mostly of technology, and obsolete parts to boot, and the last one has a magical artefact that can't be removed from his finger. None of them are of any use to us." He stated. "However, we will gain whatever battle data we can from their fight with Vanity downstairs."

"Vanity?" Savior replied, with just a hint of a squawk, suddenly worried for his teammates' health.

"Yes. When making something as powerful as a god, mistakes tend to be made, and unfortunately Vanity was one of those mistakes. In an attempt to reanimate the body of a young woman in order to use for our god project, we found her mind was still intact. However, it had slowed to slightly less than normal capacity. Also, her own body started to fall apart, so in a desperate attempt to save her and the project, we grafted her onto the frame which you see now. She was one of seven failures, each gaining a name to coincide with the sin they most represent."

"You sick bastard."

"You are really going to enjoy what I am about to say next."

"What?"

"She was also..."

Before he could finish his words, a small alarm went off, little blue lights flashing in the rooms as he got paged.

"Hmmmm. A situation." Nickleson said. "It seems I will have to leave you at a cliffhanger there my young patriot. I am needed elsewhere; you however are allowed to watch your dear, not so sweet, not so innocent young girlfriend as she gets 'purified' before she becomes part of the god." Nickleson reached into one of his various pockets and pulled out a small device with a small round button on it. "People sometimes call me sadistic, but I just enjoy teasing others with the pleasures…and pains, of flesh." He pressed the button and the wall retracted back into the ceiling, and suddenly Savior could see Raven lying on her slab, as tools and equipment started to be placed upon the different trays around her.

He looked into her eyes, as her face didn't reflect anything. She was keeping, or at least trying to keep her composure, refusing to let them win by begging. But her eyes were different. Over the last few days she has had some strange moments, but this latest one had made her insides churn.

"Everyone ready for a beautiful song and dance?" Came a lilting voice, as the longhaired, pretty boy first disciple came into view. It was the great teacher who had placed knockout gas all throughout their tower. Savior could feel his intense rage, kept down at the moment for tactical purposes, that to buzz and rumble, critical mass beginning, as Raven's eyes continued to plead to him. He fought with his anger: it wouldn't help him at the moment. But at the same time…what was going on? Raven was nearly impossible to rattle, much less scare. He tried to think what they would do to her, as she had obviously figured it out. But what could it be, her powers were not physical, but...

Then he realized and a look of pure horror came across his face.

The man was going to remove his girlfriend's brain.

---

"Where are you?" Cyborg muttered to himself as he tirelessly searched the room, hoping that logic would win out and that he would be able to see such a gigantic creature. Unfortunately, the rules of horror movies had apparently decided to pop in again and start applying themselves, as the 'monster', despite being huge, had escaped them for the time being, and no matter how much they looked up with the flashlight that was strapped to his shoulder, they couldn't see her anywhere. There was nothing. Even with all his gadgets and doodads scanning they couldn't spot her.

"I really, really am not fond of these situations." Nigel stated as he tried to find her by sound. This was just as unsuccessful. Whatever she had done, it had made her untraceable. And they knew that such a thing was going to end badly. They remembered all the times they joked about the horror movies, how that the villains of such shape and size in movies and games wouldn't be able to move at that pace or with that level of stealth, but they were wrong.

Looks CAN be deceiving. The Titans would get a truly first hand look at such deception in the future, but that would not be for a while…

"Maybe your gear is busted?" Gauntlet asked, pulling out yet another leaflet from his back pocket. "If so, I suggest the PC Doctor." He continued as he handed it to Victor, who just looked puzzled.

"Where are you getting all these from?"

"Uh…You don't need to know were I am getting these leaflets from." Gauntlet said, as he waved his hand in front of his friend's face.

"I kind of do."

"You DON'T need to know were I am getting these leaflets from."

"This isn't Star Wars."

"True, but the classics theatres down the road from the tower are showing the re-mastered versions of all three Star Wars movies. Here's a leaflet on it."

Cyborg facevaulted.

And, of course happening at the best possible time, Vanity's lone insect limb came down to try and skew Cyborg…only it missed and crashed down in between Gauntlet and Scalpel. She quickly learned of her mistake and retracted the limb back into the darkness. This little surprise woke up the men as they jumped, and then turned so that they were covering each other backs, each facing away from the other, as they once again renewed their search for Vanity.

The group started slowly, moving around the room at a quieter pace. Each step, each breath, was soft and hushed, as none of them wanted to be the next target. It was a survival game, and if we were going by numbers then the Titans SHOULD have had the advantage, but we are going by other things as well, and some of those were size and defence. At least she wasn't hugely strong, it was just proportional to her size, and so was everything else.

All the Titans needed was an opening or two.

And as luck would have it, they got it, as Vanity tried the same trick twice. Cyborg spun away from the attempted gutting and fired upwards, his sonic cannon hitting the creature square in the chest, or at least where the chest would be, lighting up part of the ceiling a little. Gauntlet leapt in, his artefact whirling into action, his mindset in that of a warrior, or as much of a warrior mindset as he could ever muster. He reached up and snapped a yellow energy field over and around one of the limbs that had dare to attack him, and pulled against it as hard as he could. The colossal form shifted visually, as the only reason Vanity was even able to stay up there was because her limbs held her in place, and having them pulled was not a good thing, for her at least. The yellow energy of the Gauntlet glowed slightly, outlining the form of Vanity in a yellow line.

In an almighty test of the artefact's strength, Gauntlet tugged at her, forcing her down a little. Unfortunately though, the Gauntlet wasn't a ultra powerful piece of equipment. It wasn't as strong as a Green Lantern ring, and hence it had its flaws. One of them was that the ring could do anything if the wielder put his mind to it and had the necessary mental discipline; Gauntlet's armour and energy field could only do so much. It had a tonnage limit, it couldn't make complicated shapes, and the gauntlet's yellow energy worked both ways. She may have been captured and held by this power, but she still weighed nearly 20 times what Gauntlet did, and that was enough, as she pulled her limb and Gauntlet came with it. He deactivated the power quickly and, as he flew towards the wall, he reactivated it into a cushion for him to strike, and then shoved off it before he jumped back down to the ground. Despite his stance being broken, Vanity was now off-balance, allowing another opening as she tried to right herself without falling down to the ground. Scalpel jumped up and brought his claw down on the limb, digging in deep, even as he reached into his bandages and felt around. He knew that his life often required backup plans, and hence he had hid something in his bandages, just in case he was captured and his captors tried to take most of his weapons off of him. He pulled out a small handle from within the white ropes and pressed the button on it. Most Blacktrinian weapons were concealed in a small piece of metal to form a larger weapon, and this was no exception as the tube unfolded to form a jagged machete like blade. He brought the blade down hard onto the edge of the limb, hacking at the soft joint but not getting much penetration. He was shaken off and landed awkwardly before he corrected his fall and dove towards the others.

"We need to do something, but what can we do?" Cyborg asked himself, pondering. He wasn't a fantastic leader, but he defiantly felt he had what it took. He was just a different leader than Robin or Savior. Robin always used to put his team first and he wouldn't risk their lives unless he had too, Noel on the other hand, thought the Titans knew the risks of the quest they had signed up for and hence did whatever had to be done, no matter the peril or cost. Cyborg was neither a front line general or a back line general; he was a fighter and he tried to look out for those around him. He grimaced; though he chafed under them at times, it was so much simpler when he was being given orders. But neither of his leaders were here, so now Cyborg had to do the thinking.

Thinking…it went both ways. Maybe they could stop Vanity from thinking all together, as it would be relying on some form of brain. Not so much kill it as interrupt the thought process…and then he realized that the only reason this thing had a thought process was because a young woman was strapped to it. This gave him pause. What would their leaders do? On the one hand, Noel would try and take her apart, saving the young woman from the monster if possible. On the other side was Robin; he would probably wrap her up so she couldn't escape and then let the police process her.

Well, he was neither, so it was door number 3: make it up as he went along!

Opening a panel on his back, he pulled out some industrial towing cable from within him and looped it around his fist lightly before he fired it off his forearm, with an accuracy only his mechanical eyes could muster, into the darkness. There was a moment, where his heart fell, as the cable started to fall and sag, which meant he'd missed the mark…or did he?

The line went taunt. Success. If it had been a god like creature, it would have missed and given his plan away, but it wasn't, it was only a creature. He had finally managed to get a line around it and the group pulled against the rope.

"NO!" Vanity bellowed as she tried to strike the wire, only to find that her immense strength couldn't actually break it. As I said, her strength was proportional to her size, and this thin piece of wire could have held up a suspension bridge for a few hours. She then tried to pull it, only to find that on the other end was a half robot, a Old One artefact user, and an alien who had decided that they were not going anywhere. And so, Rob, Victor, and Nigel, using themselves as the anchor, pulled her down as if they were the tug of war team from hell.

She finally slipped, her eyes bugging out as she tried to gain some sort of purchase on the wall, only to find the leg she needed the most was the one the Titans had ripped off. Without the ability to grab hold of any of the walls successfully, she gradually slid down as the boys continued to drag her. Running out of wall she decided to just drop. Yes, that would work: the sudden loss of resistance would send the boys back into a pile on the floor, where she could strike them.

But this time her luck had turned around. It seemed to dislike plans, no matter whose they were and this time when she let go of the walls, the lads pulled on the wire rope at the exact same time, making her spin and fall on her back. Vanity didn't seem to know what was happening until it was too late: Cyborg had started to run around her as Gauntlet fired off his energy field and pulled her legs close together above her. Vanity tried to get up, only to have a smiling face looking into her own.

"Morning." Scalpel said, as he tapped on her forehead lightly, agitating the young woman, making her shove out with her human arm to try and push him away. He just sidestepped the sluggish reach and clamped something around her wrist. It was cold and metallic, but it wasn't sharp at all. Then she heard a ratcheting sound, and she looked at her wrist as he pulled it down. Another ratcheting sound was heard. He had handcuffed her to one of the water pipes that lined the room.

"Sorry to do this to a young lady like yourself, but it has to be done." Scalpel said, and jumped away as she tried to wiggle free of the handcuff, her long shapely fingers and well defined hand not making it through the thin gap.

