Clash of the Titans by CidGregor
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Chapter 21
"HAH!"
C-CRACK!.!.!
Robin hurled his body sideways, just barely managing to dodge the spear of ice his towering opponent had hurled. It sailed past him and struck the ground instead, shattering on impact.
Robin landed on one outstretched palm, tensed, and pushed off the ground with the same hand; the Boy Wonder back-flipped up and away milliseconds before another spear crashed into the spot where his hand had been. Robin fell into a pattern of back-flips, dodging spear after icy spear, until he'd flipped all they way under the Ice Titan's guard.
Robin whipped out a grappling hook and fired it straight up.
POW! Up and up the hook sailed, taking the full length of the cord just to reach the monster's shoulder and wrap once around its armpit. Robin triggered the retract switch, tightened his grip on the handle, and reeled himself up into the air, hoping to reach the monster's face. But before he was so much as halfway there, a spindly, icy hand and wicked claws snatched Robin around the legs, holding him in place.
The chill was instantaneous. It felt as though his legs had been dunked in a pool of ice water. He was sure they'd freeze off if he remained stuck there for more than a minute. Abandoning his grappling hook, Robin dug into his utility belt and pulled out a thermal birdarang. He tossed it into the Ice Titan's wrist, where it promptly unleashed a blast of thermal energy.
BOOM!.!.! The heat melted the joint almost immediately, and the hand the clutched Robin's legs went limp and fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand little pieces.
The Boy Wonder sprang off the falling hand, birdarangs in each hand, and dug them into the Ice Titan's torso as he fell. CH-CHINK!.!.! They slowed his fall gradually until he came to a complete halt just above the monster's leg joint. The Ice Titan swiped at Robin with its remaining palm, but he let go of the birdarangs, fell beneath the swipe, and instead wrapped his limbs around one of the monster's thin, freezing cold legs and slid down it like a fire-pole.
Hmm…this feels strangely familiar… the Boy Wonder thought to himself.
The Ice Titan kicked out with the leg Robin was sliding down, throwing him off entirely and sending him crashing to the ground nearly a hundred feet away. Robin shook it off quickly and leapt to his feet, ready for anything.
The Ice Titan reared its head back and blew a breath of freezing wind down toward the Boy Wonder, who ran to the side to dodge it, but not quickly enough. The tail of his cape caught the edges of the blast, leaving Robin with a large and uncomfortable lump of extra weight in the form of ice encasing the bottom of the garment. He whipped his bo-staff out and hacked at the ice, trying to chip it off, but to no avail. He pulled a birdarang out as well, but achieved the same result. The frozen crystal wouldn't break easily, and as the Ice Titan raised its one remaining hand to hurl another ice spear at him, Robin knew there was no way he could dodge it with the ice weighing him down. Which left him with just one option.
The Ice Titan hurled the spear, and Robin stood his ground, bo-staff in hand. It flew straight for the Boy Wonder's head at almost a hundred miles an hour, like a pitcher hurling a fastball.
The perfect analogy, Robin thought, grinning.
At the last second the Boy Wonder swung his bo-staff forward in a massive arc.
CRACCKKKK!.!.! The staff slammed head-on into the icy projectile. But instead of shattering, the spear was deflected right back toward its owner, arcing higher and higher, until…
WHAM! The spear smacked right into the Ice Titans face.
The Titan uttered a very dragon-like shriek of pain and clutched its face with its one good hand, a far greater effect than the Boy wonder had expected. But it was a most welcome surprise, Robin thought with another grin. Now he knew the monster's weakness.
The Ice Titan recovered quickly enough, narrowed its eyes at Robin, and growled. It snorted a puff of frozen mist, and then, to Robin's surprise, the monster fired off not one, but a whole line of nearly a dozen ice spears, one after another.
Robin grinned. Malchior can say whatever he wants about how powerful these things are…but they sure as hell aren't too bright…
All in a row, Robin swung his staff at the spears. CRACK C-CRACK CRACK!.!.! One by one he smacked them back toward their owner. One by one they arced around and up, and slammed into the monster's face, drawing screams of agony from it that would have been deafening to the Boy Wonder, had the monster's head not been higher up in the air than the tallest buildings in Jump City.
