Thank you all for reviewing, hope you like this chapter.
( ) author's notes
- dreamscape
'/' - telepathy
+ - mindscape
The Titan
Chapter 9
Written by Nate Sindel
"Please, do you wish to join us in the breaking of the fast?" Starfire eagerly asked the reformed HIVE members.
Jinx looked somewhat apprehensive at the idea, as well as the over-enthusiastic alien. She looked at Sunfire, whose gaze was still locked with Robin's, hoping to get his take on the situation. Sensing what she wanted, she saw his hand move ever so slightly, taking that as the "yes" that it was, she nodded to the smiling Starfire.
"Sure, the big guy and I haven't eaten in a little while," she smiled her own small smile, which was met with the redhead grabbing her hand and practically dragging her to breakfast table.
Mammoth followed, chuckling at the look on the girl's face, this earned him a glare from her. He, too, glanced over at Sunfire, the golden-haired alien, again, motioned with his hand. As he turned back he saw, in his peripheral vision, Sunfire begin to follow Robin through the door. Not bothering to tell Jinx, he simply continued to the table as well.
Sunfire followed the Titans' leader through the halls of Titans' Tower, wondering, exactly, what the boy wanted. He had many ideas, at least one of them had to be correct. After another flight of stairs, they were on the roof, looking out at the city, the sun still rising over the mountain behind it. It was here that Robin turned around, regarding the alien with a weary eye.
"If you wish to wait till after breakfast, I won't stop you," Sunfire suggested, then added, "it is unlikely the reason you brought me here, as well as the conversation, will be any different."
"What makes you say that?" Robin inquired, looking somewhat skeptical.
"Because you don't change, Robin, you get something on your mind, and it doesn't go away until you let it out," he shrugged, not even bothering to look at Robin. "And even then it may not go away."
"Heh, you never know, I might be in a better mood after I eat," the teen quipped.
"Heh, not when it comes to me," Sunfire smirked, then turned to head back inside.
"Where are you going?"
"If you don't mind, Raven is waking up, I'd like to be there," he said, and, just before reaching the door, melting into the roof.
"Guess that means I get to eat," Robin sighed before going for the door.
A gold spiral began to glow on Raven's ceiling, through it Sunfire entered, being careful to be as quiet as possible. His feet were silent as they touched down on the floor, and still no sound was emitted as he walked over to her bed. He looked down at the girl who looked so fragile, but was, in fact, on par with him if she ever let go. She stirred slightly, and he knelt the foot of her bed, turning himself around so his back was against it. Still he watched her, as she grabbed the second pillow on her bed and hugged it to her.
"Mmmm...Sunfire," he heard her moan softly, causing him to stiffen slightly (no, not that, perverts).
A small smile graced his face as he watched his dark angel in her slumber. She rolled over, pulling the sheets slightly away from her body, as she began to awaken. Amethyst eyes drifted open and locked on the smiling form at the foot of her bed. She wasn't surprised he was there, somehow, even though she had been asleep, she knew he had brought her here, and that he would be here.
"Morning," he said.
"Morning," she replied, sitting up.
Sunfire and Raven entered the common room a little later, seeing Jinx and Mammoth still eating breakfast. Mammoth apparently eating everything the Tamaranean placed in front of him, everything. There was food that Terra probably wouldn't have touched, and it all disappeared one it hit his place. Jinx, on the other hand, was just watching, and looking queasier and queasier with each new dish her gargantuan friend downed. The sound of the door opening caught her attention, and she turned to see who it was.
"I hope you saved some of those stuffed ral'nak bladders," Sunfire called over, to which Raven stuck her tongue out and made a face.
The golden-haired Tamaranean simply laughed a little at her display, before heading over to the table. Instantly a plate of the food he requested was placed in front of him, and, after thanking the princess behind him, he dug in. They were similar in size and shape to a tomato, with two ends tied off with ligaments. As he bit into one, a green juice began to leak from around his lips, and when he pulled away, the inside could be seen to be stuffed with something never seen on Earth. After savoring the first bite, he tossed it up, wiped his mouth while it was still in the air, and allowed it to drop down his throat.
Raven and Jinx simply sat there and watched in horror as he finished the batch of twelve. Both of them looked, if anything, even more pale, and Jinx's pigtails were beginning to droop. Green eyes slid over them both, and a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs appeared in front of the hexmistress, while a cup of herbal tea appeared in front of Raven. Their eyes roamed over to Sunfire, who was simply licking his fingers of more of the green juice, smiling smugly.
"Well, at least it's normal food," Jinx said as she scooped up some of the eggs.
"Apparently we have very different views of normal," Sunfire laughed a little.