While she was distracted with that however, the other two had finished tying up her legs using the industrial cable that had been utilized to yank her down. By the time she had comprehended the entirety of her situation, she wasn't going anywhere. She tried to struggle against it anyway, but it was very strong. She might be able to break it, eventually though, so the boys made their way around the room, trying to find out where the door might have been. Tapping, looking, pounding, prying they searched for the door.

"Can you find it?" Rob asked, trying to pull off a panel of the wall in search of the elusive exit.

"I'LL GET YOU ALL FOR THIS!" Vanity screamed in rage.

"Yeah, yeah." Rob replied as he managed to pull off a metal panel, only to find heavy brickwork behind it. Several yellow energy blows barely produced a few cracks. He sweat-dropped: when this cult went to build something, they really didn't mess around. The search was getting hopeless.

"ANYTHING AT ALL!" Cyborg shouted, having resorting to his 'Blast and hope' technique. This, as with Rob's idea to try and rip off the wall panels, and Scalpel's idea to tap to find the hollow panel, wasn't working. Five minutes of struggling, two minutes of shouting and a few more curses later, they started to give up. This day, as with many others, was not going their way.

They returned to the centre of the room to try their next plan, to climb up towards where they had come in to see if they could break through, and so, with Cyborg on the bottom, Gauntlet in middle, and Scalpel at top on a Gauntlet-made energy platform, they tried to pry open the roof with the machete that the alien brought with him. But it was so small in size when folded up, the Blacktrinian metal was negated, making it weaker than the average weapon. Which they found out when Scalpel had put all his weight into trying to force the roof open, only to have the weapon snap and make him lose his balance, causing him to fall off the platform and onto the floor, taking the other two with him. Vanity would have chuckled lightly, if she weren't so busy trying to break free.

"All right, maybe we should try digging?" Gauntlet asked in the pile.

"Knowing our luck, even if that worked we'd end up in China." Cyborg replied.

"I do not understand that human phrase." Scalpel commented. "They insinuate that if you started digging anywhere you would end up in China, but this is not true, even if you could somehow get through all the molten and ultra-dense rock and metals of the inside of the Earth, chances are you would end up at the bottom of one of the oceans. To actually end up in China, you would have to start digging at…"

A loud click interrupted Scalpel before he could continue espousing on the 'dig to China' metaphor. The echo around the room made it hard to see where it was, but a light that was brighter than the inside of their would-be-tomb appeared as a panel of the wall started to rise up, causing the Titans to be quickly drawn to it, like moths to a light on a dark evening. The three wandered over to the door, Scalpel dropping his broken weapon before following. It was strange that after all their efforts it took for them to get out and trying to find a door to do so, a door just appeared, and after all the effort it took their captors to actually place the three Titans in the cell, it seemed highly strange that would be so irresponsible to suddenly leave a door unlocked. All in all, it didn't make a lot of sense at the time.

"Hey guys." Gauntlet piped up as the group made their way over to the door, slowing slightly.

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time we heard any sound from Vanity?"

The group stopped and turned around.

She was gone.

"Oh SH-!"

Cyborg didn't get to finish, as an explosion of noise came from the living Sin as she shot from the ceiling, screeching and screaming like something possessed, as all three Titans bolted for the door. It was a melee of dodges and lunges, a piece that almost seemed choreographed as Vanity slashed and swung outwards, her limbs flailing and her mind overcome by pure rage as the animal took over, forcing the Titans to jump, duck, dodge, dive and even trip over her attacks to make it halfway across the room to the other side.

All three Titans dove for the door, in the hopes that it would lead them to salvation. Gauntlet dove through first, having to roll out the way as Scalpel dove himself, skidding/turning on the metal as he leapt for and out the door. Cyborg just made it out before he turned to shut the door. Unfortunately Vanity had managed to get a hand in through the opening, preventing it from closing, as the boys all ran up to the entry that had been opened and began to push.

"Stay in there!" Cyborg shouted as Gauntlet stepped back and wound up to batter the door with his yellow energy. However, he was beaten to the punch as a green energy blast collided with the outer surface of the creature's skin, causing it to shout before another three blasts drove the limb back, allowing the men to finally shut the door. They slid down against the side of the door as it locked in place, a scream of 'No' coming from the other side as the 'rejected' Titans rested a little, looking up to see who had helped rescue them.

"Hey." Gauntlet said, smiling a little. "Took you long enough."

---

Upstairs, things had not only slowed down, they had come to a near standstill as the 'High Disciple' was mentally preparing himself for the upcoming event where he would try and find out the centre of Raven's power. He liked his work, quite a bit actually, but even then, as he relaxed himself, he was a bit annoyed by the fact he didn't know where her powers stemmed from exactly, and while it would be nice to have something more concrete about the centre of her abilities, even if he carved her into ribbons and found nothing it wouldn't matter. One failure could be overlooked. Besides, he had a plan.

"Now before we begin to look at the glory of the innards to the human body, I wish but one thing my dear." Pretty Boy said, as he examined a scalpel. Savior, still working at his restraints, had dubbed the disciple "Bish", after Bishonen, the term for effeminate anime men that sent an annoying amount of girls into a squealing frenzy. Savior had a feeling the disciple's outer beauty hid an intense inner rot. He'd seen that Jekyll and Hyde situation too often.

"Yes?" Raven asked, not showing a whit of fear in her voice.

"Which is your best side?" He asked simply.

"My what?" She asked bluntly, now becoming more and more confused as the day, or night, wore on. She couldn't tell what time it was any more, and the spell of unconsciousness and the windowless room didn't help them in any way.

"Now, don't be coy." Bish said, and then with a blur of movement, he slashed out the scalpel. Raven snarled/yelled through her teeth as he sliced a line of blood across her bare shin. "Nobody likes a cocktease."

"I'll cocktease YOU." Savior growled, as his rational part of his brain told him there was no way Savior was getting free unless he suddenly developed Plasmius level flesh manipulation powers, while his emotional side kept telling his rational side to shut up, because it WOULD get free and then they'd be consequences.

"I'm not talking to you. This lovely is the focus of my attention…so pretty…I wonder if your insides will be so beautiful." Bish said, as he stepped away from Raven. "Now, just in case my ten magical digits cannot work their charm on your wonderfully beautiful viscera, I will be recording the whole operation on the camera that will so be with us." And indeed, Bish had set up a fancy home video recorder on a pedestal nearby, aiming it so Raven was perfectly framed.

"Why do I get the feeling you do this for more than just a job?" Raven commented, trying to ignore the stinging burn on her leg and the feeling of her blood running down it.

"Careful what you say hun, he is the one with the knife and the golden hair, though I'd be more afraid of the hair." Savior replied. Even with this atmosphere of an impending doom, Savior still had enough tactical wherewithal to try to undermine the confidence and the abilities of the rogue surgeon that stood over them like a death shroud, maybe to give them a little bit of an edge, or at least delay the operation: each second Bish was getting mad was a second that he wasn't cutting.

Or so Savior gambled. Wrong.

"Silence!" The disciple cried, in almost a beautifully effeminate voice. It would have seemed to almost float on the air, if it wasn't so high pitched that it felt like a screwdriver trying to undo your eardrum without much need for an aesthetic.

But Savior could live with the pretty boy who was apparently being voiced by Paul McGann (And let's see if any of you can place who THAT is): what he couldn't live with was the fact that Bish immediately slashed out the scalpel again, slashing another line of blood across Raven's knee. She hissed again, though she did not cry out. Savior's eyes narrowed.

"Your slander shall not work on me, as I know my purpose. I MUST fulfil the needs of my master, for he believes in a higher plan."

"Then where is your master?"

"In a place you may, nay, can not reach him."

"Are you sure he isn't just running scared?"

"He has nothing to fear from you! He WILL make the greatest being ever to come upon this earth since the Lord of the Night!" Bish shouted, his light voice being given an edge of strength but it still carried that feathery quality. He wasn't exactly the type whgo could inspire indimidation, but the fact that he had Raven tied down and seemingly helpless made him think he didn't need anything like that. To emphasize that point, he slashed Raven across the leg again, cutting deeper. Raven, again, held her tongue: she would not give this twisted sadist the slightest bit of satisfaction. Savior did not.

"STOP. DOING. THAT." Savior growled in his best intimidation tone. Batman would have been proud. Bish was not impressed: the whole tied down and helpless thing got in the way.

"Oh? Why would I do that?" He smirked.

"Because if you stop now, I promise I will deliver you to the authorities with a minimum of injuries." Savior replied.

"Oh really." Bish replied.

And then he grabbed Raven's leg, shove it to the side a bit, and jammed the scalpel into her into thigh. Raven's eyes went as wide as they could, but she did not cry out, did not scream…and she continued to fight it as the disciple began slicing up her inner leg, blood coating his hand. Her teeth seemed ready to shatter, but she held in her pain, as the disciple finished his slice…and then twisted the blade before he yanked it out. A tiny, barely audible cry escaped from Raven. That was enough, as the discplie grinned and faced Savior again, his scalpel and hand dripping blood on the ground.

"The next time you threaten, malign, or mock me again, I will insert this right up into her uterus. Her genitals are not required." Bish said, and as if to emphasize the point he turned and punched Raven right in said genitals. There was probably a whole bunch of imagery of this scene that spoke of Bish's own psychosis, but Noel didn't much care: all he heard was the gasp of Raven's breath escaping from her teeth, and the blood flowing from her legs that was starting to drip on the floor.

In the film Total Recall, an exceptionally (almost ridiculously) gory Arnold Schwarzenegger action film, near the end Arnold's character is strapped into restraints, and then a brief exchange of dialogue results in one of the villains, played by the great character actor Michael Ironside, punching Arnold in the face when he is helpless. The look Arnold's character gives Ironside's after the blow is perhaps one of the greatest looks of righteous anger and "Oh, you are going to REGRET fucking with me" ever placed on film. And indeed, his look proves prophetic, as the ones behind his restraints meet some of the most unpleasant deaths movie villains have ever suffered. To find out just what though, you'll have to see the movie.

Because Savior's face was channelling Arnold's with it's expression of boiling rage and promises of righteous vengeance. A look that was totally lost on Bish: some psychotics are impossible to terrify in their element, and Bish was in his.

