Abilities Unveiled
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans
Chapter 5
All of the Titans and their guests were sitting in the living room of the tower. All, that is, except for a certain pair who were still sleeping in each other's embrace.
In their absence, the Titans were left alone with the three strange colleagues of Exile. The Titans were a little nervous standing in the presence of two demons and a fallen angel.
Lilith getting fed up with their nervousness and yelled, "We won't bite, damnit! So talk already!"
Zaru just busted up laughing, while Gabya held back his laughter, to attempt not to humiliate their hosts, just yet.
The Titans just stood there in shock as Zaru was making a scene. Robin thought to himself, 'What have I gotten myself into this time?' Then he groaned out loud. Robin then turned to Lilith, "Please tell me he isn't always like this."
Lilith just smiled and said, "Actually he isn't always like this," his face lit up. "He's usually quiet while he's sleeping, but that's pushing it." His face fell at that discovery. "But when it counts he'll come through."
"Oh, ok. That's good to know. So…how long have the three of you known each other?" He asked, trying to get the others to converse with their new roommates.
Zaru stopped laughing, "I came across Gabya here about 50 or so years ago, if I'm not mistaken. And I met Lilith 70 years ago." His laughter continued after he saw the looks on the Titan's faces.
Then Cyborg joined in, "You've known each other that long! How old are you? You barely look 25!"
"We have known each other that long. To answer your question, it's because we're not human. Demons and angels mature quickly in the first 15 years of life, then they keep that look for pretty much their whole lives. Your friend Raven and Exile are the same way. But since Raven is half demon, it takes longer for her to fully mature. But I think with Exile's help, she will see and fulfill her full potential." Zaru stated with a little sparkle in his golden eyes.
"Friends, just how old are the three of you?" Starfire asked with timid ness laced into her usually happy voice.
"Well Zaru, Exile, and myself are fairly young compared to other demons. The two of us are a little over a century old. But there are records of demons that are a couple thousand years old. We have no idea how old Gabya is." Lilith answered.
They all turned to Gabya for an answer, an answer which he was reluctant to give. "To tell you the truth, I've lost count. The earliest memory I have is shortly after the creation of the earth." He then gave them all a look that said, 'If you ask anything else about this, you'll be sorry.'
All of the Titans all said in unison, "HOLY SHIT!"
Beastboy had apparently missed the look Gabya gave, and move to ask him questions about god and heaven in rapid concession, but before he could start, Lilith grabbed him and pulled him away from the dark angel. "I wouldn't ask any more of him on this topic, or else you'll find your self in a realm of existence worse then Hell."
He gulped and backed away. Then Cyborg stepped back up remembering that they had gotten past his security, and wanted some answers. "How the hell did you get past MY security?"
Lilith smiled and pointed to Gabya, "You'll have to ask him, he's the one that got us in."
He turned to him in shock, "I teleported into here easily. And just so you know, you may need to update your system, it is outdated." Gabya gave him a fanged smile.
Cyborg just stood there looking dumbly at the dark angel who had just made a mockery of his system. But before Cyborg could retort what was just said about his system, Robin interrupted him.
"Lilith, you said before that Raven would mature into her full potential with Exile's help. What did you mean by that?"
She just smiled, "You mean you, the great boy wonder, ace detective, haven't seen how close Raven has gotten with Ex?" She raised an eyebrow at the teen before her. His look clearly said that he had no idea what she was talking about. "Well, they are what you call, an item."
"WHAT!" The Titans all yelled at once, making the demons in the room flinch from the noise.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that! It fucking hurts!" Zaru yelled.
After Lilith got her ears to stop ringing, she turned to her mate, and said through clenched teeth, "Well your big mouth isn't helping either!" She took a deep breath and turned to the Titans. "Why is that so unbelievable? Please tell me. I would love to know."
Beastboy was the first to speak up, "Well they just met yesterday. Isn't that reason enough for us to be surprised?" The Titans nodded in agreement with the green changeling.
Lilith just nodded, "That's normally a good reason, but that doesn't apply to these two. Do any of you believe that there is a person out there for everyone? A pair that are destined to be together?"