"Sunfire," he twisted his head to face Beast Boy, who was at the other end of the table. "Mind if I have a word with you?"
"Yes, I do, so if you don't mind waiting," his eyes narrowed, as did the green boy's, "I haven't finished eating."
"Listen here..." Beast Boy started.
'/No, you listen, trying to make a spectacle of yourself isn't going to make me hurry/' Sunfire's voice boomed into the changeling's mind, stunning him into silence. '/Now, you will wait/'
Beast Boy just nodded, and silently went back to his seat, slumping down into the chair. Raven knew what that was about, and a quick glance to Sunfire confirmed it. Jinx looked between the three of them, wondering exactly why Beast Boy had just stopped. She didn't know how Beast Boy had cared about Terra, how he blamed Sunfire for her death.
"Well, here we are again," Sunfire said as he preened one of his wings.
"Yeah," Robin sighed, watching the alien clean his feathered appendage. "What you did was unnecessary, and unacceptable."
"Hmph, you're one to talk," he scoffed.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You, of all people, should understand what I had felt, why I did what I did, because you came very close to doing the same thing," the wing he had been cleaning vanished, to be replaced by another, "when you saw your parents murdered."
Robin's eyes widened upon hearing this, no one at the tower knew about that, it wasn't even on his personal file. He breathed deep, trying to calm down, to keep Sunfire from goading him into becoming emotional, to keep this discussion about the alien, not himself. The alien in question merely watched him, gauging his reaction to the fact that he knew something that very few people knew.
"This isn't about me, Sunfire, this is about what you did."
"This is just as much about you as it is about me, and, as for what I did, you would have done the same, if you had the power to do so," Sunfire's eyes narrowed on Robin as he plucked a stray feather from his wing. Using a minute amount of his power, he wiped it from existence. "I believe Raven has made this point perfectly clear to you already, thus all your further arguments will fall on deaf ears."
"Sunfire..."
"You, yourself, have done terrible things, Robin, not as horrible as myself, but, in the eyes of ones so blind to the universe," he turned golden glowing eyes to the Titans' leader, "you are very much like Slade."
The two stayed where they were, staring each other down, Sunfire standing, while Robin was in a fighting stance. He hated being compared to Slade, and, even though the similarities were right in front of him, he still refused to see them. To him, the world was black and white, right and wrong, and he was always on the right side...right?
"Are you going to mentally kick yourself all day?" Sunfire asked, after about five minutes of staring. "You need to calm yourself, thinking too hard leads to over thinking, and over thinking leads to confusion."
"Will you stop looking into my mind," Robin growled.
"I don't have to, your behavior tells me everything I could ever need to know."
"How did you know about my parents, I know for a fact that you have to have physical contact to gather that kind of information, so how did you do it?"
"It was the strongest thought you had at the moment I attacked Slade," the alien turned away. "You understood what I felt, what I was doing, and you wished it were you in my place. Your own mind was practically screaming that thought."
"And what do you plan to do about Brother Blood?"
"I plan to kill him, as well as all those who aid him," Sunfire said simply, as if it should be obvious. "I suggest you stay out of my way."
Robin looked on in silence as Sunfire turned to head for the door. Now it was his turn to read the young man's body language, he could tell that Sunfire had no idea where Blood was, and was reaching out with every last bit of mental power he could muster. Casting one last look over his shoulder, the alien shut the door, leaving Robin to his thoughts.
Time passes, and a storm rolls in, lightening flashing outside the windows of the tower, as sheets of rain splatter the glass. The Titans were all in the common room, sitting around the TV, Jinx and Mammoth were there as well. Jinx sat on one side of Sunfire, while Raven sat one the other, both of their heads resting against his shoulders. He, on the other hand, was barely concentrating on them, nor was he concentrating on the TV. There was something outside.
Lightening flashed as the perimeter alarms went off, and everyone was up, heading for the stairs. Sunfire made it there first, seeing a shadowy form pushing the doors open. He stood, calm, waiting for the others to get there, which they did a few seconds later. The shadow lifted to reveal a fairly worn out Aqualad.
"Your trash is in my ocean," he said in a very irritated voice.
Minutes later, in the main room, a picture of Brother Blood appeared on the screen, causing Sunfire's eyes to narrow and a slight snarl to emanate from his throat. Locking his eyes on the Atalantian, he questioned the young boy what this was about.
"Brother Blood has set up a new base of operations several miles out to sea, and is building some kind of weapon," he inserted a disc, bringing up the schematic. "It's a sonic amplifier."
"That's not just a sonic amplifier," Cyborg said as his arm switched to his cannon, "that's my sonic cannon! How did he get a handle on my blueprints!"