Despite the look though, Savior was at a loss. He couldn't figure out how to get out of his restraints, as more tools were brought as Bish fiddled with the camera, the one brought, as he said, to witness this 'magical' event just in case something went wrong. Satisfied with the picture, he collected a syringe from his new tools and inserted it into Raven's arm, giving her some local anaesthesia so she would not scream during the serious operation, but so she was still conscious, and capable of feeling pain during the beginning stages. True, the pain might drive her mad and wreck her brain, but they can always find another Raven-esque power source. The Titans all being in one place at one time was what made them the targets: they were convenient.

Yes, everything was falling into place for them. They had had lots of failed attempts before at making a creature with enough power for their god. Vanity had been the greatest success so far, but Vanity would be nothing to this creature once it had been finished. Vanity, the creature that had beem such a problem to the Titans, would be nothing more than a bug towards this creature. He laughed to himself. Even the Lord would have nothing on it, or him, or her depending.

It was unfortunate that Bish had never really looked into what had happened out in the Sahara desert when the Titans and Young Justice fought against the omnipotent being know as the Lord of the Night, but he had been told that it was a great showdown between the super heroes and the most ultimate of super villain, and that they had won through perseverance and their combined efforts. What Nickleson hadn't told them was that it was only because the Titans hadn't so much fought and beat the Lord as they had kept him in one place where dawn was much closer then it had been in their city, barely holding on through what was left of the night and right through till dawn, where the unimaginable power of the sun that had finally proven to be the Lord of the Night's undoing. He may have had the power of the night, able to call upon all darkness as his power source, and all the bells and whistles that came with such things, but he also had all of its weaknesses, and one of them was the fact that the night was always chased away by the day, and the day defeated by the night in one continuous movement, and because the sun got the first move, the Lord was destroyed, purified out of existence…only to be spoken of, in a whispered farewell, months later by the spirit of Murdercrow, the personification of grief and sorrow. Raven replayed the words in her mind.

"Hell? Death? Silly Titans…the Lord is BEYOND death. You can't kill something like it! Like him."

And indeed…

But Raven stopped there. She didn't need to do any more thinking in that vein. She knew the end result. One Lord was bad enough. She would rather go to hell and spend all eternity in the company of her father than help make another monster with that level of power.

And so she had spent the last minutes contemplating what she could do, even through Bish's knife torture. And since she couldn't gamble on help, inside or outside…there was one last thing that could hinder their efforts. It was a technique she had learned to do, just as an extreme last ditch measure. She could send a spell into her brain and turn it into ash, killing her instantly. Even with the power blocker on, she could do it: she had tested herself for that very possibility. All she would have to say is a few very short, very dangerous words of power and it would be over.

But…even that wasn't a real solution, as her eyes cast towards her long time boyfriend. Her death would only mean they would move onto him all the more quickly. And it would be a lot easier to extract what they needed from him, as his power was more tangible, and once they had the Shimmer, if they could get it under their control, their options multiplied greatly. With the Shimmer's unique 'bodyjacking' ability, the energy able to hook up to people's nervous systems like one computer to another, they would be able to take anything from anyone. Including knowledge, experience, and powers in themselves. And on top of that, Savior would have to endure not only the agonizing physical pain of the operation, but the terrible emotional pain that his love had killed herself to save him…

And then she felt Bish's scalpel on her forehead.

"Now…I'm not wholly sure on where to start…" Bish said, as he began to slowly trace down her forehead to where the Chakra was. It hurt, but compeered to some of the things she had endured it was nothing, and she would gladly go through this to give Noel enough time to figure a way out.

She shouldn't have thought that.

"But no matter what happens, I may as well take a souvenir to start." Bish laughed.

And then he pressed down hard, slicing down through the skin and muscle on the side of her chakra. Raven tried to gasp as she felt the scalpel blade press against the bone of her skull and grind in, as Bish began to carve the chakra out of her forehead like she was a Christmas turkey. Blood began to run into her eyes and down her face, as the pain grew, and grew, but she could not scream, would not make a sound, she would endure, she would not give this bastard any satisfaction, even as he sliced down her forehead, having cut about halfway down. She could feel the blade scraping against the bone, but she would not, WOULD NOT scream…

And in truth, Bish was admittedly a tad bit annoyed at Raven's strength: what fun was exploring if his efforts weren't appreciated? Well, she might be holding out, but that wouldn't last long, and for now, he'd settle for the reaction of her male friend, as he glanced over to Savior…

And found, much to his surprise, the last thing he expected: Savior wasn't even LOOKING. He was laying still, his muscles as taunt as wires, but his head was turned away from Raven towards the ceiling and his eyes closed tightly.

"What is wrong? Can you not bear to see the magnificence of glory that lies within this person?" Bish said, as his blade withdrew itself from Raven's skull. The forehead of a person had a lot of small closely packed blood vessels, and as a result forehead cuts bled like crazy. Raven's face was by now a mask of blood, but the fact that she was still holding out on him and the fact that Savior wasn't even watching took away any satisfaction Bish could have.

Aggravated, Bish stepped away from Raven and headed for Savior. If he had to, he'd cut Savior's eyelids off and lock his head in place with restraints so he couldn't turn away.

"What's the problem? This is such magnificence! WHY WON'T YOU LOOK?" Bish yelled in Savior's face, as he brought the scalpel up.

"I…can't…" Savior growled through clenched teeth. "I'm…concentrating…"

Bish's scalpel froze. He was concentrating? On what? His powers were blocked by the restraints, what could he be doing…

And indeed, Savior had hit on something. Savior was helpless. But Savior was composed of two parts.

And he knew how to do division.

A gigantic flash filled the room, blinding Bish, and as he stumbled back Savior disappeared. His form was replaced by Noel Collins, the long haired redhead looking up as his eyes snapped open.

Once, long ago, Savior had had his talent, the Shimmer, ripped from him by Trigon, Raven's father, against his will, a violation that had caused him utter agony. But Savior always learned from his experiences, no matter how horrible, and he had had an epiphany a few moments ago. If an outsider could pull out the Shimmer, then Savior could damn sure separate it from himself of his own free will…and he'd put everything in his attempt.

And he'd been successful. The Shimmer was loose.

Indeed, Savior, or rather just Noel now, had not only stumbled onto a solution, he'd also used his captor's own equipment against them: because of the power blocker, once the Shimmer had been compulsorily separated from Noel's nervous system, it was forced outwards, triggering a variation of Noel's transformation that had made it into a separate entity.

However, like Vanity, without a mind to control it, it was going wild. It had been theorized that the Shimmer possessed some level of sentience, awareness of the world and itself, but exactly how much of a mind it had had always theorized to be minimal. This basic consciousness was probably why the Shimmer stayed bonded to Noel, following his orders and doing the best to protect its host: it might be able to survive on its own, but not for long. But unlike last time, it was aware that it had been separated from its master, it's 'Daddy' for a reason. And while its consciousness was nominal, it had enough to follow the order Noel had given it: GET US OUT OF HERE. BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

And what Daddy commanded, the good son obeyed, as best it could. It had enough awareness to know who Raven was, that 'Daddy' cared deeply for her, that she was 'Mommy' so to speak. However, it didn't recognize the 'mean man' who was hurting 'Mommy' and therefore attacked with a vengeance.

With almost a scraping, squealing noise, it lashed out to all corners of the room, a mass of violent lines of powerful energy, knocking over trays and smashing through the walls like they were made of paper. Bish had recoiled away from the Shimmer when it had emerged and hence only took a glancing blow that hurled him into a corner, where he lay, his eyes filled with terror, even as the Shimmer started ripping through the walls. There was almost a pause as the disciples who had been contracted to work on the other Titans stared in pure horror at what was happening. If they had been interested, they could have learned the identity of Savior, but their attention was drawn to a more pressing matter: the now freed Shimmer, which was continuing to go nuts. They couldn't even check later, for while Bish had set up a camera with the intent to show the mastery of his surgical skills to the world, the camera had just been focussed on Raven, and not Noel.

And that was the least of their problems, as assistants ran for their lives to try and get out because the Shimmer had only paused a little in its attack before it lashed out with more tendrils, whipping wildly through the rooms. One assistant was sent reeling into the wall face first, leaving him unconscious, while another was lifted up and thrown into the air, only to land heavily on his neck. The crack could not be heard over the screaming, as more assistants were whipped, lashed, thrown and mauled by the Shimmer 'child'. One disciple decided to act fast and slashed out with his knife, knowing that when the Shimmer was cut when wielded by Savior, it rendered him near useless.

When Savior wielded it, not when it had no body to send the pain too, so all the disciple did was get the energy's attention. Despite possessing no face of any kind, the power almost seemed to be glaring daggers as the other tendrils fired out, at speeds the disciple could barely register and lifted him, throwing him through the heavy metal and glass doors that exited out of the section the Titans had been brought to, sending anyone nearby screaming and running for guards. The door was near the end of the Shimmer's first circuit, as it came back to where Noel was restrained. One final task was needed, and the Shimmer did it, as it lashed out and ripped the table apart, destroying the power blocker, and then it slowed to a stop, resting upon Noel's stomach and chest as a bright, white bed sheet, and with another white flash, the Savior we all know and love was back.

He sprang off the ruined table and ran over to Raven. With a gesture he ripped the restraints from her table, even as two Shimmer strands grabbed a white towel and moved over to the still standing camera, for some reason. While the strand fiddled with it, Savior wordlessly try to help Raven, who seemed dazed and drugged.

And then Savior's head snapped to the sound of a roar next door, and he readied himself just in case, only to have what remained of a Shimmer ravaged wall smashed through and ripped down as the ground contracted and shifted to remove the broke pieces, revealing Terra and Beast Boy, standing there and both looking pissed. While Bish had been toying with Raven, they too had started being prepared for surgery: Savior noted the IV drip in Terra's arm. In the course of its destruction, the Shimmer had followed its command to get its master free, and part of that following had been to search for the life signs of people it knew, people it had hooked up to without its father wanting harm to result. To use the same terms as before, it had managed to sense 'Auntie Terra' and 'Uncle Beastboy' , and so it had found them and broke one free before on in its destructive rampage.

"Dude, I'm so going to hurt whoever comes near me with a knife again." Beast Boy said, as he turned back into a human from the gorilla he had used to tear down the wall. It would have been almost comical if Noel's mood wasn't as dark as the Lord's outfit. The two teens picked up upon this quickly and fell back quietly as Savior turned back to Raven, trying to staunch the flow of blood from her head.

