Encounter
Chapter 8
Disclaimer: This is getting repetitive; do I have to keep doing this? I don't own them. End of discussion.
The next morning Beastboy and Cyborg began their onslaught of taunts as they began their daily routine of video games.
Vagare sat on the couch next to Cyborg waiting for her turn on the game, and to Cyborg and Beastboy's surprise; she could actually keep up with them. At some times, she was actually thrashing them at their own game
Starfire was floating behind the two, cheering them on. But her glances occasionally turned to the boy wonder, who was seated across the room, navigating through computer files.
Zaru stood in front of a large computer mainframe, and moved towards it, as if to take it apart. Lilith saw the look in his eyes, and let out a sigh.
"Zaru, you'd better not take it apart, I don't think our hosts would appreciate it if you destroyed their toys." She stated, making Zaru stop dead in his tracks and turn to his mate.
"You know I wouldn't destroy it. Hell, I would probably make it work better." Zaru countered.
"Is that so?" Lilith cocked an eyebrow, "Well, then I have two words for you. Our apartment."
"Well, I was hungry…" Zaru pouted, as his stomach growled loudly. Then added in an audible growl, "Where the hell is that pup? He's supposed to make food."
"He's still sleeping, though he should be down any minute now."
Everyone turned to the source of the voice, only to see Raven, and their eyes widened at her present state. Raven's hair was slightly mussed, and a genuine smile was plastered onto her face. But that's not what caught Lilith and Zaru's eyes; it was the mark that was on her neck. The mark was similar to their mate marks, except for one major difference, inside the crescent shape of the moon, was a small shape that looked like a raven in flight.
Before Raven knew what was happening, Lilith let out a happy squeal, and jumped the dark sorceress, tackling her to the ground.
"Lilith, I really wish you wouldn't tackle my mate." Ex stated, standing in the doorway.
After giving Raven one more quick hug, she slowly got up off of her, and set her sights on Ex. In the same manner as she always had, she leapt from her present position, and pounced Ex, forcing him to the ground.
Ex looked at Lilith and said, "I would really love to know how the hell you are able to sneak up on me like that!"
Lilith smiled and shook her head, "Nope, not gonna tell ya'. If you knew, then what would I do to amuse myself?"
Ex thought for a moment, and grinned evilly, "Well, you could play with a ball of yarn."
Lilith whopped Ex a couple of time before getting off of him, and returning to her spot keeping Zaru away from the Titans 'toys'.
Raven walked over to her new mate and helped him up. "Wow, you got off easier then I thought you would for that comment." She teased.
"Yeah, I did." Ex stated, "The last time I used that one, it took a week for the claw marks to heal."
"It was in the middle of a spar! You had already pissed me off by then!" Lilith yelled from her current perch on the back of the couch
Everyone laughed, and Ex and Raven started to cook breakfast.
After breakfast, all of the Titans and their guests assembled outside to start the day's training. Mainly it was to prepare the ragtag group for the upcoming battle, but Robin also wanted to see what Vagare could do, and who she worked best with.
Robin walked up to the control panel for the course, and hit the activation button. He then turned to everyone, "This is our obstacle course, Cyborg would you do the honor of showing our guests how it works?"
Cyborg stepped up the starting line, and turned to the group behind him. "I'll try not to set too fast of a time, so you guys can have a chance at beating me." He taunted, and he turned back to the obstacle course in front of him. Robin sounded the horn, telling him that the timer has started, and he took off.
First he made his way at a solid sprint, when he met his first obstacle, giant metallic tentacles that lashed out at the Titan, in hopes to subdue him. But Cyborg's sonic cannon mowed down the metallic tentacles before they could even get close enough to do any damage.
The second obstacles were titanium pillars rocketing out of the ground at high speeds. Cyborg expertly dodged them, with what looked like moves that a pro football player would use. He was out of the onslaught of the pillars fairly rapidly, and made his way to the final couple of obstacles.
The next threat was a pair of pods that launched out heat seeking circular blades at unbelievable speeds towards the mechanical Titan. As the blades made their way to him, he used his shoulder rockets to decimate the oncoming threat. He then used his sonic cannon to destroy the pods themselves to avoid any more blades being fired.