They just sat there and stared at her, seeing if she was serious, eventually they all nodded. She continued, "Well, did any of you notice that Raven was wearing a medallion that she has never worn before?" Yet again, they nodded. "That medallion has many different magical properties, once she put it on, she told us that she felt much different. The feeling she had, pointed to one outcome, that the two of them are soul mates."
After she finished, Zaru said, "You just had to go and do that didn't you, giving the entire explanation, without letting me interject once."
She just laughed and nodded, then Zaru walked back to Gabya and sat down at the table.
She turned back to the Titans, and saw their look of confusion, then Beastboy stepped up, and stated, "Well that explains why they were kissing…dude, I feel like my head is going to explode, can we just wait until later for other answer, please?" The changeling then turned into a small kitten and looked up at Lilith, pleading for her to agree.
Lilith just rolled her eyes, "Fine, but what do you suggest we do? I have yet to see anything here except a kitchen, and some training equipment."
Beastboy looked to Cyborg, and smiled, he turned back to their guests, "You guys any good at Budokai 3?" he said as Cyborg hit a button on his arm control system, and then a 70 inch plasma screen TV came through the ceiling, and the floor opened up to reveal two rather large speakers, and every game system known to man. This time it was Lilith, Gabya, and Zaru's turn to be speechless.
Zaru began to drool, at the sight of the beautiful system before him. Cyborg turned to Gabya, "Still think my system needs to be updated?" He said with a grin.
Gabya smiled and replied, "Your security system still needs updating, but this is really spiffy." Cyborg growled at the obvious attack on his tech. Everyone laughed and Beastboy rushed to grab a controller.
"So who's up for a loss at my hands?" He said, attempting to look as tough as he sounded, and failing, miserably.
Zaru gave Lilith and Gabya a quick look and an evil smile, then the three turned to the green, elf looking boy, and Zaru asked, "How many controllers you got?" as the three sat down to play Budokai 3.
After an hour of playing, Beastboy and Cyborg had just been handed their 30th loss by Lilith, Zaru, and Gabya. This left the pair dumbstruck, then as if seeking a way out of humiliation, Cyborg stated, "Man, Raven and Ex are still asleep. One of us should go and wake them up."
Lilith just looked up from her present game, and turned to Cyborg. "I don't know that much about Raven, but as for Exile, the last time one of us tried to wake him, Zaru ended up with a Crescent blade in his stomach. So if you still want to go, go ahead."
All of the Titans present jotted that fact down for future reference, "Well, he is supposed to cook our food, isn't he? Someone's got to wake him up…wait a minute, you said he's dating Raven now right, why don't I just wake her up, and have her wake him up. From what I've seen of him, he wont hurt her." Cyborg reasoned.
Lilith and Zaru thought for a second, then Zaru said. "It's worth a shot, go ahead and try it."
With that, Cyborg left in a sprint towards Raven's room.
Lilith and Zaru turned back to the screen only to see Gabya and Beastboy going at it once again with their favorite characters. But there was something different about this game. Gabya was losing.
'Gabya, what are you doing? You're letting him win.' Lilith yelled at him in his thoughts.
Gabya gave a fanged smile, then replied, 'I'm not letting him win, it something called a sweetened victory. Make him think he's about to win, but then take out all the stops and kick his ass quickly before he knows what's going on.'
After hearing that, Lilith busted up laughing, leaving a very confused Zaru and even more confused Beastboy.
(Raven)
As I began to come back to reality, expecting everything that had happened in my dream, to be just that, a dream. I noticed that I have a pair of arms around me, holding me securely to the figure's body. I craned my neck to look at the figure's face. After seeing the owner of the arms identity, I couldn't stop the blush from forming on my face. It was Exile.
He was still sleeping and his face was nuzzled in the crook of my neck. On top of his head, I noticed that his ears were twitching lightly, as if trying to keep watch. Before I could stop myself, I reached up, and grabbed one of his ears, and began to stroke it lightly.