"Will you be okay?" He asked, as he took the towel away. Despite her blood smeared face, she nodded solemnly: due to the fact that the injected drugs were now effecting her mind and her concentration, if you also don't count the fact that they tried to operate on her while she was still conscious, which took its toll on you…

Movement caught Savior's eye, and he turned to see the tail of a man disappearing out the door of the room. But that small glimpse was all Savior had to see to recognize who it was. Bish had escaped the Shimmer rampage where so many of his fellows had not, and now he was on the run.

There was that Schwarzenegger look again…

"Are you ok?" Savior asked Beast Boy.

"Pretty much…" Beast Boy said, but Noel had already forgotten him: he was now looking at Terra.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll live."

Savior looked back at Raven, who was pressing the towel to her forehead again, and then he pushed off from the table and stalked off, placing something the Shimmer gave him into the inside of his jacket pocket.

"Beast Boy, you're in charge! Find the others and then find a way out of this place!" Savior snapped.

"What? Dude, I'm not a leader! Where are you going?"

"UNFINISHED BUSINESS." Savior snarled as he stalked out of the door and out through the corridor out of the section, which Bish had fled down moments earlier.

The alarms were going off as the Titan stalked down the corridor, hunting the sadistic Legolas-wannabe disciple who dared to touch his girlfriend like he had. Normally, he would have regretted that in the course of its running amok, the Shimmer had killed a few disciples, but not now. He didn't care about them, he didn't care if more of the followers threw themselves at him, he didn't care if they attacked him with everything they had. No one got away with harming Raven, not the Lord, not the White Hole, no one.

And indeed, cult members were heading towards him, armed with various hand held weapons. Savior didn't slow his stride.

"You have two choices." He snapped as he headed towards them. "Get out of my way, or GET HURT."

The group didn't slow. Savior's eyes narrowed again.

One swung at him with a club: The Shimmer battered him into a wall. Another attacked: The Shimmer grabbed him and yanked his weapon down, putting his head level with Savior's leg as he slashed his foot across the disciple's face and then immediately yanked it back to slam his heel across the other side, feeling bones break under the blow. The third came at him with his own kick: Savior grabbed him with the Shimmer and swung him around back first into a wall. The forth punched at him with a taser: The Shimmer grabbed his arm and yanked him to Savior who used his momentum to spin around and introduce the disciple's face to another wall. The fifth had a gun: a few seconds later he had no gun as Savior yanked it away and hurled the disciple over his head. The Shimmer brought the gun to Savior's hand, and he shot several of the following disciples in their knees and feet as the Shimmer took care of the others Savior wasn't shooting. Spilling around a corrider, Savior emptied the remaining bullets in the clip and used the Shimmer to hurl the empty gun into the last disciple's face, stalking on.

But because of this murderous mindset, he didn't notice that the corrider he'd gone around had a door at the corner, a door at his back that had noiselessly swung open, revealing a new large group of heavily armed guards that were coming up behind him, and unlike the variedly armed disciples, these guards were all armed with guns in one hand and combat knifes or tasers in the other.

They were on him with no time left to spare. Savior only sensed their presence and managed to turn around in time to see them leap at him…

And be stopped in their tracks just as easily as a bo whirled out and came down upon a series of heads, destroying helmets and cracking skulls.

Savior stepped back as the lean, athletic form tore into the second group of guards, disarming another before it unfurling four, green gloved fingers, each pair holding a small disk in between them, before a sharp, quick flick of the wrist threw them, two of them exploding and throwing members of the assault force back, while the last one froze one solid up to the waistline. A quick series of bo strikes finished the stragglers, as the figure solidified from the flurry of activity, the dust settling around him from the stone work that lay under his feet. Boots clad with a protective metallic covering.

"He went that way." Robin stated, pointing one green hand down towards the way Savior had been going, at an up and coming T-Junction, indicating that he had taken the left path. "Better catch him before he finds a way out of here."

Robin raised his bo again and slammed it down on the guard that had managed to break out of the ice, almost standing guard, ready to fight anything that came his way. He got his wish as more guards made their way out the door their original fellows had come from. "Don't make me hit you with this stick to get you moving Savior." He stated calmly, smirking slightly as he raised his weapon of choice. Noel let the breath he had been holding out through his nostrils and nodded, before dashing off the way he was pointed. Robin looked back and prepared himself, weapon in hand, as a group of at least 20 armed men, and fairly big armed men, headed for him. Robin tuted to himself. "When will they learn that it doesn't matter how many of them you have, it's how well you train the henchmen."

Isn't it the truth? How many times have we seen in movies and such where you have thousands of henchmen, only for all of them to be beaten by a one solitary, well trained agent? Only to have said agent nearly killed by a lone, very well trained henchman or henchwoman? Admittedly in 007 movies, the villains mainly fail anyway, but in general the well-trained henchman can be a great asset, a lot more so than their lesser trained, worthless counterparts. Unfortunately when creating this cult, Nickleson did think about that but not in enough detail. His head minion was trained in the arts of surgery and in defending himself from thugs, not defending himself from unhappy metahumans who you had stupidly made watch as you tried to cut open his girlfriend.

So now Bish was running for his life as he pushed past empty chairs in a cafeteria, their occupants had run away in fear, not wanting to cross one of the most physiologically dangerous Titans, and one of the more physically dangerous ones as well.

"HEY!" Came a yell, and Bish turned just in time to see Savior heading through the cafeteria entrance. Bish didn't waste time watching, he turned and ran down the latest corridor. Two guards ran past him, heading for Savior, but he doubted they would last long, as he ran through the latest door and stopped. He heard loud, violent sounds as he hammered at the control panel, finally managing to close the door. With that done, he sprinted down the latest corridor, which was very long.

A horrendous noise sounded behind behind, and Bish turned to see the door being peeled inward, ripped apart by a fearsome power. He gasped and kept running, stopping at the latest T-Junction…and remembering where he was.

And getting an idea. He'd show that crazy metahuman who was superior!

Bish ran down the left corridor again, as Savior emerged from the ruined door and continued on. He'd been said to have worn the look of one of Arnold's characters before, and now he continued on like he was another of the actor's most famous creations: The Terminator.

---

"And that brings the grand total to twenty." Robin said, as the last man fell backwards, landing heavily on his fallen comrades, who in turn were lying on more of their fallen comrades. It had been relatively easy for the Teen Wonder to disperse of the group. Maybe when they first formed the Titans he would have a little more difficulty doing this, however as time had gone on he had moved up from the ranks of sidekick to a hero in his own right, and deservedly so. With the clear-cut exception of these last few weeks, he has been a model hero for all teenagers everywhere. He was quick, powerful and had enough knowledge to knock down even the largest foes with his strikes and kicks.

He put his bo away calmly and dusted off his sleeve; however he didn't move. He just waited there as if he was part of a bus queue. We would soon find out why: as the sound of boots, feet and other appendages came from the door that the armed goons that had attacked him had emerged from. They weren't more guards though: the sounds were too varied for that. Robin knew who they were. While he had been searching out information on what was happening here, Starfire had gone down to the lower levels to help the three Titans down there escape a fate that they were undeserving of, even though in the back of his mind he knew that Noel would beg him to leave Gauntlet in there for a few more rounds with Vanity.

Speaking of Noel, more sets of footsteps were coming from the corridor he had emerged from in his pursuit of the pretty boy he seemed to have a major mad on for. Robin was sure he had his reasons. With one set of footsteps coming from one direction and another set coming from the other, within a matter of seconds the Teen Titans, minus Noel, were there and waiting.

"Robin, dude! When did you get back?" Beast Boy asked, somewhat hesitant of their ex-leader.

"I got back when I got a call for help." He glanced knowingly at Starfire, who smiled back. After Sophie helped the alien girl to escape from Titan Tower, she quickly got onto her communicator and called Robin…only to find he wasn't answering. So she decided to fly to Gotham in search of him. After the pair tirelessly searched and found nothing (and considering the city was in a mess after a gigantic gang war) they came up with a plan to get their attention. Sophie was 'Attacked' by Starfire, and no sooner had she let out her effeminate scream then the Dark Knight himself had appeared, and while his expression remained stoic as ever, you could tell he was still somewhat confused at this.

They explained that they would have used the Bat-Signal, except there didn't seem to be a Bat-Signal any more and all the cops seemed extremely mad to see her, basically kicking her out. What Starfire didn't know was that Batman, and Robin, as well as others of the Batman 'family', had been caught up in a gigantic war of criminals that had inadvertently been caused by one of Batman's former associates. The war had had a horrific cost, for not only had that former associate lost her life in the battles, the police had been turned against Batman and instituted a "shoot on sight" policy for any masked vigilantes. Not to mention the criminal mastermind Roman Sionis, better known as Black Mask, had risen to power in the chaos to control ALL of Gotham's crime. But that was not part of our story…

And so once they had found the Dark Knight's apprentice (and luckingly just before he was about to leave Gotham as well, planning to head to Bludhaven down the road) they explained to him the situation of what was actually happening. They talked about the attack by Vanity on the city, and how the Tower had been booby-trapped to fill up with gas to knock them unconscious, and how they managed to get out using luck. As the hero finished listening to what was being said, Robin wasted no time in getting up and grabbing his gear. He wasn't going to let the team he had worked so hard to make into the best young adult team in the world fall apart because of a madman's ideals. Even IF they had kicked him off it.

And so here he was: Starfire and he had dropped Sophie back at the tower to wait (but unfortunately forgot to let her in) and raced over to where Noel was. As for how they knew where Savior was, well, that was because that the white haired Titan was so paranoid that he had a homing device inserted into, not only his boots, but his shirt, his jacket and even in his hair, though that one might have been knocked out (it usually was). When they had arrived on the site, which happened to be on an island, they found the bunker underneath to be surprisingly large, housing a lot of things that most people wouldn't have seen in comics, let alone on the surface, and after breaking in (hence calling Nickleson away for his 'situation' earlier), this is were the duo of Robin and Starfire split up, one going after Noel and information, the other going after the Titans that had been dropped in more than one sense of the word. How did they know that they had been dropped? Well, Savior was so paranoid he hadn't just bugged himself, he'd bugged all his team-mates as well. You wonder just how much time Noel spends plotting against the plots of others…

"Well then, we better go stop Savior before he decides to murder the pretty boy." Raven said, her head still bleeding. Scalpel would have gone over and dealt with it, however he was trying his hardest to keep out of sight, or at least Robin's eye view. He was now back on the team, against Robin's original orders and he didn't want to cause any trouble so maybe he'd just slip away before anything happens.