Right as he passed the remains of the blade launchers, he came to a series of gates, and the steel reinforced doors came crashing down towards the earth. The collapsing doors didn't slow him down. He just charged at the door at full speed, brought his fist back, and punched the first door with all of his might, making it fly backwards and destroy all of the doors behind it.
With the finish line in sight, he picked up the pace. But just as he approached the finish line, a ten-foot wide gap appeared in front of the finish line, making him leap across it, and across the finish line.
Cyborg looked up to Robin, who was standing at the controls, and yelled, "Yo' Robin, What's my time?"
Robin looked down at the timer, and pressed a button to display the total time on the screen on the front of the booth he was at. "Impressive Cyborg, your time was a minute and fifteen seconds flat. That's going to be a tough time to beat." Robin called back to his teammate.
"BOOYAAHH!" Cyborg yelled in his usual fashion. "New course record! All right!"
Everyone else just rolled their eyes at their mechanical teammate. Then, Ex left Raven's side, and went to argue with his brother about who would get to go second.
But before the argument could progress, Gabya had already taken his place at the starting line, and was awaiting the order to start.
Ex and Zaru just turned their gaze to the dark angel who had snaked his way in front of them to run the course. They both were about to voice their protests when Gabya's voice boomed in their heads.
'You both will get your turns, I've been itching for some target practice, and I think you'll love what I'm going to do first.' Then Gabya shot them a toothy grin, and the brothers were silenced, waiting to see just what he had planned.
Gabya turned his gaze to Robin to signal to him that he was ready to begin. Robin nodded, and he sounded the horn. Gabya started much differently then Cyborg. Instead of running, Gabya was just standing there, like he was waiting for something.
Robin was about to remind him that the clock was running, when a pair of angelic white feathered wings shot out from his back, and he took to flight. Just as he was about to reach the first obstacle, Gabya opened a portal and flew through it.
When he reappeared, Gabya was at the finish line of the course, leaning up against a rock formation with his katana in hand, inspecting it.
Everyone was silent, save for the two demons in hysterics, until Lilith started yelling at him.
"The whole point to a goddamn obstacle course is to actually go through the obstacles. Not just teleport to the finish, completely bypassing them!" Lilith took a deep breath, "You have to do it again, and this time no goddamn portals!"
Gabya smiled, and teleported back to the starting line. Without turning his head, he spoke to Ex and Zaru telepathically once again. 'See? Didn't I say it would be worth it to have me go first?
After hearing this, the two were laughing yet again at the memory of Lilith getting pissed, only to be silenced by a vicious glare coming from the aforementioned cat demon.
Gabya turned and gave a nod to Robin, and the starting horn sounded out. Gabya's start was still much slower then Cyborg's, but he was moving. He had his .45 long colt in his right hand, and his katana in his left. His slow march slowly turned into a solid sprint, making Cyborg's top speed seem like a leisurely walk.
To the untrained eye, there was a black blur racing across the Titan's course. The blur showed no sign of slowing down for the first obstacle. Instead, two rapid gunshots sounded out, and the metallic tentacles exploded.
He proceeded on to the next obstacle, and completely surpassed it before the pillars had a chance to rise. He then raced onward to the blade launchers.
By this time, the blades had already been fired, and had locked onto the blur. It seemed like the blades would actually hit their targets, when a huge dust cloud was kicked up. The blades came out of the back end of the cloud, and seemed to be unscathed. When all of a sudden, they all split in four pieces, and exploded.
Gabya was holding his katana over his head as he passed through steel doorways, slicing any of them that had come too close the blade. At the speed Gabya was traveling, he didn't even need to jump when he came to the gap. But just for a small show, Gabya spread his wings and took flight, and quickly landed past the finish line.
Robin just looked from Gabya, to his time, and then back to Gabya. As he hit the button to reveal his time, he said, "Sorry Cyborg, looks like we have a new course record at thirty seconds flat."
When Cyborg saw the digital display, his jaw dropped, excuse after excuse began pouring out of his mouth. Attempting to explain why he had lost his record so rapidly, and by such a large difference.
While Cyborg was ranting and raving, Lilith made her way to Robin at the controls.