"He must have hacked your system while you were in the stasis pod," Sunfire suggested, stepping up and typing in a few lines of code, which altered the schematic. "How did you get these."
"I have a double agent working in the HIVE, they went to great trouble to get these to me."
"Alright, we have to get in there, and shut it down," Robin said, punching his fist into his open hand.
"Or I could just blow it up," the golden-haired alien suggested, gold lightening dancing across his fingertips.
"Too risky, besides, Blood's been able to deflect your starbolts before," the boy wonder shot back.
"Who said I'd be using those," a smirk graced Sunfire's lips, "but I suppose you're right, besides, don't want to kill the lovely young lady who got us these plans."
"How did you know?" Aqualad whipped his gaze towards Sunfire.
"I took a peak into Bumblebee's mind a few days ago, found out all I needed to know," he said, looking to Cyborg. "You can shut it down, right?"
"Yeah," Cyborg said, sounding much too pleased with the idea of going after the man who took his blueprints.
"Good, now..."
"Hold it, there's one small problem," Robin spoke up, "there's a shield protecting the core, we'll have to get that offline first. Aqualad and Beast Boy, you're job is to take out the shield."
"Right, we got it," Beast Boy said.
"Sunfire, you and Cyborg are going to get to the resonator core, and shut it down."
"And what about you?" Sunfire queried.
"Starfire, Raven, and myself are going to go after Blood."
"Hmh, while I don't fully agree with your plan, I'll go along with it...for now," the alien whispered to Robin, before moving away.
"Okay, so we're all set?"
"What about us?" Jinx asked, gesturing to herself and Mammoth. "We're not just going to stay here and wait."
"I'm afraid you're going to have to, there isn't enough room in the T-sub," Robin said apologetically.
"Do not worry friend Jinx, we will be back before you can say fre'opk bre'grun," Starfire chided cheerfully.
"But..."
"Jennifer Ingrid Natasha Xephyr, you are staying here," Sunfire snapped, eyes flashing. "Is that clear?"
"Yes," she conceded meekly.
About an hour later, after the plan of attack was explained, they made their way to the shore, while Cyborg brought the T-sub around. Standing on the shore, jinx and Mammoth wished them good luck and watched as the T-sub, with four Titans inside took off. Beast Boy and Aqualad departed as well, the changeling taking on the form of a marlin. Sunfire, though, hung back a bit, looking at Jinx, who still had a hurt expression on her face. Touching down gently, he stepped up to her.
"I am sorry that I snapped, but you must stay here," he said softly, placing a hand on her slim shoulder. "You two need to rest, now go back inside."
"Okay," she sighed, and, standing up on her tip toes, kissed him on the cheek. "For luck."
Nodding, he floated slightly, then turned and took off, skimming just above the water. It didn't take him long to catch up with the others, who were not far at all. He dropped down to just above the water, watching how the air pushed out of in front of him caused the depression of the surface. Looking below, he saw Aqualad and Beast Boy, swimming as fast as they could to catch up with the sub.
'/So, how did Blood get you the first time/' Beast Boy asked Aqualad, using fish telepathy.
'/He used his telepathy to block my communications with the fish/' the Atlatian answered. '/So, without any of them to help me.../'
'/...You got schooled/' the green marlin finished for him.
'/In so many words, yeah/'
"Headmaster, incoming," Bumblebee said, watching the screen in front of her.
"Hm, it would seem the fish-boy is back for another round," Brother Blood chuckled from his seat. "Prepare the welcoming committee."
Nodding, the young woman pressed a few buttons that opened a door on the outside of the complex.
The T-sub was at last within visual range of the structure, which looked basically like Cyborg's arm, except much, much larger. Then, from behind a rock, a long tentacle reached out and took a swipe at them. Evading quickly, they saw that the tentacle was part organic, part mechanical, with plating that looked exactly like Cyborg's.
"What was that?" Robin asked, looking every which way through his canopy to try and spot it.
The ground beneath them exploded as a giant techno-organic squid rose up, tentacles flailing with deadly intent. It wasn't long before one snagged a wing of the T-sub, intending to pull it down into the sea floor. A golden sphere then exploded down through the surface, severing the tentacle, and releasing the damaged sub.
"Cyborg, place the T-sub down on the floor at a safe distance from the creature," Sunfire's voice broke oer the radio. "I have an idea."
"Robin?" the mechanical man asked, wondering if he should do it.
"Do it," the Titans' leader said as he saw water seeping into Starfire's pod.
The T-sub pulled up, away from the squid and circled around to the other side of the massive sonic resonator tower. He set it down on a relatively flat patch of sea floor, and watched as another golden starbolt burst through the surface, slamming into the main body of the altered beast, blowing it in half.