'His ears are so soft! Why didn't I think of touching them 'til now?' When I thought that it couldn't get any better, I felt a rumble throughout my body. 'That's coming from Ex! I knew he was purring.' I giggled at the thought of my savior purring like a kitten.
"What's so funny?" I jumped at the sound of his voice.
"How long have you been awake?" I asked nervously.
He smiled, "Shortly after I felt someone rub my ears." I looked away in embarrassment, the he grabbed my chin and raised my face to his, and he gave me a light kiss. "Don't worry, you can rub them all you want, but don't do it in front of any one else, I don't want anyone else getting the idea."
I laughed, and continued my previous assault on his ears. But instead of just sitting there this time, Exile leaned forward and captured my lips in a passionate kiss. He snaked his arms around my waist, and I pulled him closer, into a deeper kiss.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THIS DOOR!" We heard Cyborg yell, and we stopped our actions immediately, and I hid behind Ex.
"Yo Raven! What did you do to…?" His voice trailed off as he came to see me and Ex sitting on my bed.
When I saw Exile's eyes, I could have sworn I saw them glowing red. "She didn't do it, I did." He growled out.
Cyborg stepped back, "What possessed you to do that?" He asked nervously.
Ex took a deep breath, and calmed himself down. "She was in trouble. I needed to save her."
He let out a sigh, mainly due the fact that Ex didn't go and attempt to dismantle him. "Oh ok." Then he smiled before saying, "So I guess what Lilith said is true then, that you two are dating now, congrats!" Then he turned to Ex, "Now that you're awake, aren't you supposed to make food?"
I turned to Ex and said, "He's right, you did promise to make all the meals while the three of them are here." I giggled at the disgruntled face he made.
"Why did I have to go and say that?" He got up and began walking to the door. But he stopped and looked to me, "How about you help me make breakfast for everyone." Then he got really close and whispered in my ear; "I'll let you rub my ears while we cook." He said with a mischievous smile.
I blushed and before I could even reply, he picked my up bridal style, and carried me out of the room. I buried my face in his shoulder. "You really know how to charm a girl don't you?" I stated with a laugh.
He turned to me, "No, just you, and you can thank Lilith, she taught me all I know." We started laughing, oblivious to the stare we were getting from the cybernetic Titan.
When they walked into the living room where the others were, Zaru immediately got up and said in a weak voice, "Exile, I'm starving. I might die if I don't get food in me soon."
He just rolled his eyes, and we got to work. It took us close to an hour to finish making enough food for everyone, but it was an hour well worth it. While the others were busy playing games, Exile and me were left in the kitchen, alone. Which meant I could rub his ears as much as I liked. And that was probably the real reason it took so long to make all of the food.
(Exile's perspective)
'That was probably the best time I have ever had while making food. I have to cook more often with my Raven.' My eyes traveled to the violet haired beauty that was moving the food to the table. I smiled, 'So this is what happiness feels like? I love this feeling.'
"Dude! How did you make all this? We've never eaten like this before. You have everything from pancakes to these things!" Beastboy says while holding up a strawberry crepe.
"Well, I had to learn, when you've been alive for almost a century, you need something to keep you busy, or else you'll go insane. And Beastboy, those are called crepes, each one has a different type of jelly in them. To answer your thoughts, I know that you're a vegetarian, so eat. I made sure to put the meat in front of the meat lovers."
Beastboy just stood in shock. "One more thing, if you ever push that tofu shit on me ever, I'll shove my crescent blades up your ass." To make my threat more vicious, I summoned one blade for him to see.
After everyone had their fill, Zaru, finished off everyone's plates, and the rest of the food on the table. "Damn Ex, you really out did yourself this time, but you forgot one thing…"
"I didn't forget your meat buns." I cut him off as I threw him a bag. He opened it and grabbed a meat bun and looked at it as if it was a being from heaven. Then ate it without mercy.
"Now I see why you warned me about your brother." Raven said as she came up and grabbed my arm. "I like Lilith, and Gabya, but your brother is really gross."
I laughed, but before I could respond, robin spoke up. "Alright, now that we have had our fill, we need to know what the four of you can do. Everyone let's go to the training room."