"I don't suppose that there is a separate course for two people to go through?" Lilith questioned.
Robin thought for a moment, and replied, "Of course. But why do you ask? From what you've told me, you and Zaru have been fighting and training together for decades. Why would you need it?"
Lilith just stared at him, "It wouldn't be for us, boy wonder. It would be for Ex and Raven. I think it would be a good idea for us to see how they will react towards each other in a battle environment."
Robin thought for a moment, and then said, "That's a good point, hang on a second while I set up the other course."
"Hang on; let's let the new chick try it first. Wasn't that a big part of your plan, to see what she can do?" Lilith reminded him.
"Oh yeah…" Robin replied, "That almost slipped my mind, thanks for reminding me,"
Meanwhile…
Raven managed to pull Ex away from Zaru, effectively ending their feud about who would be the next one to try out the course. Then she pulled him to the side and they sat down, awaiting the call for the next person.
Starfire timidly looked towards the newly mated pair and thought, 'Friend Raven seems so much different than before. I wonder if it has anything to do with the becoming of mates that her and friend Exile said…'
But her thoughts were interrupted when Raven called out to her. "Starfire, we both can read your mind. Wouldn't it be much simpler just to ask, then to attempt to figure it out on your own?"
"Yes! That would much easier! Friend Raven, would you please explain to me why you are upping the beat?" Starfire asked.
"Umm, Star? I think you mean upbeat." Ex corrected her, and Starfire just kept the same confused look on her face. "Nevermind…"
She then turned her gaze back to Raven, hoping for answers to clear up her latest confusion. Raven just smiled, "I'd be glad to tell you why I'm so happy." She replied with more emotion within her usual monotone voice. "I have found my soul mate, and I have found a way to finally defeat my father once and for all. I don't really have anything to depress me anymore."
Starfire just jumped up and down in glee, "This is wonderful! I am so happy for you both! I will begin to make the traditional Tameranian dish of…"
Raven's eyes quickly shot open in worry, and she put her hand over the alien girl's mouth. "That's alright Star. Demons have their own traditions, so that's not necessary."
Starfire walked away, and Ex turned to Raven with a questioning look. "What was that all about?"
Raven smiled at her mate, "I just saved you from eating some of the worst food in existence, so you should be thankful." She replied.
"So you just happened to save yourself from this curse as well as me, right?" Ex shot back with a huge grin on his face.
But before Raven could retort, Robin's voice sounded over a P.A. system, "Sorry Zaru, but I need Vagare to go through the course before you go. Then I want Ex and Raven to go through the secondary course, so we can see just how well you can fight together."
Zaru stormed off in anger to allow Vagare to approach the starting line. Robin added, "Vagare, you can use any weapons, and abilities you want when you go through."
Vagare smiled, and held up two thumbs, and replied, "You got it, Dude." Then she pulled out a pair of rosewood nunchucks, and the horn sounded.
Vagare sprinted as she started to spin her nunchucks at an astounding speed. She met the first obstacle with little difficulty. She deflected the tentacles, and jumped up over them. She landed on top of the origin of the metallic threat, and swung her nunchucks at great enough force to completely decimate her target.
She took off for her next obstacle with even more speed and vigor. She passed through the second obstacle before the pillars even had the chance to shoot out of the ground.
Vagare stepped up her speed one more notch as she approached the disk launchers. She readied her nunchucks, as the blades were hurtled towards her. As the blades came hurtling at her, she swung her weapons with such force that they went rocketing back towards the very guns that fired them in the first place, slicing them in half.
She then leapt into the air, and began a rapid transformation. She turned into a falcon that had the same color scheme as her hair, a deep crimson head, which faded to a deep midnight black at her tail feathers.
Once her transformation completed, her speed increased twofold as she took flight. She passed through the steel gates, and was passing over the large canyon, before the first gate had time to slam down.
A split second later, she crossed the finish line, and was perched on top of the finish line's gate. She turned her gaze to Robin, and called out to him telepathically.
'What's my time, boss?'
'Where the hell did we find these people!' Robin thought as he revealed her time. "That was amazing! Twenty-three seconds!" He called out to her, but noticed that she wasn't on her perch anymore.
