Chap. 10
Price of Freedom
As the fire shot forth, the heroes quickly leapt/flew out of its way. However, the same actions could not be applied to the T-Car and BRAT-Mobile. The vehicles took the blast head-on and exploded in fiery debris. "My BABY!" Cyborg cried, as he tearfully viewed the wreckage of his car. Then, eyes burning with rage, Cyborg whipped out his sonic cannon, and screaming, "DIE!" blasted Trigon with all the power he could muster. The wave of sound hit the demon head on, and he buckled under its impact. In fact, when the beam finally stopped, Cyborg realized he might have gone too far. There was now a huge gaping hole in the demon's chest. But before anyone could say or do anything, the hole began to seal itself. Within minutes, it seemed as though it had never been there. The demon smiled, and then blasted Cyborg with demonfire. The bionic teen was thrown back into a nearby building by the impact. Having dispensed with him, Trigon turned to the heroes and asked, "Who's next?"
At that, Sara and Raven came forward. Looking at Robin, the fox whispered, "Can you guys keep Slade off our backs?" The boy wonder nodded. "Then let's go." Raven whispered back. Sara quickly changed into Lightweaver, and drawing their weapons, the girls charged Trigon. The demon shot at them, but they were too quick for him to hit and within minutes, they rammed into him, throwing him back through the wall of a nearby building. Slade attempted to attack, but Bartman's cable wrapped around the villain and pulled him back towards the heroes. "You gotta deal with us first." Heatstrike said, his fists already beginning to glow with fire. But Slade simply answered, "All right." And with the power of his own flame, he snapped through Barman's grapple as though it was twine.
Meanwhile, Lightweaver and Raven entered the building where Trigon had landed. Weapons drawn, they quickly began to search. "How does something that big hide this well?" Sara muttered, as she looked over every aspect of the room. "I imagine he's had plenty of time to practice." Raven answered. "Indeed I have." A voice said from nowhere. Instantly, both girls tensed. "Where are you father?" Raven asked, as she slowly paced the room, looking for any kind of sign of where the demon was. "Oh, I think I'll keep that to myself for now." Trigon answered, his voice seeming to come from all over the room. "We're gonna find you anyway." Sara answered, taking the same precautions that Raven was.
"Do you think I care?" Trigon answered, voice echoing. "Even if you do find me, you'll never destroy me. It would mean destroying your precious friend." "We'll separate you two, and then send you back to hell, where you belong." Lightweaver countered. "Please. Don't you think I know what you plan to do? It's so obvious. Even the Knight knows. I can still hear him. It's like a little voice inside my head. He's screaming at you to kill me. You know why? Because he knows there's no chance for him to be saved."
"That's a lie!" Raven yelled, anger coming into her voice. "Control, daughter." Trigon sneered mockingly. "Didn't they always teach you control? Besides, it is true. He's begging you to kill me. But I think it's because he doesn't want to know that his hands were the ones that killed you. I wonder how much suffering it'll bring him when he sees his own hands rip out your heart, Raven. Or what I'll do to his wife, after she begs me for death."
Lightweaver bit her tongue, trying to resist the anger that was rising toher lips at the demon's words. Instead, she tried to focus on the task at hand, just like she had been taught. Clearing all distractions, the Knight continued to look for the source of the voice. It was a good thing she had chosen so, because she heard a sound like the unfurling of wings, coming from above.
Suddenly, she realized why Trigon had been speaking with them. He's distracting us, trying to get an open shot. She turned to Raven, signaling what was going to happen, but Raven already seemed to know. The empath was crouched down, arms in front of her like a catcher at the plate. Smart kid. Sara thought as she assumed the same stance. There was a brief silence, and then the sound of something cutting through the air. It was coming from behind them, but before Trigon could strike, the girls whirled around to face him. They each caught one of the demon's outstretched wings and using his own momentum, flipped him up and out of the building through a wall.
"Robin ,haven't you learned anything yet?" Slade asked, as he tightened his grip on the boy wonder's throat. "You can't beat me, and you never will." Robin struggled to break the villain's grip, but he could already feel the world start to black out on him. But then, Slade felt a burst of electricity shoot up his arm, numbing it. His nerveless fingers released Robin involuntarily, as Slade cradled his injured arm. Before he could grab Robinwith his other arm, a blur shot past him, taking Robin away. Slade looked up, just in time to see Neuron place Robin under Starfire's care.
"You're only delaying the inevitable." The villain replied, as the feeling came back into his arm. "I will destroy you eventually." "Maybe, maybe not." Bartman replied, stepping to the front of the group. But in truth, Slade was probably right. The heroes were burned and bloodied, as well as exhausted. Slade had been difficult enough for them to defeat as a man. Re-born, it seemed impossible. But the craziness that had caused them to drive into a city that was on fire always made them refuse to give up. Cyborg prepared to fire his cannon, as Beast Boy, Bartman and the remaining BRATS prepared another charge.
Suddenly, there was a huge blast of plaster from the building behind the combatants. Everyone turned to see what was going on, and they saw one hell of a sight. Trigon was battling with the Knights, and it was hard-pressed to see who was winning. Despite being outnumbered, the demon battled with an unbelievable ferocity, using his demonfire, and a makeshift sword of a steel pipe, with the strength and cunning of shark. However, Lightweaver matched his ferocity bite-for-bite, clawing and slashing every chance she got, which was quite often. As for Raven, well, the others were in total amazement. It was as if they were watching Brett instead, and only the hood and cloak gave away any sign of a change. Raven was wielding the sword as if she had practiced for years, and using the shadowfire as easily as if it had been her normal powers. When Trigon brought his pipe down, she caught it with the blade, forced it up, and then blinded the demon with shadowfire before slicing the pipe in two. Raven also seemed to have gained much of Brett's fighting prowess as she suddenly leapt up, wrapped both legs around Trigon's neck, and flipping backwards threw him head first onto the ground. Raven flipped back up, just in time to see Lightweaver send an arrow of light straight into Trigon's body, causing him to howl with pain.