On our way to the training room, I walked up to Cyborg, "Sorry about Raven's door, I'll help fix it."
"Don't worry about it. I already took care of it while you two were cooking. I just have to say one thing, how the hell did you do that to that door, you ripped it apart like it was paper!" Cyborg replied.
Zaru spoke up before I could, "Well it could have to do with the fact that he is one strong-ass demon. But I think his instincts took over and wanted to protect the one that he cares for the most."
Robin turned to Zaru, "Why would that have anything to do with him breaking a door?"
"Well, because his instincts are a lot different than mine or Lilith's. When someone that he is really close to is in danger, such as Raven in this case, he loses all interest in personal safety, just as long as that person is fine."
"Oh…ok. That makes sense." Robin replied, still in shock from how Exile managed to make child's play out of that door. 'I just hope he doesn't do that with our machines, we don't have the money to replace everything.'
"Oh, Robin, I was training earlier this morning, so all of the machines are moved to the walls. I didn't want anything to happen to them. If I used them with my type of training, they would be turned into ribbons with in the first few minutes."
He let out a sigh of relief, "Ok Exile, that's fine. We weren't going to be using most of the machines in these exercises anyway."
We walked into the training room, and Robin turned to the four of us, "Ok, now we get to see what exactly the four of you can actually do. There are locker rooms right over there." He motioned to his left. "We'll start in 15 minutes."
After we were all ready, our show was under way. Since I promised to show my abilities before the rest of them showed up, I went first.
I started my training session much like I did when I was waiting for Raven. I stood there in a meditative trance, 'Hmm, I guess I'll make it interesting for them this time.'
I concentrated on my bodies change. A black flame covered my entire body. Silver fur sprouted all over my body, as it began to take the form of a Siberian husky. When my change was completed, my aura dissipated, revealing my demon form for all to see.
'This is my demon form. I need to rest a bit, transforming takes a lot out of me.' I walked to where Raven was sitting, and rested my head in her lap. She smiled and began to rub my ears, and I growled softly at her touch.
'You can go ahead and go Zaru, I'll demonstrate my abilities last.' He nodded, and moved into position. I then saw Lilith staring at me with stars in her eyes when she saw Raven rubbing my ears.
'Lilith, why are you looking at me like that?' I asked.
"You two are so cute!" Lilith yelled. Then she leaned down to be eye level with me then added. "So how long 'til I'm an aunt?"
I lay there, confused as all hell. 'HUH?'
She busted up laughing, and Raven started to laugh as well. 'What's so funny?'
"She pulled the same thing with me when she pulled me aside this morning. I didn't think she would pull it on you though, or I would have warned you." Raven stated between laughs.
(Normal Perspective)
Zaru yelled, "I'm waiting to start, could you wrap it up already?"
"We've already seen what you can do, remember. You need to show them." Lilith pointed to the titans.
Zaru stopped complaining, laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh ya, I forgot. Alright, time for me to start." Zaru took a deep breath, "Hey Gabya, could you get me some targets?"
"Fine, just try not to wreck the place." Gabya opened up several vortexes, and pulled a variety of targets from the air.
"Thanks." He summoned his staff, and began to charge up. "I guess I'll show you my true form as well."
A bright golden light surrounded Zaru's body, as his body began to change. Deep red fur began to grow from all over his body. The hair on the top of head lengthened to his lower back. His fangs grew to twice their length. His tail elongated, and his claws grew a little longer, but much harder and sharper.
When he was finished, he opened his eyes to look at the Titans.
"Whoa!" Cyborg yelled.
"Dude! I thought that you were related to Ex. Why do you look human still?" Beastboy added.
"First of all, he is my HALF brother. Secondly, we were trained much differently, and that training slightly affected our true forms. But for the most part, I chose this form, and Ex chose to look more like an animal."
"Oh." Beastboy replied.
Starfire had a very confused look on her face. "Friend Zaru, why did your tail change when you transformed?"
Zaru looked at the alien girl, "That's a good question, all I know is that my mother, wasn't a demon, she was a werewolf, so I guess this is what happens when a werewolf and a dog demon are combined. Now will you guys stop asking me things, I have targets to destroy."