Upon a quick search, Robin noticed that Lilith was missing as well. He looked around even more and noticed that Lilith had transformed into her winged cat form, and was chasing after the transformed Vagare.
The chase only lasted for several minutes because Vagare made one false move, and got clipped by Lilith's claw, and she went to land. On her trip to the ground, Vagare quickly transformed to her human form, to assess the damage to her leg. When she landed, her transformation was complete, and upon further inspection, there was only a slight scratch on her right ankle.
Lilith landed, and transformed back as well. When she was back in her human form, the light smell of blood caught her nose. She searched for the origin of the smell, and her eyes caught sight of the scratch that she had left on Vagare. Her eyes widened in worry, and she rushed to Vagare's side.
"Sit down, and let me see it." Lilith ordered.
Vagare was completely at a loss for words at the cat woman's actions. "What the hell?"
Lilith looked up at her and stated plainly, "It's simple. When you're a birdy, you're food. When you're human, you're like one of my brats. Now shut up and let me look at your ankle!"
"Oh…ok…" Vagare said with confusion still evident in her voice. Then something Lilith had said came back to her. "Wait, you have kids!"
"Nope, don't have any yet." There was a slight pause, and then Lilith had a sly grin on her face. "But not for lack of trying!" She added.
"Dear Lord…" Zaru said as he slapped his forehead with his palm, and slowly slid it down his face, while everyone else did a backwards faceplant in complete shock of what Lilith had just said.
Lilith just looked around and said "What did I say?"
Zaru walked up to her, patted her head, and said "Nothing Sweetie, nothing at all…"
Robin recovered, and hit the button to switch the courses. "Hey Raven, You and Ex can get ready to go through the course."
Raven nodded, and motioned to Ex for her to follow her. Robin moved towards another part of the control panel, and activated the secondary course that they used for teams to use.
Just as Ex and Raven made their way towards the starting gate, the whole course began to mutate into a completely new course. Once the course had finished changing, Raven glanced towards Robin as if to tell him that they were ready.
Robin nodded and sounded the horn. Ex and Raven immediately shot off at astounding speeds. Ex had already summoned his crescent blades, and his ears were rapidly turning every which way, mimicking the motions of some sort of radar, searching for any form of danger. Raven flew slightly over Ex's head so she could see any areas that Ex couldn't.
Just as they approached the first obstacle, the whole island began to violently shake. Noticing something was off; Ex turned to his mate and asked, "I take it that's not supposed to happen?"
"Yeah, and this isn't a natural earthquake." Raven responded.
Suddenly a very evil aura blanketed the area. Raven gasped loudly as she recognized the source of the pure malice that was approaching.
Ex rushed to her side, "What is that?" He asked.
Raven looked into his eyes, "That is the same power that my father has, but fortunately this isn't him."
"Who is it?" Ex was now extremely concerned for his mate, she was trembling in fear.
But before she could respond, a very evil, very familiar voice called out to them.
"Hello Raven. It's been a while." Slade said.
Within seconds, all of the Titans and their new companions were at Ex and Raven's side.
"Slade." Robin growled out. "What are you doing here?"
"And I thought you were a detective," Slade taunted. "But since you asked, I'll tell you. I was sent by Trigon to see if his portal is ready to fulfill her duty."
"You are going to wish you didn't say that…" Ex growled out.
"Why's that dog boy? Did I strike a nerve?" Slade taunted further.
Zaru rushed up and grabbed Ex to restrain him from charging headlong into battle. Ex just turned his head and growled viciously at him.
"Release me, now!"
"Yes, release him, since the mutt is in such a hurry to start obedience training." Slade mused.
The mutt comment infuriated not only Ex, but Zaru as well. Zaru's eyes flashed red, as he turned to Slade, then back to Ex and gave him a swift nod, and released him. "Teach this fucker what happens when he messes with a true demon."
Ex grinned evilly, and turned his gaze slowly towards Slade. "You will pay for insulting not only my mate, but my family as well!" His eyes flashed red, and he disappeared from sight.
Slade's eyes widened at how fast his opponent had moved, and he searched frantically for Ex. There was a light tap on his shoulder, and his head whipped around, only to be met by Ex's oncoming fist, launching him backwards into the metal gates of the obstacle course.
