---------------------------------------
Chapter 17:- Flesh, Blood And Tears
"Robin?" said Batman over the communicator.
Robin sat in a dark room with Starfire sitting next to him. Beast Boy and Raven sat on the other side of the room. Several empty food wrappers littered the floor and a scent of different fast foods mixed together gave the room a nauseous yet comfy feel.
"Yeah?" Robin replied down the communicator.
"You need to see this."
Batman pressed a button on a console in front of him and static filled the communicator's small screen before it filled with a large picture of the Lake City school principal, then it switched back to Batman's face.
"The principal?" asked Robin.
"Yes. Although his true name is Sebastian, he is not the same man you had as principal at the beginning of the year… although their motives were probably the same."
"An imposter?"
"A relative. Probably a son."
"But they look identical…"
"They almost are. Their D.N.A. is 99.8 percent identical."
"But why…?"
"I have a feeling your school is a front for something much bigger. I have another call from the high judge in Metropolis. Diana and me are working on getting the Logan boy immunity via the law. Keep him safe," and with that the communicator went black.
Raven's breath came in heavy.
"Raven?" said Robin. "You know something about this, don't you?"
Raven nodded and muttered a single word: "Blood."
Vic was sitting on the top of a large truck of Coca-Cola that was heading towards Lake City. He tried to strike up a conversation with the voice in his head, but she would only mutter messages to tell him which of his systems were on. As much as he hated to admit it, his father had done an incredible job installing all the software into him. He had G.P.S. tracking systems, a built in cellular phone and communicator, and an interactive calendar and digital clock --- able to tell the time in every time zone. He also had high-tech motion sensors, six interface ports, SONAR, RADAR, cameras in his fingers, cables to allow him to extend his reach tenfold, and best of all a DVD-Rom drive, with 600 megabytes of RAM and the best subwoofer speakers on the market.
The speakers unfolded from his upper arms, and pumped out techno beats at a astonishingly loud volume. Realizing the driver might get suspicious, he was about to crank it down when they reached Lake City.
It all looked like business as usual in the city, so he jumped from the top of the truck to a nearby rooftop and headed towards the school.
He knew exactly what he would do. He'd hide on the rooftops until he could get Jinx alone, then he'd quickly tell her who he was (if she didn't recognize him), then she could tell the others. He thought of Gar and his current condition briefly before he arrived at a building near the school football field. He looked down over the enormous grounds and saw students lining the perimeter of it. He recognized his fellow football player, Baran Flinders, who sat sprouted long reddish hair and a red beard. Twenty feet away from him was Jinx, her hair bright pink as always, and he couldn't help smiling at seeing her again. On the other side of her was the letter boy, as short and dorky as ever.
He leapt towards her, sticking to the rooftops and being careful not to be seen. Odd as their behavior was, with the students lining the perimeter like this, he wouldn't be able to go and talk to her alone, so he's have to make a grab for her and pull her into the tool shed that Raven hid Gar in for a while.
When he was directly opposite Jinx, he leaped high, so no-one would see him until he touched down. He cut through the air and slammed into the ground in front of Jinx, then he grabbed her by putting his hand over her mouth and his other around her waist. Then he jumped again, breaking the tool shed roof with his feet and landing gracefully inside the shed with Jinx in his arms. She struggled with all the strength she could muster but Vic kept her still with his new bionic muscles.
He kept his hand clamped over her mouth, and looked her right in the eye. He noticed her pupils had extended like a cat's.
"Jinx, it's me… Vic. My father's done this to me, but its me, Vic, OK?"
He let his grip loosen around her mouth, and as soon as she could speak without being muffled she yelled: "INTRUDER!"
"Jinx! What are you doing?" Vic asked, half angry, half confused. He grabbed her by the upper arms, and shook her slightly in frustration.
She raised her forearm to point at Vic's armored chest. "You are trespassing on the property of my master," she muttered in a robotic tone. Then, her hand gave an aura of bright pink and a beam of pink energy fired from it, hitting Cyborg square in the chest, knocking him backwards, through the shed wall.
Jinx walked slowly towards his prone form, stepping over the remains of the shed wall Vic had flown through. "And now you must be eliminated," she continued in her robotic tone. She raised her arms slowly above her head as her hands expelled pink auras. Energy, in the form of a pink lightning, crackled between her, and her eyes sparked the same power.