"That might be a good idea. As well as finding an exit. Come on." Robin said, and turned to head down the corridor, the Titans with him. Robin headed around the corner…and found a slight problem: the path split again. And Savior had left no indication which way he had gone. So Robin was forced to decide on a route, and decided that since the disciple Noel had been stalking clearly wanted to get away, he must have headed for the exit, which Robin knew, and took. What Robin didn't know was that in his panic the disciple had gone the wrong way, and Savior had cut him off before he could double back, forcing the pair deeper into the base, while Robin and the Titans began making their way out of it.

"How do you know this is the exit?" Terra asked.

"Trust me." Robin replied.

"We could always blast our way out if Fearless here is off in his assession." Cyborg said.

"I doubt that. I don't know what the walls of this place are made off, but they're TOUGH. Superman would have some trouble ripping his way out of here, much less us." Robin said. "In any case, here's the plan..."

Their old leader had only just managed to get that out before Dr Nickleson came out of a hallway halfway down the corridor, looking worried as he tried to get somewhere. Unfortunately, it was face to face with the Titans.

"So there you are!" Terra shouted, as things started to shake. Dr Nickleson snarled harshly. You could almost see the gears turning in his head, as Robin, on instinct, made a hand signal and the Titans obeyed it, forgetting the whole mess that had come, because in the end, Robin was still their first leader, and this was not the time to dispute it, as the teen heroes readied themselves in case he tried something.

"The best laid plans of mice and men are all but lead astray, but no matter for there is more in this heaven and earth than that dear Horatio." The Doctor said out loud, mangling together a Steinbeck and Shakespearean reference before he ran back down the hallway he had gone. The Titans gave chase, as Nickleson vanished into an open door at the end. The Titans quickly followed…

And found themselves in a large room of undetermined use. Nickleson was at a control panel near the end of the room, typing onto it.

"Still in the hunt children? Well then, I guess I'll have to do something about that!" Nickleson said. Rob would have commented on how it looked like he was pressing control, alt and delete from where he was stood, but he never got the chance, as the snarly expression on Nickleson's face turned into a smirk.

"You see dear 'donors', I may have not gotten your powers but I always anticipate such things, and while it is not complete without you, I still have the shell of a god." He said, as he pressed one last key and then quickly took off down the corridor right next to the keyboard. The Titans began a quick pursuit…

And then the floor exploded from in front of them. The Titans recoiled, even as a massive black pod pushed itself from underneath the ground and then split open, filling the room with a foul smelling smoke. The door behind Nickleson slammed shut, and then several other doors did likewise, but the Titans couldn't see that, as they recovered from the surprise to look upon what was before them.

Standing in their way was a humanoid shaped creature, standing, at best, five foot eleven in height with a relatively athletic build. It was, as I said, humanoid, however it was a rather off shade of bluish green and had patches of skintone here and there rather than being all one colour. The hands were like mittens rather than segmented fingers, almost as if the appendages had not finished forming yet. It had no hair, pale eyes, no nose, and a mouth so thin it seemed virtually invisible. It rather looked like a mannequin from a shop window.

"The thing that would be king." Cyborg said, as he armed his sonic cannon.

"Careful Titans! We don't know what it's capable of!" Robin said, even as he snapped out his bo.

"Dude, it's just a shell!" Beast Boy said, as he became a bear. "How hard could it…"

The Incomplete God was suddenly among them which such speed the Titans could barely react. Raven was the first target, but she managed to save herself with a warp…as the God punched the metal wall and buried its arm into it right up to the shoulder. Robin goggled at the power: those walls were not only thick, but made of extremely strong metal, some kind of titanium special mix. You can't just punch through a wall like that like it's made of paper…

And then it was among them again. The Titans scattered, barely avoiding its deadly punches, as Robin pulled out some explosive disks from his belt and threw them at a velocity and accuracy that would make darts players and ninja blush with embarrassment at their own failings. However, this wasn't enough as it just dodged to the side as if there was nothing to be afraid of, before raising its palm and firing off a mammoth of a blast towards the Titans, who all managed to dodge and yet were tossed aside like rag dolls from the shockwave, the blast striking another wall and blowing right through it and beyond.

Fear came to the Titans, harsh and strong. How could they best something like this? They might be able to, but with such power, it would surely get more of them before they could get it…

---

Bish knew fear too, because something was definitely trying to get him. He had fled all the way down to the deepest depths of the base, and Savior had been on his heels the whole time. But, as he turned the final corner, he knew that he had finally won. Before him was a large, heavily armoured door. Bish knew the code to get in. And as the head disciple, he knew what to do when he got in, as he ran up to the door and began pressing keys, smirking…

"Hey, Pigeon" Savior called lightly, as his shadow appeared on the corner Bish had just run around. "If you stop running now, I promise I'll just break one limb."

"You stay right there!" Bish yelled.

"Oh really…and why would I do that?" Savior said, as he turned around the corner. "Well well, dead end. How fitting."

Bish was terrified, but he managed to keep pressing keys, as he finally finished keying in the code. He heard the beeping as it was accepted and the doors prepared to be opened.

"Yes it is! FOR YOU!" Bish cackled. "You see, Vanity might have been our best creation until now, but you should have known from her name she wasn't the only one! Behind these doors are the OTHER six Sins! Your team could barely handle one: what chance do you think you have against six?" He laughed. The door was starting to open. "You think you're so powerful, well, these creatures will show you power! Once they've rent you apart and devoured your remains, we'll use them on your friends! It will be marvellous!"

And then the cloud washed over the head disciple, an incredibly noxious gas that nearly made him throw up on the spot, so thick and foul that it swarmed over him and then over Savior, taking the metahuman from his sight, but Bish didn't care, as he turned around. His commands would not only open the main door, but the door to the containers as well. And they were programmed to obey his commands, a privilege only he and Nickleson shared, and a privilege he would use, as he waited to hear the roar of wrath, the moan of lust, the gurgle of gluttony, the laugh of greed, the sigh of envy and the yawn of sloth…

But all he heard was a liquid noise.

"…What?" He said.

And then it hit him, the terrible rush of fluid around his feet and ankles, nearly knocking him down, as the stench increased even more. Bish somehow managed to throw up as he staggered forward, not comprehending. Where were the Sins? Where was his army to destroy Savior? He couldn't see anything with this foul putrid gas, as he staggered forward, waving his arms…and finally getting a clear enough view to see what was covering the ground.

Blood.

"…What?" Bish said again.

And then, finally, the gases inside the chamber cleared, finally revealing what lay within: Six massive chambers, part cage and part tube, holding what had once been six fearsome monsters. Six very dead monsters, which was where all the blood had come from.

"No…" Bish said, not believing what had happened. Somewhere along the line, someone (or some thing) had pressed the final failsafe on the 'Sin' projects, for if they were ever caught making these creatures, and if any and all the crimes were ever linked to them, they had a failsafe that would cause the simultaneous destruction of the six spare 'Sins' so their human 'personas' could never reveal who they were or what was happening in this organization. This was a brutal procedure as long, sharp spikes would descend from all around the cage and piece the sins, none of whom would be able to protect themselves. Now, even as genetic failsafes within them caused them to begin to dissolve, Bish looked at them, still not believing.

Something popped in the chamber closest to him, and Bish yelped and stumbled back.

Right back into something. And it wasn't a wall.

Bish turned and then recoiled away from Savior, who said nothing, his eyes fixed on him. The pretty boy stumbled and then fell down into the blood that still pooled on the ground, no longer caring about that because he had a far more serious problem. He had never realized that his need to show off his talents to an audience would come back to haunt him. It never had before. But now karma was paying it all back at once, as Bish backed up until he had bakced himself into a corner between a wall and one of the chambers, trapping him, and Savior was closing in, and he looked like he would break every bone in his beautiful body. Hell, he looked like that would be the first thing he would do, as the disciple cowered, holding up his arms in futile protection, and screaming like a baby when a firm grip seized his wrist.

And a click brought him out of his fear.

As Savior yanked him up, pulling his arm behind him and using the Shimmer to bring his other wrist to the first, as he yanked closed the new plastic restraints that some police departments used instead of handcuffs.

"By the authority of the Jump City Police Department, I am authorized to make arrests." Savior said, as he pulled a badge from somewhere in the folds of his jacket and waved it at Bish before putting it away. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you…"

Bish could only stare in utter shock as Savior Mirandaized him.

"Do you understand these rights as laid out to you?" Savior finished.

"Why aren't you killing me?" Bish said incredulously.

Savior looked at him, and then he smirked. But in that smirk was such an incredible coldness that Bish nearly wet himself.

"Kill you? My dear little cruel, cowardly sadist…why would I want to do that?" Savior said, as he went into his jacket again. His fingers came back with a small, black rectangular object, aka the video from the movie camera.

"Thanks for taping it all. It'll make great evidence when you get put away for twenty years. I bet you'll be REAL popular in prison." He paused before turning, a Shimmer loop coiling around the cuffs so he could escort his prisoner with him. "And a little lesson for you buddy. Anyone can tie down and slice a helpless woman and be called a sadist. It takes a true ARTIST to be CRUEL. You remember that during your repeated anal violations, pretty boy."

The mental pictures just scared him beyond belief.

---

The second blast threw all the Titans back against the neighbouring wall with such force it nearly knocked all of them out. As the teenagers scrambled up, trying to stave off the terrible power of Incomplete God, it made Raven wonder how they managed to survive all those fights within the confines of their home, as the corridors and rooms were not that much bigger…and it appeared that even that little difference could be all that was needed, as the Incomplete God charged up for another blast. The Titans didn't have enough time to dodge, and none of them had the shielding to protect against such power, as the entity pushed its palm forward-

And melted.