All of the Titans were completely speechless. The one foe that they couldn't even best when he was alive, Ex had just leveled him with one punch. But their thoughts of victory were cut short as evil laughter sounded out from the demolished area of the course.
"Impressive, but let's see how you hold up against this!" Slade held his arms over his head, as a gigantic ball of hellfire began to form in his hands.
Ex stared at the growing ball with amusement, but he made no move to stop Slade from making the ball even stronger.
The Titans, minus Raven, were all shocked that Ex just stood there, awaiting the oncoming blast. Finally, Beastboy yelled out, "Dude! What are you doing! Get out of the way before he lets that thing go!"
Before any more warnings could be yelled, Ex looked over and smiled at his friends, but Slade didn't see the sly smile that was passed on to the onlookers.
He just called out, "Don't waste your breath Beastboy; your friend is already dead!" As the ball of hellfire shot towards Exile, and exploded upon impact.
Slade laughed at Ex's futile attempt to bring him down. He turned towards Raven, "Now Raven, that was your big protector? What a shame, I thought a demonic slut like yourself could have done better."
Slade didn't however expect the reaction that he got from Raven; she smiled and started laughing lightly. "You know Slade, you might want to make sure that my mate is actually dead before you say something like that."
"WHAT!" He looked back towards the now dissipating flame, and sure enough, there was a figure standing proudly in the very center of the blast. But to Slade's surprise, the flames weren't going out naturally, they were being consumed.
Ex laughed evilly as he began his slow march towards Slade. "You know, for someone who is always pointing out others faults, you don't really know shit. If you were half as smart as you are made out to be, you would know that Lucifer fears me for my ability of absorbing any and all forms of hellfire!"
Slade slowly began to cower backwards in what the Titans could make out as pure terror.
Ex quickly re-summoned his crescent blades and charged full speed at the cowering general of Hell's army. Just as Ex was about to make the final blow, Slade began to melt into the rock, and called out right before he completely disappeared, "Sorry to cut my visit short, but this is something that Trigon needs to know right away. Until next time Titans."
Slade vanished just as Ex's fist was about to connect. "Damn! Fucking coward!"
Robin came up to from behind Ex, "He does that every time. Don't worry, we'll get him at the final battle."
Ex growled, "Ya know, from what I heard from you guys about this bastard, I thought he would have actually been a challenge."
"He is probably going to crawl back to Trigon, and beg for a power up. So you might have to watch your back the next time around."
Ex stopped growling, and smirked at the boy wonder. "I seriously doubt that. I wasn't even using a quarter of my strength against him."
"Yeah but now he knows who he's up against and now that he does, he'll probably go to Lucifer and get a power up from him." Raven said as she walked up to them.
Ex smiled at his mate and walked towards her. Robin turned his gaze from the happy couple so survey the damage of the obstacle course. It was almost completely destroyed. He shook his head and turned back to his team. "We can't do any more with this course. Let's take the rest of the day off."
Beastboy cheered, and ran back to the tower to get first dibs on a controller, chasing after him was Cyborg, yelling taunts and threats. Starfire floated afterwards cheering them on.
Zaru yelled, "You mean I have to wait until this gets fixed to do it! Damn!" As he stormed off back to the tower. Lilith rolled her eyes and followed her grumbling mate. Gabya opened up a portal and went to his temporary room and investigated his weapons for imperfections.
Vagare walked up to walked up to the remaining people, and Raven said, "You did great today, where did you learn to use nunchucks like that?"
Vagare's expression turned to sadness, "I don't know…I don't remember anything about my life."
Ex patted her on the shoulder, "Cheer up. We'll help you get your memory back."
Robin smiled, "Yeah, you're among friends now."
Vagare cheered up slightly, "So Robin, have you decided what I will do in the battle?"
Robin thought for a moment and turned to Raven and Ex. They nodded, and he turned back to her. "You'll be with them against Trigon and Slade. They'll need some more power if they'll want to take out Trigon before he gets too strong."
Vagare grinned widely, "Awesome! I can finally teach that bastard a lesson."