Above the surface, Sunfire hovered directly over the tower, which was visible just below. Gritting his teeth, he pushed his hands down, hoping that this would work. A depression in the water formed beneath him, as if a giant bowl was being pushed down. It grew larger and deeper, soon the top of the tower was visible, and then the shaft began to be made known.
Soon the entire facility was exposed, as was the sea floor for about a quarter mile radius. Within that radius was the T-sub, which the Titans were already exiting, with Cyborg checking the damage. Sunfire dropped down next to them, making sure that Raven was okay. Beast Boy and Aqualad ran up to them, since there was no water to swim in.
"That was..." Robin started.
"Unnecessary?" Sunfire asked, cocking a smile at the boy.
"Not entirely."
"The creature needed to be destroyed, Robin."
"Actually, I was talking about this," he gestured to the massive walls of water all around them.
"Too bad," the alien said flippantly, then started off on his way the massive tower. "We should get doing, don't want to keep our host waiting."
In the control room, Blood sat brooding over this recent development. The tsunami he had been planning was not going to work without water covering the resonator. Growling a small string of curses at the Tamaranean, he settled further in to his chair, looking around at the cloaked HIVE figures.
"So, they think that they can just waltz in and take me down," he sneered, plotting his revenge against Sunfire, "well they've got another thing coming."
The Titans walked along the rocky, exposed seabed, Sunfire taking point, and the others trailing behind him. Aqualad moved forward, getting closer to the startlingly calm young man, who, for all intents and purposes, had the expression of someone going out for a night on the town. This made the ocean protector very uneasy, not even Raven looked as calm as he did, and she had her stoic face on.
"How were you able to move the waters like that?" the young Atlantian asked.
"I'm not sure, and I don't care to explain myself," Sunfire replied in a very disturbing monotone. "Any more questions?"
"No, I'm good," Aqualad said quickly, and moved off.
"We're almost there, try to keep your wits about you," the alien smirked as they neared the tower.
As they neared the massive door, it began to open, and a multitude of HIVE soldiers ran out, guns blazing. They didn't make three steps before their weapons were bent by an unseen force, and they all felt a wrenching pain in their chests as their hearts were squeezed to pulp. All of them dropped the ground at almost the same time, half of them had been alive along enough to see the other half die.
All eyes were on Sunfire, whose pleasant demeanor hadn't faltered in the least. He still smirked, eyes wide with a child-like curiosity, standing completely lose. Turning, his expression changed, his eyes were closed, and a small frown replaced his smirk. His eyes opened, revealing them to be downcast, and apologetic.
"I'm sorry to have to do this," he said as massive slabs of rock formed around the others, enclosing them in a dome, with holes placed strategically for light and air, "but I can't have you getting in my way."
"Sunfire, what do you think you're doing?" Robin yelled through one of the holes, while, behind him, the others were trying everything to break out.
"I told you, Robin, I'm going to kill Blood, and all those who aid him," the alien replied, still looking sorry. "None of you are necessary in what I plan on doing."
He turned around and began walking.
"You'll be safe in there for the time being," he shouted back over his shoulder, "and don't waste your energy in trying to escape, as Raven has already told you, I can bend matter to my every whim, and changing that sand into chromozite was a simple process."
Through the dead bodies of HIVE soldiers he walked, not even passing them a second glance. Instead, the bodies simply faded into nonexistence. His face showed no remorse, no contempt, he was placid, calm as can be. He knew what needed to be done, and if this was too much for the boy with the birdarang up his ass, then so what, not much Robin could do about it.
'Terra will be avenged,' he thought as he walked through the newly melted hole in the door, 'all those who hurt and mistreated her will feel my wrath.'
From the control room, Blood watched on several monitors Sunfire's tour though the complex. His teeth gritted as he felt the rage emanating from the being, who was going for the core.
"Little does he know that I have a surprise for him," Brother Blood smirked as he settled back into his seat.
Then his hands flew to his head, grasping at what little hair he had left as he flew from his seat to the floor. The pain he was feeling was beyond anything he had ever felt, or inflicted. It was as if his entire body, every cell, right down to the cytoplasm and mitochondria was burning with an ethereal fire that could never be quenched. The next moment it was gone, and he stood, looking around at all the people staring at him.
"Well, what are you waiting for...GO INTERCEPT THE INTRUDER!" he nearly screamed at them, red lightening flashing from his eyes.
TBC
Finally, this one took me a little while, mainly because I wasn't sure how to weave in the whole Aqualad storyline. Hope you all like it, I'll be going to work on one of my forgotten stories now, my KP fic "The Assassin: Nemesis", so keep an eye out for that. Late.