There was no slow breakdown of the being, nor was there any great explosion, it just melted. Like if someone had a tub of ice-cream, let it melt, the removed the sides of the tub, or even poured out a bucket of water onto the ground. It just... melted, falling apart before the Titans.

It was so sudden none of them could speak for several seconds.

"In true internet speak, WTF?" Gauntlet shouted from the back of the group. Cyborg was still staring, and then a slight smile came to his face.

"It was an Incomplete God." Cyborg said, managing to help the others slowly to their feet as Scalpel looked over the puddle. "Key word being INCOMPLETE."

"It could not hold its genetic bonds." Scalpel said. The Titans looked at him, puzzled. "You know the molecule models you humans have? Well it would be like me suddenly taking out all the adjoining rods at once. It can no longer hold it shape and hence collapses." He stated.

"Great. What should we do about Dr Nickleson?" Terra asked

"We'll catch up to him in a minute, how far could he go in one day?" Robin asked, shrugging. "Now let's find Savior." As if on cue, as if it had been written in some cosmic script, Noel soon walked out, pretty boy in tow and in handcuffs.

"…I guess I missed something?" He asked calmly, with an unimpressed expression on his features. The Titans stared at him. "Yes?"

"Um…Savior…?" Beast Boy asked, and gave a vague gesture towards the teen. Savior interpreted it: why is the pretty boy who tortured your girlfriend in restraints and unharmed when he should be in an interesting new shape for a pretzel?

"Oh, surely you didn't think I was going to KILL him, did you?" Savior asked, as he let go of his prisoner and lightly batted him on the back of his head. "Why don't you tell them why you're still alive, pretty boy?"

All Bish could do was weep.

---

"Fresh air! Sunshine!" Gauntlet shouted as the final group of Titans made their way out of the hidden bunker. They found that, despite the time it would have taken to get there, the Titans were on some form of small island. They could see the coast, but they couldn't tell what the coast was, but they were pretty sure it was America, they had a feeling it was. Besides, Rob joked he could see a pair of Mc Donald's and a Starbucks next to each other.

"Did we get everyone?" Cyborg asked, sucking in a deep amount of air into his lungs, happy to get the smell of Vanity's quarters out of his nostrils.

"No, some managed to escape." Nigel stated as he continued to fix the open wound of Raven's head. The odd bit of seething and jerking implicated that it hurt a lot, despite what she had already been through. He applied the last antiseptic swab to the wound before he put a rough dressing over it. He would do a lot better when he got back to the tower, but for now this would hold. He mused as when he was in the war, he considered himself lucky when he only had to deal with minor cuts and bruises. These priests may have been clever, very intellectual indeed, however they were dumb enough not to have any real heavy hitters. He knew one thing though, he felt as if Robin's eyes were burning in the back of his head. He had avoided looking in his direction for most of the 'round up' however when he stole a glance over, Robin wasn't looking at him, but in a totally different direction. He breathed a sigh of relief and finished up with his quick clean and sew on Raven's head.

"Yeah, and I know who. Nickleson and Vanity." Terra scowled unpleasantly. "I knew we should have drilled through that door and gone after him."

"Well, it doesn't matter. Even if they escaped, they won't get far. I don't know where either of them could have gone, but I doubt it was alone. Besides, who is going to miss a two story high monster and a mad scientist riding it?" Robin joked turning his head slightly. "Now we have to get off this island."

Silence.

"Um…Robin…" Savior said, as he dumped the by now passed Bish in the sand next to him. "How did you get here in the first place?"

"Starfire flew me."

Silence.

"So you left the T-Ship behind KNOWING…"

"Oh come off it Savior." Terra snapped. "They were in a hurry, SORRRRYYY if they couldn't think of everything."

"Well young lady, I won't fault them for their lack of omnipresence, but this still leaves us the problem of how we can all get off this island. We have prisoners, lots of them. You want to rip the island off the ground and try to carry us all for who knows how many miles?"

Terra didn't answer that.

"Ok, anyone got a phone?" Savior asked. Starfire passed over her communicator lightly and he flipped it open and pressed a button on it. 'In use of emergencies only' was its description in the manual. The actual button only had three little letter. JLA.

"J'onn? You there? It's Savior." Savior said. Some of the Titans goggled. They always knew Savior had balls of steel, but to call the JLA for something they could deal with given time wasn't really the right thing to do. Even if they were on the wrong coast, they could teleport, jump and fly to land then bus all the way home. It would have been a great road trip.

But Savior had no patience for such things. And until things were sorted out with him, Robin, and Cyborg, he was still the official leader, as a green alien face appeared on his communicator.

"What can I do for you?" The Martian Manhunter asked in his usual calm tone.

"We're stuck on an island due to being kidnapped by bad guys, and we have no transportation home. We need a Javelin." He asked (The Javelins being the long white ships made by Batman for the JLA, if you didn't know). Savior didn't think it was a problem: the JLA HAD massive expanded its roster recently in order to try and aid the world more, and he was sure that they had plenty of the ships, and because of this he expected to get an answer about it soon and an answer that meant he could get out of here ASAP and get into a nice, warm bath, and then out of two day old clothes stained with sweat and monster blood and into his soft, white bathrobe (That Rob had stolen for him from the grand harbour hotel) while he relaxed with a good book in the company of a hot chocolate and his better half, who would poke him in the side every time he turned the pages before she had finished.

A nice dream. But dreams are meant to be broken.

"I am sorry Savior. All the Javelins are in use by our members."

Savior looked somewhat crestfallen, even if it was only slightly. "Please call back in later."

"How much later?" That idea of her and him relaxing really appealed to him at the moment.

"Six hours."

The Titans could only stare in shock, surprised at how many swear words Savior actually knew.

So, after they had managed to calm Noel down, the Titans once again returned to their home, the place where their beds, and more importantly their fridge, were. After all the last time they had eaten was the night before they faced off against Vanity. They were woken up in the morning to fight her, so they missed breakfast, then they came back at about lunchtime and hence were going to get food until their capture prevented that plan. They were unconscious for at least five hours according to Nigel, however that would have meant that night would have started to fall again, but when they got outside and had a look, it was morning, so they must have slept and fought through the night. Then there was the matter of getting back, and so by the time they actually got back to the tower, they had gone a full two days without food. They had considered going to get food, but none of them were carrying any money and the Titans card they owned only worked in Jump City. It was rather amusing as at one point on the island waiting for the Javelin Terra had tried to eat Beast Boy, trying to convince him to turn into a cow with a hungry look in her eyes. He just stated how it convinced him that being a vegetarian helped and turned into a grazing animal in order to eat, like a horse... or a sheep. The ensuing chase of Terra running full pelt after the changeling shouting 'Mint Sauce' lasted and amused the Titans for a little while until the JLA FINALLY came to pick them up. As it turned out, J'onn decided to take pity on them and instead of sending a Javalin down by remote he diverted one of the returning Javelins on which Wonder Woman, The Flash, and the Green Lantern John Stewart had been on a mission in. The looks on their faces when they approached the nine hungry and rather immature acting teenagers didn't really fill them with confidence. They overheard Wonder Woman asking some 'Herra' person if these young adults were actually the Teen Titans or a group of teenagers in makeup who got stranded, and if they were the Titans how utterly irresponsible and inappropriate they were as heroes. Savior had managed to hold back his snarky comeback that the JLA had been lying around unconscious when the Titans had defeated Whim, but the other Titans weren't so restrained, as the exhausted, starving and highly agitated Titans quickly responded by pretending that their trials had tired them to the point that they were having trouble controlling their powers. Onlookers from below pointed as they saw the Javelin doing lots of quick turns as if it was out of control, wondering what was happening inside of it.

They finally made it back to the edge of their city and got off the ship.

"It was good to see you again, even with the ruckus you caused." Stewart chuckled/ laughed, folding his arms. The Titans just stood there and looked somewhat embarrassed, except Savior who looked highly embarrassed.

"So what will become of Nickleson's henchmen?" Starfire asked.

"We've taken the evidence and the criminals back on some other Javelins, however it will still take a while."

"Are you sure you won't need any help?" Robin offered, raising his hand to emphasize his point.

"Nah, it's okay. After all you were nearly cut up to make some sort of supposed 'god'. After that you need a weekend to yourselves. Don't worry about the work though; I'm sure we can recruit some local hero to give us a hand." Green Lantern laughed and thumbed behind him to indicate Wonder Woman, who did not look happy.

"Well thanks again for all your help; I'm sure this won't be the last time we call upon you." Robin said, offering his palm to the Green Lantern, who shook it with a firm handshake.

"Anytime. But be careful next time or you'll end up loosing the fight." The Justice Leaguer commented before waving, as the Javelin took off, its gangplank closing up behind them as John Stewart sat down and did up his safety harness before making sure he was composed. He then took off, shooting away from the place known as Jump City.

"It's good you told them that they shouldn't be so arrogant." Diana Troy spoke up as she co-piloted the craft. Flash was dozing in the back.

"I wasn't speaking to them but to you." He retorted in that strong, and almost harsh tone he had when he wanted to make someone realize what they had done. This made Wonder Woman almost step back in surprise, or she would have if she wasn't sitting down. "They may only be teenagers but they're not dumb rookies Diana. They'll be the ones replacing us one day as people take their mantle as Titans. And don't forget about Whim. Not to mention the Lord of the Night, and you saw what he did to the Sahara Desert." He spoke, lifting his hand off the flightstick every now and again.

"I still do not think they had the right to try and change my mind via their foolishness." She would have folded her arms and pouted, if she wasn't trying to actually win this point.

"You were callous towards them. They may be heroes but they are still only human... most of them anyway." Stewart said. "In a way you got what you asked for: you disrespected them and they disrespected you in turn. You may have incredible powers Diana, but be aware that even you couldn't take on all the Titans on your own. They have come into their own, not because of our shadow or blanket of protection but because of what they have done. They will form a great Justice League one day." And that finished his speech as he waited for a response. He didn't get one, which he was glad with. Yes he may have painted the Titans with a somewhat biased brush, but he did believe every word he had spoken. As long as they didn't rip themselves apart like the other teen super teams did, then they will be just fine.

And so while the Titans made their way back through the city, ordering Pizza and even stopping some crime along the way, a young woman in a smart suit and a butterfly collar paced outside the entrance to Titan Tower as she pulled her large gold pocket watch from her jacket pocket and looked at the time, her worry growing with each step.