He stood in the center of all of the targets that Gabya set up for him. He looked like he was focusing for his attack. Then, he charged up to his first target, punching it with all of his might, sending it flying at the nearest wall. If it hadn't been for Gabya's quick thinking by opening up a vortex to catch the projectile, there probably wouldn't be a wall there any more.
But Zaru didn't notice his actions, because he was caught with adrenalin to keep fighting. He summoned his Nyoi-bo staff. Which is a five foot red staff, with golden end caps on both ends. He gripped the Nyoi-bo staff with both hands, and broke it into three sections connected by chains, called the Sansekken. He took out another target using the Sansekken. Gripping the middle piece, and spinning the outer pieces in ways that would take years to master. While it was spinning, he jumped, and ricocheted off the ceiling, and took out another target.
He banished his Sansekken, and took out the final target by holding his hands out, gathering a similar light that surrounded him during his transformation. With a loud battle dry, he launched it at the remaining target at immense speed, exploding on contact, along with an unlucky piece of equipment that was too close to the blast. He returned to the ground in a crouch, and slowly stood up and looked to the Titans.
"That's basically what I can do. Any questions?" Zaru asked with a grin.
"Yeah, I have one," Robin stated. "Where did you learn to use a staff like that?"
"I taught myself for the most part. I also learned from my father, but he mainly did swordsmanship. So he was little help with my Nyoi-bo staff. Any other questions?"
They shook their heads, and Zaru turned to his mate, "Your turn Lilith, try not to kill anything." He teased.
She just glared at him as she got into position. She looked to Gabya, and he nodded, and pulled another set of targets out of thin air. She smiled evilly, and reached behind her back really quickly, and when she brought them back out, each of her hands had four throwing knives in them. Gabya had given her more due to her style of fighting, he also made the targets look have the person outline on them. She looked towards the targets, and flung the knives with amazing speed and accuracy, hitting eight targets in the dead center of the head.
"Since they got to show you their forms, I'm going to show you one ofmine." Lilith said. She concentrated, and began her transformation. He body began to contort itself into the shape of a panther like creature, but instead of black fur, she had calico. Her tail grew in length, and her claws came to a much more lethal point then before.
Once her transformation was complete, she got onto all fours, and pounced on the nearest target, clawing at it with her hands and her feet, completely ripping it to shreds. Once she was done with one she pounced to the next and clawing at it the same way as the first, but this time, she bit at the targets neck, where the jugular vein would be, and tore it off. She jumped off and landed ion a crouch much like Zaru did, but she remained like that. She reached up and took the material out of her mouth, and turned to admire her own carnage.
She looked to the Titans, "So how was that?"
Beastboy said in a shaky voice, "Dude, that was vicious. You can kill someone by fighting like that!"
"Well that's the point. When you've fought the type of people that we have, it becomes kill or be killed. That's life for you."
Robin looked at Lilith, "That might be how you did things one your own, but when you're with this team, you don't kill. We send our enemies to jail." He stated in a very serious voice.
Lilith just looked at him with a very confused face.
"How else are supposed to make them stop moving?" Zaru countered.
The Titans just looked at them with a somewhat disgusted look on their faces. They were about to argue with her, but Gabya interrupted them.
"Before you judge us, and call us murderers, hear me out. Among other things, we were raised with the fact that if your enemy still lives, then there will always be a threat in the world. So we have learned to fight for the kill. We don't ever kill with out proper reasoning, ever."
The Titans slowly began to see what Gabya meant, because in their minds, one name came up when he said that, Slade.
Gabya smiled, and turned to the center of the training room. A white light glowed around him, as he began to show his abilities to the Titans. His dark clothing remained, but a pair of celestial wings sprouted from his back. His red eyes turned completely to pitch black. Making it look like there were just two holes in his eye sockets.
Once in his celestial form, he summoned a pair of targets with his vortexes. He pulled out his 45 long colt, and shot once at each target. Each completely exploding from the sheer force of the bullets. But he had set up vortexes behind each target to catch the bullets before they did any damage to the tower. He summoned one more target, before disappearing completely into his vortex. Seconds later, he appeared behind the target, and slashed clean in half with his katana.