Robin nodded before adding, "You need to work together on this, or this whole plan will fail. The three of you need to fight in unison, so you should really get to know each other."
Vagare nodded, and Robin walked off, leaving her alone with Ex and Raven. She was about to walk off towards the tower when Ex stopped her.
"Vagare, we should do what Robin said, and get to know each other." He started.
"Because we know how hard it is to fight alongside someone that you don't trust." Raven finished.
Vagare stared at them, "Did you two read each other's minds or something, or better yet, did you read mine? Because I was thinking the exact same thing."
They looked at each other, and smiled. Raven spoke up, "We didn't have to read your mind. We're the same way, plus we know that you wouldn't risk your life for complete strangers."
Ex smiled then added, "So what do you two want to do?"
Vagare thought, "Well, I was hoping to get more of a tour when we went to the mall earlier."
Ex turned to Raven, "How about it, up to giving us the fifty cent tour?"
"Sure, But let me get changed first." Raven replied.
Vagare looked confused, "Why would you change? You go out in that to save the day don't you?"
"That's exactly the reason why I want to change. If I don't, then we'll attract more attention than we would if I didn't. You two don't have to worry about that because you aren't seen in the eyes of the public as a 'celebrity'"
"I'm mated to a celebrity, sweet." Ex teased.
"Shut up." Raven replied as she left to get changed.
After about ten minutes, Raven came back down dressed in her usual boots, tight black jeans, a purple tank top, and had a hooded sweatshirt that was black, with the outline of a raven in the center of the shirt, and around her neck, lay the medallion that Ex had given her not even a week before.
Ex smiled, "Let's be off ladies." He put his arm around Raven, the trio were enveloped in a dark energy, and were teleported to another part of town.
Beastboy looked up from his game, "Where did they go?"
Everyone else just shrugged their shoulders and went back to what they had been doing.
Somewhere across town, darkness opened up revealing three Titans. "So Rae, what do you have in mind for us?" Ex asked.
Raven smiled, "We're just going to walk around, and see if something catches our eye."
Raven grabbed Ex's arm and walked close to him, resting her head on his shoulder. She pointed out certain things that might interest the others.
After about an hour, they were getting bored with a plain old kind of tour, so Ex decided to spice things up a bit. Raven was wary of what he was about to do, but wanted to see how it played out.
"Hey Vagare, during the obstacle course, you showed some impressive speed." Ex said, as he led them to a large open area where they could cut loose, without worrying about being seen.
"Thanks, but that was nothing compared to what you did against Slade. That was amazing!" Vagare said. "Did you really mean what you said, about that not even being a quarter of your strength?"
Ex nodded, "Yup, but I rarely ever go to maximum power. I would virtually become an unstoppable beast, I wouldn't be able to fight my instincts any longer, and I would be fully aware of what I was doing."
Raven got worried, "I take it that has happened before."
"Yeah, once." Ex responded. "I almost completely destroyed an entire city. I've been an outcast for close to 40 years now, and I have to use some of my abilities to mask my presence so I won't cause a riot."
"That's horrible!" Vagare cried out. "What caused you to lose control like that?"
Ex looked up at both women, and took a deep breath. "This is the first time I have talked about it in decades." Raven and Vagare's eyes urged for him to continue. "My father is actually a demon lord in Europe."
They both looked at him in shock, and yelled at the same time, "You mean you're royalty!"
Ex winced at the volume of their voices, "Sort of, but it's not like the system that humans have, the demon lords are made up of the strongest demons of each type. And I regret to say, Trigon was one of them." He said with a loud growl. "Well, one of the neighboring lords kidnapped my mother, and threatened to kill her, if my father didn't give up his title and lands to him."
"That's horrible!" Raven said, and hugged Ex tightly.
"What happened?" Vagare urged him to continue.
Ex took another deep breath, "My father sent Zaru and I to keep a watchful eye on my mother. He ordered us not to kill anyone without good reason. But what we saw next made me see red. This lord had my mother tied up, nude on a bed. He was torturing her. She had whip marks all over her body, and her fangs were torn out." They both gasped in horror.
