Chapter Four

The next day, which was the day of mothers, Mother's Day, was terrible. Crocmon was stuck being the substitute mother, a job he wasn't meant for, Paul was missing, and only Davey had recovered from the serious injuries caused by the explosion. This time Mother's Day was completely what it was supposed to be. The wife and mother, sitting there and relaxing while the father broke his back. All traces of Cailey's original personality were gone or fading fast as she noticed more and more how her brother, who doubled as her playmate, was gone. Paul had not yet been accepted into the Titans, so he didn't have a T-Communicator to track him with. Where was it supposed to be put anyways, in his diaper? Crocmon notified the authorities, but he knew that they couldn't do a thing about it. This little scum who called himself a scientist was the biggest manufacturer of weaponry and zynothium, Chang. He could destroy the entire city, and he blew a hole in the tower's roof once. Crocmon put the finishing touches on a new set of armor for Davey. It had the shield generators his other armor had, but the armor was styled after the armor from a character's armor in one of his favorite games, Halo. This character was one of a select group of people singled out and experimented on after his kidnapping and was replaced by a flashclone. This armor heightened the reflexes and doubled muscle strength. His armor would read Davey's thoughts through a neural implant, and translate them to movements if his thoughts request movement. This armor couldn't be put on anybody old enough to wear it, for a single movement with it on would break their bones. Davey tried it, and its red paint glistened, and Davey ran it through the diagnostic's check. It operated great, and it fit Davey perfectly. He just occasionally dented the control panels as he pressed the buttons due to his new heightened reflexes and muscles. His bones were already strong enough for this kind of beating, and his muscles were practically built for this. He slipped on the helmet, and he nodded as the Heads-Up-Display blinked on the back of the visor on the helmet. The helmet had a visor over the eyes that was orange and only allowed people to see through it from the inside. Status on every mechanism in the armor scrolled through Davey's HUD, and everything read clear. Crocmon looked at his nephew in his new set of armor, and wished he had a camera. He could tell Davey loved his gift.

Robin awoke and nearly had a heart-attack as some bulky red machine stood there next to him. The machine resembled one of the Greek gods dressed in full armor. It raised a hand up, and let it sink, and Robin heard his son's voice say, "Don't get too excited, you'll fall back into that coma you just got out of."

"W-who are y-y-you?" Robin stuttered in fear, barely calming down.

"I am your son, now calm down. You were injured by an explosion, at first you had internal bleeding, but that's stopped and you've been patched up, and you have just two broken bones, and one fractured, your left arm and your neck have been broken, and your back is fractured in the middle. You'll be fine in a couple of weeks."

"Davey? What happened to you? Your armor, what'd you do to it?"

"Crocmon made me a new set of armor. It fits like a glove."

Robin calmed down as he bought what this thing was saying. The Knight stood attention as Crocmon entered. He waved a piece of paper in the air, and Davey nodded. He told Robin what happened, and that Davey and Crocmon had to find this scientist. This time, the scientist wanted to write taunting letters. But the most recent one was shocking, it said in the end:

Psalm 18:4-5

The ropes of death surrounded me;

the floods of destruction swept over me.

The grave wrapped its ropes around me;

death itself stared me in the face.

Crocmon replied, asking what this meant, but was replied with another verse of the Holy Bible:

Psalms 69:15

Don't let the floods overwhelm me,

or the deep waters swallow me,

or the pit of death devour me.

Davey decided to leave with Crocmon, armed with a shotgun and his new armor. Crocmon traced the last letter, and came to an abandoned warehouse. There was an odd presence about the warehouse. Davey kept seeing things, and Crocmon told him to keep his cool. They came upon a large door with red lights on it. Obviously, it was locked, but that wasn't why they looked at it. There was green blood splattered on this door. It was strange. Who-or what-was severly injured? Davey thought just before he realized what made this spooky.

Green blood. The blood on the wall was green.

Davey flipped on the flashlight in his helmet deeper in the warehouse, and he saw a zombified human just lying there with the green blood forming a puddle around it. A fleshy ball emerged from the corpse, and was fired upon by Crocmon. It popped like a balloon. Crocmon shrugged, and Davey fired his shotgun on the corpse, sending chunks of it flying everywhere. Davey wiped his visor to clear it of greenish red blood, and turned. The door opened, and a human fell out of it, right on Crocmon. Crocmon shuddered, and they walked through the door on the opposite side of the room. There they saw a control panel. Davey walked towards it, and it activated. One of the screens showed a vat, with a zombified human floating in it. Swinging its tentacle-like arms against the glass in vain attempts to break free.

"Is it just me, or is this starting to look like a scene from Halo?" Crocmon asked

"It isn't just you. This is creeping me out. If I see another zombie, I'm gonna piss my pants." Davey replied.

Just as those words exited his mouth, thousands of the little fleshy balls came pouring into the room. They all scurried across the floor and walls, tentacles swinging back and forth, and one splattered on Davey's shields, and they nearly went out. Crocmon turned his metal arm into a chain gun, and fired upon the fleshy balls. Zombie-like combatants entered the fray every so often, and Davey fired upon the evil zombies. His shields recharged constantly, only to have them be brought back down be the fleshy little balls. Crocmon threw a grenade at the door the things came in from, and it went off. The grenade did nearly nothing to the sheer number of little things. They came in waves that never ended. After one died, another appeared. If Chang was experimenting with these things, then he got what he deserved. Then, they stopped coming. Crocmon threw a couple grenades, and Davey did the same. All of the balls were popped, and it was silent. The duo heard the squalling of an infant. Paul. Crocmon ran as fast as he could to his son's aid, Davey followed. They saw Paul, and a vine wrapped around him. Crocmon changed his metal arm into a blade, and severed the vines. It slithered away, and Crocmon picked up Paul, only to see a zombie jump down from a rafter above. It flew into chunks as Davey fired his shotgun. He picked up the shotgun it had, and loaded his with its ammo, and packed the rest.

"We've gotta get outta here." Davey stated.
"Nah, we've gotta invite Chang for tea & crumpets. OF COURSE WE'VE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" Crocmon said smartly.

Crocmon heard weird mumbling, and saw Raven appear from the wall. She was covered in green gore, and she stomped on one of the fleshy balls that followed her through the wall. "Let's get outta here." She said. In an instant, they were home, and Freezefire was delighted to see her son without a scratch or anything else. Except the slime from the weird vine. Freezefire was recovered enough to walk around, and she watched her kids play happily in the little playpen. At least they weren't being attacked by horrifying zombies. Raven helped the other Titans heal the best she could, and during that time the city was quiet. After the Titans had healed, everything went back to normal. The children were as they normally were, playing, eating, sleeping, and occasionally fighting. At least they couldn't hurt eachother. Crocmon looked at his wife, and the kids were fast asleep. She gave him that look, and they walked into their room.