As the last one crashed into the Ice Titan's dragon-like face, it looked like it had reached the end of its rope; it fell to its knees, its roar more like a groan now, and pitched forward until it was leaning on its one good hand and apparently gasping for breath.
Robin smirked. The head was right in front of him. The perfect target.
He whipped out the biggest explosive he carried – the same kind he'd used on the Earth Titan the previous day – leapt up, and slapped it right onto the creature's frozen forehead. The Ice Titan dragged itself to its feet and clawed at the explosive with its remaining hand, but the explosive was stuck on its head firmly. And a second later…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!.!.!.!.!.!
The bomb went off with a mighty explosion that engulfed the Ice Titan's head and upper torso. Robin saw the monster's limbs suddenly hang limp, and once the fire and smoke cleared, he saw that the monster's head and upper torso had been completely destroyed. All that was left of it was a frozen body, which pitched forward, hit the ground, and shattered into a billion shards of ice.
"You call yourself a Titan?" Robin chuckled. "Bit of advice. Don't quit your day job."
Robin turned away and began to head back toward where he knew Malchior and Raven must be…but for some reason he could not see them any more. In fact, he realized as he looked around, he couldn't see anyone anymore aside from himself. The whole mindscape was rapidly going dark. Before long the Boy Wonder couldn't see a foot in front of him, or even the ground he stood on.
Don't trust your eyes...
Raven's warning bubbled immediately into Robin's mind. Immediately he was on guard, ready to ignore anything that met his eyes…
THWACK!
Something slammed into the back of Robin's head, hurling him to the ground that he couldn't see. He scrambled back to his feet and looked around for his attacker, but nothing could be seen in the darkness that engulfed him…
THWACK!
Again, something struck Robin from behind, and he pitched forward again. He righted himself again and snapped his head in a wild circle, hoping to get even a glimmer of the mystery attacker, but there was nothing. He couldn't see his own hand in front of his face, much less whatever was hitting him.
WHU-WHUMP!
Two blows slammed into Robin's stomach and chin in rapid succession, simultaneously knocking the wind out of him and snapping his head back. Gasping for breath, he looked around again, beginning to panic. What was hitting him?
Focus, Dick… the Boy Wonder told himself, breathing deep. Remember your training with the true master…extend your senses beyond sight…beyond sound…feel your opponent…
WHACK!
Even with his senses extended, the hit came from nowhere, knocking his legs out from under him so that he landed painfully on his rear.
"Uunnhh…who…are you?.!" Robin demanded of the darkness.
A cold, familiar laughter reached his ears. "It scares you, doesn't it? Not knowing what you're facing?"
Robin knew that voice all too well. "Slade!"
WHAM!
Something blunt slammed into Robin's chest, and his breath left him in a sharp burst.
"You and your former partner…you always pride yourselves in being ready for anything…" Slade's voice continued. "You tell yourself you're just being well-prepared…but I know the truth. It's because you fear the unknown, little boy. The very idea of going into battle with no idea what you're facing terrifies you…"
"I'm not afraid of YOU, Slade!" Robin shouted.
"Touching. But it's not me you should fear, Robin. It is the darkness. The everlasting, eternal darkness. It engulfs you. It ensnares you. Consumes you. And that terrifies you, Robin. You fear the darkness of the unknown…"
Robin breathed deep, exhaled…and allowed a small grin to cross his face. Suddenly, he understood.
"I'm not afraid of cheap tricks and mind games, Slade…not yours…nor Malchior's!"
And in the blink of an eye a flash bomb was in Robin's hand. He pitched it into the air, and it exploded with a brilliant light.
FLASH! The darkness was gone in a heartbeat. And there was no sign of Slade.
Robin's grin broadened. "You think your mind games can affect me, Malchior? Hah…compared to Bruce, you're an amateur…"
A green streak dropped out of the air just then and slid to a stop beside the Boy Wonder. "Hey, Robin! Need a ride, dude?"
"Yeah, thanks," Robin said. "Have any trouble, Beast Boy?"
"…Not with the Cyclops, no," the changeling said evasively.
Robin caught on easily enough. "Malchior's mind games. He messed with your head, didn't he?"
