Stars of the Dark: Prologue 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, but that doesn't really matter right now because this is my original story. Don't take it or I'll sue YOU! MU HA HA HA HA HA HA

The team had been chosen, equipped and briefed, five of the most skilled and powerful guardsmen in the Light-guard Army. All that remained was for them to leave. They were to infiltrate the enemy lines and proceed to enter the obelisk and find a way to destroy or disable it.

The first bit would be easy, being that all members of the team were Light-guard and therefore had the ability to freely manipulate light waves. It was a simple matter for them to shunt light around them so that they were not reflecting any, thus rendering them invisible to the naked eye. Cloaked thus, it was a simple matter for the guardsmen to sneak up to the entrance of the obelisk and cut there way through.

Once inside, they found themselves in an anti-chamber. Rather unassuming save for the infrared scanners and the massive multi-barreled incinerator cannons connected to them. Knowing that there cloak did not keep them from giving off heat, they dropped their cloaks and put up shields of coherent light.

The scanners scanned the room. Detecting the obvious presence of the five Light-guards in the room, they sent a signal to the guns, which activated. The pulses of high velocity heat were stopped harmlessly by the guardsmen's shields, giving them the opportunity to surgically sever the power supplies to all four cannons with beams of photons a micrometer thick. The five beings crossed to the other end of the hall, to a door. When the door would not yield to a more finessed approach they simply vaporized it with a much larger burst of photons.

The room beyond was pitch black. That could have been easily remedied however with a simple light-orb. The lead guard tossed one into the room and it instantly illuminated the room with a bright piercing light. However the original darkness of the chamber suggested an ambush. All five drew short blades and stepped into the room.

This caution was soon legitimized when 5 Shadow-army soldiers leapt down from where they had been hiding in the ceiling. They would be easy enough to dispose of. The first charged forward and was rewarded for his foolhardiness by a beam of light through his skull. Before the rest could react, the five others leapt at them and with a finesse that only a Light-guard could match, cleaved them into pieces.

The Light-guardsmen continued in much the same way through many different rooms in the massive weapon in search of a control room that they could use to disable it. The opposition being put up by the Shadow-army was pathetic.

As the five were finishing off a few incredibly weak honor guard members in a corridor that, according to the signs, led to the energy conduction shaft, the door at the far end opened suddenly and without warning. Such a blatant and obvious invitation could not possibly be a trap, not even the Shadow-guard were that stupid. Nonetheless, the five guardsmen proceeded with caution.

The room beyond was huge and surprisingly bright, for a room in which Shadow-guard worked. The source of this light was a massive beam of pure dark energy, which traveled down a shaft, which invariably lead up to the dark energy collectors, and down the cannon itself. The five guards were somewhere in between these two devices and a fall from the catwalk that they stood on would surely kill them.

The reason for which the door they had just passed through had opened was not apparent nor was the reason for which it had just closed and locked behind them. Carefully the 5 beings moved down the catwalk and, before they could react, they were set upon by a massive Shadow-guard, who had apparently been hiding outside of time. With one massive swing of his hand he knocked 2 Light-guards down the shaft. One struck the beam and disintegrated; the other hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

The other Light-guards did not see this however as they were fighting for their lives as well. It had become immediately apparent that this particular Shadow was stronger and more skilled than your average version. It also seemed to be a skilled time-bender.

Whenever it seemed about to be finally struck down by a light beam or soul-blade it vanished into a few hona in the future and was spared. Soon two more Light-guards joined their brethren in death; one crushed by the power of the Shadow, the other incinerated by the beam of dark-energy in the center of the room. There were now only two beings left.

There was a reason Bright-lance had been chosen a team leader and the time-bender was having trouble with him. He was insanely fast and his light-bending abilities were almost unmatched. He could go invisible in the blink of an eye and his photon per half-micrometer ratio was almost impossibly high. Hence anything he formed did not go away until he said so. But the time-bender was no push over either. Not only could he vanish into the future but he could also create isolated pockets of accelerated time, severely degrading anything within them. Also, he could accelerate himself by slowing time around him, rendering Bright-lance almost normally fast and increasing his own speed. Apart from that he had enormous strength and endurance, even for a Shadow-guard.

Seeing an opening, Bright-lance rushed forward and jumped with his blade in front. This lavish move gave the time-bender plenty of, well time to practice his art. He vanished and Bright-lance flew right through the space he would not occupy again for a few hona. He reappeared standing facing Bright-lance, who, apparently hesitating, was standing still. That was the Shadow's chance; he ran forward, hands raised, toward him and brought them down. They passed straight through.

It was about this time that the Shadow realized 3 things: 1) that the thing he just attacked was a hologram; 2) that Bright-lance had cloaked immediately after he had bent time, and 3) that there was someone on his shoulders. He looked up to see a shining white sword swinging down onto his face.

The Shadow-guard yelled in pain and staggered back. Bright-lance, about to lose his balance, leapt off and rolled forward turning just in time to see the Shadow tumbling over the edge. He hit the stream of dark energy. However the stream had apparently had enough people falling in to it, either that or it did not particularly like the time-bender. There was an instant reaction, from the point where the Shadow struck the beam a black wall emanated in all directions. Slowly, steadily, it covered the entire planet.