"They said they would be back by now." Sophie sighed and continued to pace, placing her pocket watch back in her jacket, or at least she thought so at the time, as it fell. Now usually the chain attached to the pocket watch would stop it from hitting the floor, but the watch was quite heavy and the chain quite cheap, so the chain went tight before the links broke apart, allowing the watch to fall to the ground. She sighed inwardly, annoyed that it was a brand new metal chain that had broken surprisingly quickly. Well she may as well gather it all up and hope for the best, she thought. Maybe she could persuade Cyborg to make her a strong chain?

So, kneeling down she reached out for the main watch itself. Worst comes to worst, she would just have to buy a new chain, no real harm done.

Indeed, no harm done. At least not by the watch.

A lone, shiny, leather shoe came upon the clock face as her fingers were coming close to it, causing her to look up in surprise, her gaze following the ironed in crease of the expensive suit trousers to the matching jacket and waistcoat before finally coming upon the face of her brother, the perfect features now broken and shattered as his face was covered by a clear mask to support his healing nose courtesy of Scalpel. His smile however, wasn't as broken on the inside as it was on the out. It still carried that joyful malice, a kind of happiness he only got when he was toying with people's lives, and once again he had come to interfere with Sophie's.

"Crawling in the mud as you usually do, looking for the scraps from someone else's table, how pathetic. If it wasn't the 'thank god he's dead' grandfather, it's those wannabe heroes, just because you took in one of them for a day. Ooh, the responsibility." He mocked as she tried to back away.

"You have the funeral home, just leave me alone!" She yelled, getting up from the floor.

"I wish I could, oh I wish I could. However our dear mother said to me that it's not nice for someone of our own blood wandering around in ratty clothes so she wants you to come back home."

"Well you can tell her I'm fine where I am. It may not be permanent but it's a darn sight better than my old place." She responded, dusting her knees off lightly. This didn't impress Tony one bit. His hand lashed out and grabbed her wrist, seizing it in what could only be described as a surprisingly strong grip.

"You don't get it do you? You were always the one to go against the way things should be done! Always trying to be independent! When will you get it in that fat head of yours? You won't ever truly escape us! We are after all, family."

Sophie made an attempt to pull her hand free, adding in a "Let me go!" She leaned back in her attempt to escape, much like a young child would to escape their mother's grip in order to look at the toy section. It was in vain though.

"You are coming home if you like it or not and you WILL be happy about it."

"No! You don't control me! This isn't fair!"

"Life isn't, my little sister, it isn't at all." Tony chuckled, as he continued to drag her over to the car he arrived in, one of his many fancy cars, this one a brand new version of the limousine he had before. All her efforts were continuing to be futile, but she tried one last time, using what strength she had to try and break away. Now I know you are asking why doesn't she just turn into bats? Well the problem with that is that she would just turn him into bats as well, and until she learned to control the intricacies of said power, when she turned back into a human again he would still be there holding onto her arm, and hence it would have been a great waste of time and energy. With this last giant tug came the straw that broke the camel's back, as Tony had now had his fill of the insolence, and the outright refusal to see what was obviously best. Even if it was best for only him, it was still the best. He turned to her and lifted his open palm to strike her hard: if he hit her hard enough it would stop her struggling and she would become submissive as she always became if she was hit. He wasn't going to take any chances; he was really pulling back and even balling his fist.

"Ahem."

Tony started and turned, his sister's wrist still in his hand. He saw half the Titans, the first five, staring into his very soul as his eyes bugged out, a frozen snarl of fear and rage on his lips.

"You're not thinking of harming her... are you?" Robin asked, his gaze as intense as always, only that it was somewhat undermined by the video and DVD rentals he was carrying. Tony didn't speak for a moment.

"You'd need not concern yourself with her, she's just a runaway." He spoke, thinking he could just calmly walk away, thinking that he could just say a few sweet words and be on his merry way as always it had been before. He turned to leave, still dragging Sophie in tow, until he once again ran face first into another wall of Titans; this side had all the new ones, including one of them that had been forced to hide behind what seemed to be at least a dozen Pizza boxes.

"A runaway?" Savior asked, rolling his fingers as he stepped forward. "She looks old enough to make her own decisions."

"No, no, she's just a foolish little girl who doesn't know what is the right thing; you know how it is when-"

"Please! Make him let go!" Sophie cried in desperation while cutting him off in mid sentence, still unable to get her wrist from his hands.

"You need to learn your place!" He snarled, as he pulled back to strike at her. All the Titans started, but the only thing to actually make it there in time wasn't the Shimmer, or any projectiles, but a metallic claw that slowly squeezed down upon his wrist like a pneumatic car crusher. You almost expected the claw to hiss slowly. Tony could only open his mouth in pain as the sharp claws started to cut into the arm of the businessman.

"You do not want to do that." Scalpel spoke, his harsh and grating natural accent coming through with the threat, alongside his glowing angry eyes. If you looked at the whole picture, it might have been amusing; he was holding a dozen Pizza's in one hand, and the other man's arm in the other. The 'lord' Mathew let go of his frightened sister, and used all his so called 'Superior' strength to try and force Scalpel away, only to find out that trying to overpower a short chubby civilian and an ex-warrior alien were two different things. Said alien let him go and pushed him over, making sure he lost what little dignity he had left.

"I'll sue you for assault!" Tony yelled from the ground.

"Oh, really? May as well make sure you've got strong grounds." Savior said, and then thrust out his palm, several Shimmer strands slamming into the sides of the car around tony, and he yelped as they closed in slightly, carving deep grooves in his car. "But if you attempt to sue us, we will sue you for attempted kidnapping." Savior added.

"I'm sure the lawyers who owe favours to me would love to rip you a new one." Robin laughed, his arms folded as he continued to gaze at the man who considered himself higher than most of society because of the amount of cash he flaunted. The Titans circled him, and all looked quite eager to do him harm.

"But if you go away now, and never come back we'll let you go with no lawsuits." Nigel spoke, proving him the bigger man as he offered him a chance to leave with his arse still where it was, and not on a platter being handed to its previous owner.

"And all your limbs and organs in the right place." Savior added, proving he wasn't quite as big a man.

"She doesn't want anything to do with you, she doesn't need you nor want your 'help'." Scalpel continued.

"And just think, a lawsuit against the Titans will not do your company a lot of good, no matter the outcome." Cyborg interjected, his arms crossed in front of his chest as well. Scalpel looked at Savior, and Savior pulled away the Shimmer strands.

"But if you choose to bother us, or her, then we will sue, and to use an altered quote from a movie..." Nigel said, and then he grabbed the scruff of Tony's shirt. "You're a scumbag, the people who work for you are scumbags and scumbags see the judge on Monday morning!" Scalpel snapped as he dragged the male Mathews over to the door of the car. "And I'm sure you don't want that, so leave her alone and remember, do what you humans love to say. Don't call us, we'll call you!" He opened the car door and threw him in, allowing him to bounce a little on the soft leather seats.

"Home James." Savior said, knocking on the window of the driver, who quickly became scared and sped off as fast as he could, even though Tony wasn't even buckled in.

"I so hope he gets a speeding ticket on the way home." Terra said, raising her hand to her eye line to watch him go. While they all celebrated their last victory of the evening, Scalpel walked over to Sophie and offered her a hand, smiling lightly. She returned it with a fond smile of her own, a small but very happy smile and her hand, reaching up and taking his.

"So there is a Pizza Delivery Angel after all." She joked lightly to him as she stood up, a joke only he would hear. He blushed somewhat, realizing he did that entire bit with the Pizza's still in one hand. He had a fair amount of grace.

And with that, the Teen Titans, now reunited with their leader and their first alien member, waved goodbye to the meaner of the Mathews as the nicer one stayed with them and helped them gorge out on Pizza and watch movies, taking the weekend to collect themselves.

Or at least that would have been what they did immediately had Savior not been the killjoy he was and suggested they search the Tower in case the cult had left any more surprises for them, like bombs, or a nastier kind of gas, or who knew, maybe they'd broken out Aberration and left him in the basement. The Titans groaned and protested, but Noel was firm, and so the Titans had to spend the following two hours going over their tower with a fine tooth comb.

In the end they turned up nothing, and after much mostly non serious but not entirely cursing out of Noel, the Titans proceeded to do what they wanted to do two paragraphs ago.

All except Robin, who had gone back to his room, as if nothing had changed. Noel sought him out soon after the movies had started, and found Robin sitting at his table where he usually studied clues. But he was doing no such thing at the moment. Instead, he was just sitting there, his mask off, and his arms crossed on the table. He appeared to be deep in thought…and it didn't look good.

"Tim." Noel said.

"I figured you'd come." Tim Drake replied. "I assume you have some problems you need settled?"

"Well…yes Tim. If we don't talk of some things now, the whole mess that led to you leaving could repeat itself." Noel said, as he grabbed a chair and sat down across from Tim. "Now…the obvious. Nigel."

"I still don't much like him, to be honest." Tim replied. "But…these past several weeks…I've been reminded that there are more important things then holding small grudges against people. So…I'll give him a pass and consider him a Titan. For now. I still don't think we've seen all the sides of him Noel, and that could very well be a very bad thing."

"Fair enough." Noel said. "Now, about the leadership…"

"You can keep it if you want Noel…"

"No Tim…I think you should." Noel said. "I tried Tim, I really did…but guiding so many people, and still considering them people…it's not to my expertise. At the least, I think we should hold a vote or something."

"I suppose." Tim replied.

There was silence for a while.

"Tim, I know what happened to your father." Noel said.

Tim looked up at Noel. His eyes were not angry, nor sad, nor accepting, but somehow a combination of all three.

"It was Jean Loring." Tim whispered. Noel looked on uncomprehending. "The Atom's ex wife."

"SHE caused all that?" Noel said incredulously.

