Malediction
Torrent looked down in to the deep cut in to the earth, its abyss reaching forever into the depths of his earth. The side on witch he stood rose hundreds of feet into the air above the opposing surface. Between the two shards of the earth's shell sunk a seemingly endless chasm stretching from horizon to horizon, like a black line drawn upon the face of the planet. Beneath his feet lay the remains of what was once a great highway split in two by the powerful and rapid upheaval. The crag had broken the road directly down its center, dividing its twin yellow lines perfectly. A blinking yellow light reflected off of Torrents face from a mangled traffic light precariously hanging over the separated concrete path. To his back smoldered the wreckage of a destroyed city, the other half of which burned upon the other side of the dividing darkness. From his perch Torrent could see the once majestic skyscrapers impaled by great spires of sharpened stone. Chunks of diamond the size of air craft carriers erupted from the earth, giving the carnage an eerie look of beauty.
Turning from the edge Torrent began to walk down the half of the road that still remained on his side of what was once a metropolis, but the divided city was silent now, vacant of all life. As he walked he saw more visions of the earth taking its vengeance upon the humans that dwelt upon its surface. Busses skewered by hundreds of thin metallic shards of rebar that had been torn free from the building beside it, the wreckage of a hospital that had been crushed into a single column of condensed stone, buildings that looked as if they had simply torn them selves apart from the inside. As Torrent neared the edge of the city he found the remains of what had attempted to stand against the destructive force, tanks and jeeps impaled by great spines of metal that formed from the ore beneath the surface, helicopters crushed beneath titanic masses of rock that seemed to have been flung into the air like sand to the wind, even what remained of the warriors still lay on the ground. A blind eye fell upon the destruction around him, Torrent was searching for one and only one person and this display of obliteration meant nothing to him in contrast to his goal. Ann was here somewhere in this massacre he knew it.
Deeper into the city's core the chaos intensified, more of the slaughter and pain that had made up the last moments of man kind beneath the thumb of their mother earth. Torrent staggered past the images left in his path with a solitary goal overshadowing all else in his mind. He had traveled mile after burning mile to answer the cerebral call she had sent to him, and no matter how hopeless it seemed he would travel a million more miles for the slightest chance of finding her again. Suddenly he felt a pull toward the direct center of the section of what had once been a conurbation. He broke into a run, dashing past the dead littering the streets.
Then he saw it, a huge and narrowly pointed pyramid of earth with black spines of granite shooting out from its sides like the great spine of an immense creature. At its apex was formed a throne of red stone, and upon it lie a black figure. Torrent reached the beginning of the spire and began to climb heatedly upward, hand over hand. The rough rock scrapped his hands and the sharp edges ripped at his loose clothing. The sweat from his forehead stung his eyes as he climbed upward, but still he climbed. Torrent reached the foot of the chair that sat atop the pinnacle of the satanic tower and looked up at what sat upon the throne of devastation.
The silent and unmoving face of the girl he loved awaited his tear filled eyes. She leaned against the side of the chair, as dead as the city that surrounded the two lovers. Torrent slowly crawled closer to Ann, weak with grief and unable to speak through his tears, no matter how he tried. Once he reached her, he pulled her into his arms and embraced the physical remains that had caged to soul of an angle. He slowly rocked her in his arms his cries of anguish echoing through the hallways of the silent city. Then looking down into her face fell silent, letting the horrifying truth set in. The cold wind chilled his skin as it slid past the panicle of stone. Then a voice called out to Torrent, a voice that echoed down the silent valleys of destroyed skyscrapers, a voice that came from everywhere and only within his mind, a voice of beauty and bliss. Ann's voice,
"Stop him Torrent. Stop him before he makes me do this… before I make her do this."
Torrent shot awake, his body covered in a cold sweat. The world around him was lightless and damp, the image of the city gone as the dream ended. The thin white blanket that had been placed over him falling away from the platform on witch he lay. He grasped one hand to the bandaged wound in his right arm, the pain helped to remind him that he was back in reality and away from the nightmare which had haunted him. Only hours had passed sense he had last laid eyes on Ann's face but it already seemed like decades. The vision he had received in his sleep had shown him what Ann feared would happen if Hunter succeeded in his plans, though Torrent still knew not what the evil within the general planned. He was unsure if it had been Ann her self calling out to him or simply a horrific vision of an apocalyptic future created by his own fear of loosing that that was closest to him. As he shook the cobwebs of sleep from his mind Torrent vision cleared and he saw a figure dressed in black standing to one side of the rock slab on witch he laid.
"You shouldn't be awake yet." The voice was soft but low and raspy. Torrent turned to see a clocked figure with pail skin. Two amethyst eyes starred at him from under the cloth hood, they reached into his mind the way Ann's did but in a determined rather than affectionate way. "The amount of blood lost from your system should have kept you decommissioned from at least another few days, even my healing skills can't regenerate a person to health that quickly." Torrent swung his legs to one side of the table and stood. The girl spoke more rapidly as he began to strap his metallic arm brace over his wounded right arm.
"Wait, you shouldn't move. The girl who was with you is gone. She has been missing for almost two days now. I know you have never met me or know my name but I tell you that she is being searched for as we speak. My friend searches for her in the wild beyond the cave. Her you have met, the red haired girl named Starfire." Torrent politely waited for Raven to finish speaking then began to walk from the room. Shocked by the boy's seemingly inability to understand her Raven stood and staggered after him.
The Torrent entered the main chamber of the cave and saw the mechanical titan who had saved Ann and himself from the marauding spider army hunched over a figure chained to another rock platform. Cyborg looked up as Torrent passed and the body of Robin could be seen, the disk in the center of his chest being slowly chopped away from the flesh on which it clung. There was a pause as both Cyborg and Raven watched Torrent as he starred at the barely conscious Robin, the boy who had taken Ann from him. For a long second Torrent only looked at him. Then he simply turned and walked out the cave entrance. Still confused Raven followed joined by an equally surprised Cyborg. Torrent stood in the sun with his nose lifted to the sky. Raven and Cyborg gave each other a glace then continued to watch as the wild boy slowly turned and began to step closer to a pile of brush several dozen yards from the mouth of the cavern, still sniffing at the air. Then with one hand he violently swept aside the foliage revealing a metallic surface beneath.
Raven gasped, he had found Robins original bike, they had placed it under the plants in hope that Robin would one day return to them and ride it once again. Torrent had smelt the gasoline within its tank. He mounted the motorcycle and glance the various gauges and switched on its exterior, then looked on the machines side at the engine and ignition. He had never actually driven any kind of mechanical transportation before but he had seen how the boy in the yellow cape had accomplished mounting the steel beast and Torrent was a very quick learner. After several scans of the vehicles exterior Torrent pulled a hidden key from under the bike seat and turned the motorcycle on. Revving the engine three times before giving one last glance at the shattered remains of the teen titans Torrent simply nodded then rocketed forward down the rough path through the trees. Raven and Cyborg watched until the thundering echoes from the engine faded into the sounds of the forest. They could have stopped him, but they each knew he was the only one who had any chance of finding Ann and stopping Hunter.