Vic reached out and his hand sprang out on a thick, solid steel cable. He wrapped it the cable around her hands, forcing her hands together and the pink energy to fade away. "Don't do this Jinx!" he yelled at her.
Vic was flung to the side as Baran Flinders kicked him hard in the side of his face. He spun out of control and landed hard on his back. His cable hand jerked and retracted, sending Jinx flying towards him, and she landed clumsily next to him.
Vic looked up to see Baran and his massive form that almost matched his own. Baran roared viciously and charged, jumping Jinx, and attempted to pummel Vic with his huge, hairy fists. Vic avoided all of the blows by leaping skillfully to the side, but Baran's blows moved huge pieces of earth under his massive fists. Baran paused momentarily, probably to catch his breath, and Vic retaliated laying a powerful blow to his nose.
"Missile lock detected," said the voice in Vic's head.
Vic turned and saw the letter boy with several missile silos coming out of a device on his back. The missiles fired, and Vic jumped to avoid them, but the missiles tracked his movement and caught him in the air. He was thrown into the ground, where he left a large crater, and he let out a groan of pain. 'Dad must have installed pain receptacles, dang it,' he thought to himself.
Pink bands of energy strapped him to the floor, and despite his immense strength, he couldn't break through them. He looked up at Jinx, Baran and the letter boy with confusion and he saw their eyes glow a deep shade of red.
"Why are you doing this? How are you doing this?" asked Cyborg bewildered.
"Because of me," came a raspy voice and the principal, Mr. Sebastian, approached from behind them.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Victor Stone…"
"What have you done to them, Sebastian?" Vic yelled, fighting against his restraints even more.
"Nothing. Only made them the three best recruits in my army, and my name isn't Sebastian any more. It's Blood. Brother Blood."
"Army?"
"Yes. Now that I know where my Lord's daughter is, I can fulfill the prophecies passed down through the generations and the world will belong once again to Lord Trigon."
"You're insane! How did you do this to them?"
"I have very powerful skills of persuasion, … Cyborg."
"And what about their superpowers?"
"I simply heightened their natural abilities. Baran's raw strength and physical power heightened to the extent that we now call him Mammoth. For Gizmo here I perfected his inventive mind, and for your dear Jinx I heightened her natural curiosity. It was very kind of your friend Raven to leave her books in her room."
Vic snarled. "I won't let you get away with this."
"And how do you intend to stop me when you yourself are as mindless as your everyone else in this school?"
Vic growled.
"You show excellent prowess. You will be a worthy addition to the Army of Blood," said Brother Blood, his eyes glowing red.
Victor yelled in pain as a dark, foreboding force entered the corridors of his mind, worming their way through it. It swept away his desires, his dreams, his ambitions, as it crept through his brain.
"Mind affecting force from outside source detected," said Angelina Jolie inside his head. "Scanning for source."
Vic yelled louder as the force snaked it's way through the corridors. Brother Blood gave a slight chuckle.
"Source located. Working to combat control."
Vic stopped yelling, and the force slowed down, and dissipated to nothingness. He groaned once, then looked up at Brother Blood with a slight smile.
Brother Blood growled, as his eyes glowed deeper in color. Vic groaned slightly as the force returned weaker than it was, but it slowly but surely continued to brush away parts of Vic's psyche as it wormed through his mind.
"Little… help… please…" Vic muttered to the voice in his head.
Brother Blood chuckled. "There's no-one to help you now… Only me."
"Eliminating outside source," said the voice in Vic's head.
Brother Blood yelled, as electricity surged through his own brain. He fell to the floor and Jinx immediately turned to care for him, and in doing so, let the straps of energy that held Vic in place dissipate.
Vic took his chance and ran into the city as fast as he could, before scaling a building with a single bound and disappearing into the horizon.
Brother Blood stood up with Jinx's help and rubbed his temple. "We didn't get him," he said frustrated. "Follow him. He will lead us to the daughter."
---------------------------------------------
Jeesh. I really should lay off the big evil megalomaniacs trying to capture the Titans, etc. What can I say? I have a soft spot for megalomaniacs, and I share a name with Brother Blood too (Sebastian -- NOT BLOOD… MY NAME IS NOT BLOOD…) Anyhoo… I won't post again before christmas... SO A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!!
Just as an advertisement. I'm about a halfway done with an stupid little one-shot for christmas cheer which I'll try to post tomorrow!! Please read it!! Once again --- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY!! WOO!!!