"I'll deal with you later." Slade said, and he turned to help his master. But the demon, slowly rising to his feet, put his hand out to stop his servant. "I will deal with them on my own." Trigon said. Slade seemed to disagree, but finally nodded his acceptance. Turning back to the Titans and BRATS, he suddenly threw up his arms, and a huge wall of flame erupted from the ground, cutting them off from their friends. "All yours master." Slade said.
"Well done." Trigon said, nodding his acceptance. Turning back to the girls, the demon said, "You fight well." "You want some more examples?" Raven asked. Having Brett's powers had definitely enhanced her mind; looking at Trigon, she could see about twenty ways to take him down. It was like when she had been Starfire's body, with foreign instincts almost completely taking over. But this didn't seem to matter to Trigon. "Truthfully no." the demon replied. "I have another idea." Suddenly, the demon drove both fists down into the ground, causing the pavement buckle and crack with veins of fire. Raven and Lightweaver instantly spread their wings and flew above it, just in time to see most of it fall away ,as a huge hole opened within the ground. As they looked down, the hole seemed to go on forever. "What the hell is he doing?" Lightweaver cried out. "He's summoning his legions. "Raven answered, her voice barely a whisper. "We're screwed."
Outside the flame wall, Slade was continuing to keep the others busy. "We've gotta get in there and help!" Robin yelled, as he dodged more of Slade's flame. "Great, and how are we supposed to survive that thing!" Beast Boy yelled back, as he morphed into a rhino and began to charge Slade. But the villain simply pointed at the ground under the shape shifter's feet. Almost instantly, it melted, trapping Beast Boy inside. As the green rhino struggled to get out, Slade summoned a huge ball of flame and shot it directly at theyoung shape-shifter. But before it hit, Beast Boy changed into a spider and crawled into the huge indentations left by his rhino form. The fireball passed over him harmlessly. "Clever." Slade said, as Beast Boy remerged from the hole. "But not clever enough."
But before the villain could act, a beam of ice froze his hands together. Turning, Slade saw Polar, looking ready to fight. "You know this won't hold me. "Slade said, as the ice was already beginning to melt. "No, but it will give us a second to act. "Polar answered. "You forgot, one of us is immune to you." Slade turned then, just in time to see Heatstrike ignite his rocket-boots and fly through the flame-wall. "I forgot, he's immune to flame." Slade muttered. Shattering the ice, he looked at Polar and said, "But you're not." And blasted the young boy with fire.
The situation was growing worse within the wall. Noises were beginning to come from the hole, and the Knights could see shapes in the darkness. "Does anyone have a plan!" Lightweaver asked, as she stared down at the nightmare that was slowly emerging.. "Depends on what the problem is." Heatstrike replied, as he flew up to meet them. "How did you... oh never mind, we need all the help we can get here." Lightweaver replied. "My father is summoning his army. We need to destroy him now." Raven said grimly. "But that will mean destroying Brett." Heatstrike realized. "There must be another way. How was Trigon defeated before?" "The forces of good and evil banded together and stopped him. Any idea how to get that now?" Raven replied. But Heatstrike was already getting an idea.
"Good and evil... wait, what if you two combine your powers on him?" "Are you nuts? That's the most powerful force in the universe, there's no way he would survive!" Sara yelled. "Exactly! Look, Brett's the Shadow Knight, right?" Both girls nodded. "But his shadow is the kind that's needed in the world. Trigon's isn't. And since they're in the same body, Brett is like the light force, at least when compared with Trigon. If you use both powers on him..." "It might hurt Trigon and strengthen Brett. "Raven finished. "But how do we know that will work?" "Do you have a better idea?" Heatstrike countered. "Besides, we're running out of time." Indeed, the demons were almost to the top of the hole. Soon they would escape.
"It's now or never." Heatstrike said. The two Knights looked at each other and nodded. Slowly, they placed their weapons side-by-side and aimed them at Trigon. The demon was so concerned with keeping the hole open, that he didn't even notice. Slowly, the blades began to glow, their powers fusing through the sheer will of their masters. Finally, the blades shot forth a huge beam of black and gold which struck Trigon head on. The demon didn't even have time to scream, as he was thrown back by the sheer force of the beam. As he was ripped away from the ground, there was a cry from the hole, as it began to shrink on the demons trapped inside. Yet the two Knights did not stop, pouring as much power as they could into the beam. Trigon became invisible under the beams' glow, as it cut him away at the same time. Finally, the hole vanished and Heatstrike cried out for them to stop. With an effort, the Knights stayed their hands, and the beam vanished.
"Did it work?" asked Raven, as they hovered to the ground. Slowly, the group made it's way over to the ruined body of Trigon. There was almost nothing left of the demon; most of his skin had been burned away, and his face was skeletal from the loss of flesh. "Oh God." Lightweaver said, as she stumbled away in horror. The others were equally shocked; now there was no chance to save Brett. "I-I thought.." Heatstrike began, but then stopped, unable to say anything more. Raven just stared, her face unseeable behind the helmet, but her emotions unmistakable as she dropped to her knees.
But then, laughter filled air. The ground turned back and saw in horror that the skull-face was laughing. The skin was re-growing around its face and it was beginning to stand up. Within minutes, the process was done, and Trigon stood before them once again. "Nice try." The demon sneered, and blasted the shocked heroes with demonfire. It struck them head on and they flew back hard. Landing, they weakly sat up, as Trigon began to walk towards them.