As he sheathed his sword, he transformed back to his human form. And walking back to where he had been sitting before he had did his demonstration.
The Titans were about to ask him questions about what he had turned into, but Lilith and Zaru stood in their way. "I wouldn't go and do that. You should just trust Gabya. He doesn't really like to be questioned about his heritage." Lilith said in a stern voice.
They accepted the demon duo's reasoning, and awaited their final demonstration.
(Exile's perspective)
I reluctantly changed back into my human form to finish what I started. I felt the others eyes on me, anxiously waiting for my show. I pulled Raven up with me and gave her a soft kiss. "I'll be right back Raven."
I nodded to my former roommates, and moved to the center of the room to commence my little show. I closed my eyes and slipped into a slight trance. Once I gathered my thoughts, I started the show.
I smiled as I opened my eyes. I summoned my crescent blades, but this time I let out more of my aura around me. Soon I was engulfed in a black flame, which was harmful to anyone that I want or to anyone who hasn't earned the respect of the dragon in the heart of the aura itself.
I began much like I did before, spinning my blades, but this time my aura was beginning to turn into small vortexes at my sides from the speed of my blades spinning. I threw out the crescent blade, which was covered with the lethal black flame.
I made the blades do a much more complex pattern in the air, having them start weaving in and out of each other, while spiraling around me. Feeling that was enough to show my skills on my weapons of choice, I quickly retracted the blades to their homes. Then as I was executing the little martial arts that I know, I reached out to Raven with my mind. 'Raven, do you trust me?'
'With my life' she replied with a smile.
'I'm glad. Can you please hold out your arms for me, I'm going to scare our friends.' I thought with a wicked smile on my face.
She giggled and nodded in response to my request. She raised her hands, and waited for my next move.
An even bigger grin appeared on my face as I spun the blades as fast as I could get them to go. The other Titan's eyes were glued on me, anxious to see what I had in store for them next.
With all my might, I threw the twin blades at Raven, making sure they crossed right before they got to her. I had them circle her a few times, before resting them in her open arms, when they touched her arms; she gripped them softly, and hugged them close to her chest.
The other Titans were still frozen from the fright Raven and I just gave them. I took a quick bow, and used my lightning fast speed to get to Raven.
When I got to her, I touched my blades sending them back to where they came from. I then wrapped my arms around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I pulled her close, and then whispered into her ear, "You were wonderful Raven."
She turned her eyes away from me in embarrassment, "I didn't do anything, you were the one that did all that work Ex. So, you're the one that's going to get the praises, not me."
"That might be true, but my plan wouldn't have worked if you didn't have complete trust in me. If I didn't have that, I might not have you here." I pulled her eyes back up to mine, and gave her a soft kiss. I pulled away from her, and turned to the others. Lilith and Gabya had successfully knocked the Titans out of their state of shock.
"So, how did I do?" I asked the Titans.
"Dude! That was awesome! Where did you learn to do that?" Cyborg yelled.
"I learned the Crescent blades by teaching my self, as for the black fire, I learned that in Hell." I told him with a smile.
Beastboy walked up to Raven and Me with a freaked out look on his face. "Did you just…?" I nodded. "Did she just...?" I nodded again. "Oh." Beastboy then walked away to take in what they just did.
"Those things are amazing weapons. But they look a kind of dangerous for saving people." Robin said in a concerned voice.
"You mean that they are too lethal. Don't worry; I have complete control with them, as you've just seen. The people on the receiving side of my blades will survive will only a minor amount of damage. But I can't promise anything if they do anything to harm Raven." I informed him.
"Understood. That was really impressive. Is there anything that you didn't show us?" Robin asked.
"Just one thing. I can absorb any and all forms of fire in my path. Even if it is an attack used against me." Realization hit Robin at my confession. I leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Raven has told me all about what happened with Slade. I have already formulated a plan of attack to run past you." Then I added in a vicious growl, "I want to take him down."