"I'd…rather not talk about it. The point is that I beat it, right? That's the only thing that matters, y'know?"
"Fair enough," Robin agreed. "Now let's go take that dragon out once and for all!"
In a flash, Beast Boy was a pterodactyl, Robin was on his back, and the two were flying top-speed toward Raven and Malchior. It was time to end it…for good.
It was like looking at a living chunk of a planet's molten core, Starfire thought as she stared at the Titan of Fire. It literally looked as though it had come straight from the center of the Earth. Magma oozed slowly from its gooey mouth like drool; its skin was red and black like a volcano; its eyes were blobby and glowed like fire; its arms were almost as fat as its body, and dripping with molten goo; and it seemed to lack legs entirely, opting instead to ooze across the ground and leave a trail of scorched terrain behind it.
Starfire was choosing, wisely, to keep to the air. The Fire Titan was slow, and grounded – an easy target for someone who could both fly and attack from a distance.
In theory, anyway.
Flashes of green flared to life in her hands and eyes, and with a Tamaranian battle cry she fired a pair of criss-crossing star-bolts down at the Fire Titan's molten blob of a body.
POW- -SPLORCH! The burst of green shone against the black and red of the monster's skin as the bolts hit their target, but the Titan's gooey body merely absorbed the energy, covering the star-bolts in folds of molten skin until their glow was gone. A second later the Fire Titan turned its mouth skyward. SHOOOOM!.!.! The creature spat the same star-bolts, now drenched in flaming magma, right back at the alien girl at obscene speeds.
"EEP!" she squeaked. She twisted sideways and the regurgitated bolts whizzed past her, so close the she could feel their heat. The Fire Titan then gathered more molten bits of itself into its stubby arms and hurled the fireballs at Starfire.
She twisted and dodged in the air, avoiding the attacks easily. She swooped down near the monster and fired a stream of star-bolt energy from her eyes.
ZZZZHHHTTT!.!.! The beams raked across its body, but did no visible damage. It swiped a short limb at her as she passed, but it grasped nothing but air, she was flying by too quickly. Starfire twisted around as she passed and hurled two more star-bolts at her opponent. It opened its mouth wide, caught them in the gaping maw, and spit them back at her once again, dripping with molten goo.
Starfire dashed straight up into the air and dodged the fireballs as they sizzled the air around her. She was fast realizing that her star-bolts would only be used against her if she continued to fire them. The beams from her eyes were still usable, but if her last attack was any indication, she wasn't going to be causing much damage with them, if any at all. At least, she wouldn't be with a direct attack…
Starfire gathered her energy, directing her emotions, her righteous fury, into her star-bolt energy. They glowed bright around her hands and eyes, until she'd put so much energy into both that the glow spread across her whole upper body. She dove down again, straight for the Fire Titan at breakneck speed. The monster threw molten blobs of its body at her with impressive accuracy as she advanced, but the energy radiating from her body knocked them away almost effortlessly. She sped onward, faster and faster…she was a hundred feet away…fifty feet…twenty-five…ten…
POWWWW!.!.!
Starfire slammed into the front of the Fire Titan's blob of a body, plowed through the monster, and exploded out its back. It was a feat that should have melted the skin from her bones…but the star-bolt energy protected her. She flung the energy away from her body, and the scalding magma along with it, perfectly unharmed. She turned back toward the Titan, and saw the gaping, dripping hole she had left…but the monster didn't seem much affected. Its body seemed to pull together, filling in the hole, and in a matter of moments the hole was gone entirely.
She stared at the monster in shock for a second too long; its stubby arm stretched and shot out at her, hand curled into a fist that struck her across the face with a burning pain. She fell to the ground roughly, rubbing the fresh, scorched wound across her cheek.
"I should've known you'd screw it up."