"Yes. There was no grand evil scheme though. Nor was she being controlled or possessed. She…just wanted to get back with her ex. But she was too proud to just ask. So…she tried to arrange a scheme, a scheme to scare the superhero community and bring them closer to their families and loved ones…but something went wrong. And in the way humans who cause mistakes like this do, she didn't want to admit her mistake. So she tried to cover it up…and it went deeper, and got more and more out of control…and in the end…my dad…he became part of it. She hired Captain Boomerang to kill him to try and deflect suspicion off herself, and then she mailed him a gun to protect himself with, thinking that Boomerang was a washout who my dad could defend himself against. But…Boomerang got him…the bastard got him…may he burn in hell…" Tim said. "I…I could have been there…but there was this mess in Gotham…and…and…"

Silence again.

"Do you want me to leave you alone?" Noel asked.

"Yes please." Tim replied. Noel got up and headed for the door.

"Just remember Tim…you're never truly alone. Never forget that." Noel said, and left.

Tim's face resumed a level of stoicism, at least for a few seconds.

"Tim…" Kory Anders said as she crept from the shadows. She had come in while Tim was speaking: Noel had not noticed her, and she had kept out of sight until he had left. At the sound of her voice, the stoicism swiftly began to crack, even though Tim was still struggling against that.

"The mess in Gotham was caused by Stephanie Brown. She was a rookie vigilante called the Spoiler. Batman tried her as a Robin, but he felt she couldn't live up to his specifications, and he fired her. But Bats, the old bastard, he just had to screw it in deeper and tell her she couldn't be Spoiler as well. He hurt Stephanie, the way he tends to hurt people when he gets into one of his states, but Stephanie reacted badly. Terribly. She stole a program off his computer, a theorized "war games" in which Batman could take over all the crime in the city and keep in under his control, and she initiated it to prove she could be one of his family. But she didn't know one of the players was one of Batman's pseudonyms, a created identity he used for himself, and without him…the whole plan fell apart and threw Gotham into absolute chaos. And in the end, in trying to regain control…she died Kory. She died a hero, but she died nonetheless. All because of her wanting to prove herself. In that, and Batman's arrogance, she tore it all down. The police are our enemies again, crime is united under one man…and we've all left Batman. At the moment, we can't stand him. Our family is gone, maybe forever." Tim said.

Kory had, by now, crept in close, even as Tim continued speaking.

"Jean just wanted her ex back. And in the process she wanted superheroes to appreciate their families. In the end she shattered several families beyond repair, both in kinship and partnership. She wanted her ex back, and she lost everything in her attempt, and so did we. Including my dad. The Robins before me…Batman himself…all orphans. Now I am too. Both families, gone…just like that…for such STUPID STUPID REASONS…"

Tim finally turned to Kory, and she saw the tears had begun, streaming down his face. She'd never seen Tim cry before, but she knew what to do.

"Oh Tim…" She said.

"You're…the only family…I have left…" Tim got out, and then he sobbed violently. Kory came to him, holding him close, as he wept into her shoulder.

"It's ok Tim."

"I don't…want to lose you…"

"We have lost much…but never each other Tim. And never the Titans. Always us. I promise. I swear to you with all my heart and soul." Kory said.

"I'm…I'm so sorry…for everything…"

"No need Tim. It's okay. It's okay…" Kory said soothingly, as she held her lost lover and tried to give him as much comfort as she could, as he sobbed briefly and then just continued holding her, and she him, in the faint light of the room, as Tim finally let out all the pain he had been holding in and she helped him bear his burden.

They sat there, on the floor, for a long long time.

---

And while some Titans relaxed, and others tried to heal, they all seemed safe in the knowledge that they had shut the door and locked it on this particular cult.

But it's surprising what slips through the cracks; even the larger things can find a way through a closed door. It doesn't matter how it does it, but what does matter is where they go. The Titans knew that all they had to do was keep an eye out for this so called 'Doctor' and when he reared his head again, if he reared his head again, then they would descend upon him and whatever organisation he belonged too like a plague.

What they hadn't realized was how far he had gotten, and the possible repercussions of not looking for him. The future can be so murky…

As a butterfly flaps its wings...

Nickleson, alone and tired, came up upon an island near Canada, he couldn't tell how far it was as he had been drifting aimlessly for the better part of two days. He'd hopped on the boat that was his personal escape and taken off, but he was no sailor, and he'd swiftly gotten lost, lost land entirely, gone on until he'd run out of gas and found himself at the mercy of the ocean and the tides.

And yet…there did not seem to be randomness and bad luck behind this. No…there seemed to be…a purpose…

He finally sighted land.

He didn't know why he was going this way, or what possessed him to get off on this island that was a long way from land, but what he did know is that he felt something... pulling him. He couldn't explain it though; it was almost there was a voice in the back of his head, barking the odd order at him, saying things like 'Go north' and 'Find Shelter there'. He wasn't aware of it consciously though, not until recently, and he thought it might have been his own dementia setting in because of the lack of food.

The future looks promising again…

The island was a small one, on a clear day you could see from one end to the other if it was not for the trees, however a summer storm had been brewing all the summer long, and what Scalpel had been caught in some time ago was only a prelude to the stronger storm that had been caused by the immense heat, to try and relive the pressure on the sky line before it did damage to the earth below. The dry gap didn't last however, and the boat that Nickleson had arrived in was being tossed to wreck and ruin in the hailing winds and bullet like rain, the robes of the priest belonging to his own order soaking through and parts of it breaking off from the onslaught. He moored the boat as best he could by tugging it hard upon the island itself; however he doubted it was enough to keep the boat in one piece, let alone on the island. He'd lost the will to care at this point though, his usual spiky hair, black gravity deifying locks but with signs of grey age, was held down by the harsh winds and even more so by the rains as he sprinted through to find something, anything.

Then he saw it.

The future is uncertain…

In front of him was an archway, tall by design and wide enough to accommodate at least three cars, with a large metallic door on the front, rusted by summer storms and winter snow, but it still looked like it could work. Old computers, far too advanced for their time was what opened the door. After typing at it and receiving nothing but a negative buzz, he reached down and pulled off the panel below it that was labelled 'emergency open'. He pulled hard but couldn't budge it, it just refused to move under his own power. He backed up a little and kicked it. It was his bane now, the neglect of his athletic skills in favour for his scientific knowledge.

The future is strange…

What surprised him however, wasn't the fact he found this bunker, but another man was coming his way. He was a tall, scraggly looking man with a ratty appearance to him, his clothes scruffy and his face unshaven. He was a lanky young gentleman, who was running from the harsh winds, so concerned with escape that he didn't see Nickleson until he was right up close to him.

They stared at each other for a moment or two, and then, as if sharing the same thought, the pair of them grabbed at the emergency handle and yanked, forcing the old door open, allowing the two to stumble inside and out of the storm.

The room was dark, only lit up by the dim light coming from outside; even then it wasn't that much. The tall man leant down and started to breath heavily, having run through the rain to get there. Now he had stopped running and moving, his face was becoming more recognizable, he brushed the sodden locks of his hair out of his eyes and stood up again, trying to compose himself despite the fact he looked like he had been hiding from the police.

"I'm Dr Fowler." He extended his hand.

"Thanks for the help." Nickleson stated as he took the hand of his fellow scientist. "The name is Dr Nickleson." There was a pause, as he too tired to sort himself out, trying to straighten up his ceremonial poncho before it fell off his frame from the weight of the rain. "What are you doing here Doctor?" He questioned his fellow PHD holder, who just looked blankly at him for a moment. You could see the gears working in his mind.

"I'd love to give you an answer, but the actual fact is that I don't have a clue."

Nickleson raised a brow, he was truly curious now. He too had been drawn here and he couldn't explain it either.

"It seems we are in the same boat."

"I also have a feeling we won't be the last." Fowler added, looking around. He felt about his person and eventually came across a flashlight; it was small but powerful. "I say we find the electrics, turn them on, then make a cup of tea."

"I hope you can do that, I can hardly change a fuse." Nickleson joked. When you said you were a scientist, people generally thought that you knew everything, and in actual fact he was only a biologist. However, he was a good leader as he could organize people.

"I'm sure I can do something." Fowler nodded as the pair walked through the inside of the building. They soon managed to find the stairs, and Fowler proved to be rather clumsy or just extremely weary by nearly breaking his neck three times on the same set of stairs. Nickleson could tell straight away that this was going to take a while.

"Hey, what's that?"

The biologist turned around and looked at where his robotics friend was pointing with the torch. It was a small golden plate on the wall, unblemished by dust and grime unlike the upper levels.

"Sorceress Project?" He spoke out loud, trying to read the surface, the writing engraved, etched deep into the metal. He moved closer to find it was actually a door; however it had sealed itself shut because of the power outage. His mind boggled at the thought, what could be there? What could be behind this door? What great secrets accompanied the title that was carved so blatantly?

"Hello?" A call disrupted their thoughts as they turned to the stairs to see a young woman starting to descend them slowly, her outfit more casual than the men's with a dark red turtleneck jumper and jeans rather than shirts and smart trousers. However, she still possessed the generic lab coat, which is good as the rain had made her clothes cling and she was a little embarrassed about it. "Is anyone down there?"

"Over here!" Fowler called, shining the flashlight over to her so she could descend with greater ease. This moved the light away from the panel, effectively stopping any further thought on the part of his elder. "See Doctor? I told you we wouldn't be the only ones."

"My confidence in your deductions have actually risen since we left that staircase." He replied. "Only because they hit rock bottom anyway." He joked, talking about his friend's obvious 'bad luck'. "Let me guess, you came here but you don't know why?" He finished, directing the last question to the new arrival.

"That's about the size of it." The female Brunette said lightly, allowing him to nod as she cleaned her glasses.

"Whatever drew us is behind that door." He said, as he tapped on the door he was looking at. "We'll go restore power, get out of these wet clothes and find out what's behind there."

Nodding, the trio of scientists left, Dr Nickleson in front with the others behind, following their new leader as his first disciples had done for him.

The future looks bright…

And so we move away from the door, away from whatever was behind it.

Away from the mysteries and the curiosities and the strange urge to open it.

Away from a power they couldn't understand but were inevitably drawn to.

A power that was coming forth from it.

A power that needed awakening.

A power more dangerous than anything on earth.

"Release me."

And then the power came on.

The future, for the Titans, was going to be very, VERY bad.

---

Jedi: Damn, that took toooooooo loooonnngggg…. Don't expect the next chapter any time soon, I'm a little snowed under. My thanks to Legend Maker for all the help! You're a star!