Starfire's ears tweaked at the voice…it was familiar…friendly…but at the same time, cold. Harsh. Disappointed, even…
She turned toward the voice, the Fire Titan temporarily forgotten, and impossibly, her eyes fell on Robin. He was turned away from her, his head down. His costume was slightly tattered, but otherwise he seemed all right. Physically, anyway…
"Robin? I…I thought I heard your voice…" Starfire said.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you to beat that thing by yourself…" Robin muttered. "I should've expected you to be too weak to win…"
"Wh…what?" Starfire gasped. This sensation was all too familiar. It had happened once before that Robin had suddenly become cold and hurtful toward her…but that had been under the influence of a mind control device. This time…this time is seemed so much more real…
"Robin…I-I am sorry…but I am not defeated yet…I can still achieve vict-"
"Don't bother," Robin cut her off. "You can't beat it. You don't have a hope."
"R-Robin…" Starfire whispered. "W-why are you…"
"But I guess it's partly my fault," Robin interrupted again, turning to glare at her. "I should have known I couldn't trust you to succeed. I should have known I couldn't expert much of anything from a stupid Troq."
It was as though a bolt of lightning had torn through the alien girl. It was impossible. Robin wouldn't, she told herself. He would not tell her she was weak, or untrustworthy…and he would never…ever call her that name…not Robin…
And then it hit her.
Starfire glared. "You…you are NOT Robin!" she growled, eyes glowing. "You are a falsification of Robin created by Malchior to fool and deceive me!"
"You think this is a game, Starfire?.!" Robin shouted. "You think I'm kidding here?.! I was trusting you to fight that monster and beat it, and you couldn't even do that!"
"YOU ARE NOT ROBIN!" she screamed at the image. "AND I WILL NOT BE FOOLED BY THIS FABRICATION ANY LONGER! BE GONE, ILLUSION!"
Starfire's eyes flared green, a star-blot flashing into existence in her palm. She raised it over her head…
"Gonna kill your boyfriend, are you?" the image taunted.
"YOU ARE NOT MY BOYFRIEND!.!.!"
FLASH!.!.!
The bolt struck the fake Robin, and the image was gone in an instant. But from behind the fading illusion, the Fire Titan suddenly loomed over her in its place, fireballs in hand.
Starfire turned her furious gaze on the Titan. "I am NOT weak!" she shouted. Star-bolt energy encased her whole body once again, gathering in a massive ball in her hands.
The Fire Titan roared at her, and flung the fireballs just as Starfire let out her Tamaranian battle cry and fired her own massive star-bolt. The two forces clashed for just a brief moment before Starfire's attack easily engulfed the fireballs, and a second later, the Fire Titan itself. Its whole body was encased in the giant, pulsing star-bolt, which radiated with a heat rivaling even that of the Titan it imprisoned.
Starfire's eyes glowed. "Return to the molten Earth from which you came!.!.!"
Her eyes fired streams of green into the oversized star-bolt…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!
The star-bolt – and the Fire Titan along with it – exploded in a brilliant rainbow of green, red, yellow and orange, and when it faded, the Fire Titan was no more.
"I…am victorious…" Starfire whispered.
"Hey! Star!" a deep male voice called.
Starfire turned, hands and eyes glowing and ready for more trouble, but relaxed almost instantly. "Cyborg! Terra!"
Riding on a slab of rock were the two titans, bearing down on the alien girl.
"Smooth moves there, girl!" Cyborg said. "Ah…you all right? You look a little tense," he added, noticing her hard expression.
"I am…fine," Starfire said. "Nothing is wrong."
"Malchior's illusions got to you…" Terra said quietly, not looking at her.
Starfire spun toward Terra, surprised. "How did you…?" she began, but stopped as she saw the similarly downcast look on Terra's face, and suddenly understood. "Malchior…he has affected you as well?"
Terra said nothing; she only sniffled slightly and refused to look Starfire in the eyes.
"Malchior affected all of us," Cyborg said. "But we're alive, and we're in one piece. That's all that matters. Right?"
"…R-right," Terra said with a nod.
"Agreed," Starfire added. "Have…you seen Robin?"
Cyborg glanced at his wrist panel. "Him and BB are headed toward Raven and Malchior now. We'd better do the same."
"Yes. Let us put an end to that monstrous being," Starfire said.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Terra added, a hard look coming to her eyes. With simultaneous flares of green and gold, the three teens were speeding toward Malchior, Raven, and their final confrontation…
Author's note: Special thanks to SocialButterfli, and the fact that yesterday was laundry day, or else this would have taken a lot longer. Heh...