Ex had an impassive look on his face as he continued. "Zaru teleported back to our castle to inform our father of what was happening, and to get him to take immediate action. I was left behind because it would have taken me much longer to get back.
"I was left to have an uncontrollable rage consume me. What finally made me snap was hearing the lord say, 'Right when your precious lord relinquishes everything to me, I will kill you and send your dead body back to him. But I won't kill you just yet, I get to have my fun first…'" Tears began to well up in his eyes, and he took a deep breath.
"I saw red, and I felt my body change. It wasn't like the transformation that you saw with me turning into my demon form. This was worse, I was still in a humanoid form, but I had every aspect of my demon form. My claws grew longer, and sharper. My fangs tripled in length, and my eyes glowed red. I roared and tore though every brick wall in my path. I killed the guards mercilessly. I left no-one alive."
He suddenly felt two pairs of arms wrap around him, and he opened his to see that his mate and Vagare were hugging him tightly. They looked into his eyes, and Raven said, "You don't have to continue if it is too hard for you to do it. "
He took a deep breath, "I can't stop now, you two deserve to know the ending of this story."
"Take your time." Vagare said.
"I had finally reached the room that my mother was being kept in, and I heard screaming. With one punch, I took out the solid metal doors, and charged at the bastard. I had him by his chest. I stuck my claws into him and had them placed around his heart, and lifted him clearly off the ground. I watched him squirm and he begged for his life. I just laughed as I slowly crushed his heart, killing him slowly. When the job was done, I threw him to the ground, and passed out my self."
Both women released him, and gave him sympathetic looks. Vagare spoke up first, "You did what you had to do in order to save your mother. There was nothing else you could have done.
"I know, but I try not to dwell on things that happen in the past." Ex said with a sigh. "The real reason I brought you here is that I wanted to race you, Vagare." He grinned.
The mood surrounding the trio lifted significantly, "That sounds like fun, but which form?"
"I say we use our animal forms, just to make things interesting." Ex stated. "But I probably have much more experience with this, so I'll give you a handicap."
"What would that be?" Vagare questioned.
Ex grinned widely before saying, "Raven will ride on my back."
Raven's eyes widened, and Vagare quickly said, "Deal."
Both were already mostly transformed before Raven could voice her objections. As the two finished, Raven noticed that Ex was noticeably larger then the last time she saw him transform.
'I was holding back the last time I transformed, if I really wanted to, I could grow to the size of an average sized house. But that uses more energy.' Ex told her.
"Oh...ok, that makes sense." Raven replied.
'Ok, we're going to go to the end of the field. Raven, would you do the honor of starting us?' Ex stated
"Alright," Raven said as she got on his back. "On your mark," Ex walked up to the starting line while Vagare was hovering to his right. "Get set," Ex lowered his head getting into a streamline position. "Go!" The two shot off, Ex was traveling a speeds great enough to leave the remains of a silver streak. Vagare shot off to the sky and got some altitude so she could do a power dive in order to double her speed.
Ex immediately took the lead due to his experience, but she wasn't too far behind. To Raven, everything was a blur, so she gripped Ex's fur harder. Vagare began the dive, and rapidly closed the gap between the dueling demons.
The finish line was fast approaching, and Ex still had the lead, but the distance between them was reducing by the second. But Vagare was losing her momentum from her dive. It was clear that Ex would win this race, but he was impressed that she could keep up so well.
They passed the finish line, and Ex indeed came out victorious. The two stopped, and transformed back to their humanoid forms.
"You're the first person in a while that was able to even keep up with me, that's great!" Ex praised.
Her reply was cut short by a loud screech that sounded out over the field. The three of them looked towards the source of the noise, Raven and Vagare gasped in horror as they saw the very figures that chased them from the mall.
"What the hell are those things!" Ex yelled.
"Those are the monsters that chased us at the mall! Lilith told us to be careful about them. Damnit!" Raven yelled.
"So these things managed to spook Lilith? Then this should be fun." Ex grinned.
The monster that was hidden in the shadows revealed itself. It looked like a giant lizard like creature, but had a humanoid body. Large leathery bat like wings graced its back, and had vicious claws on both its feet and hands.
Ex stared at the beast, "What the hell is that thing?"
"That is one of my father's soldiers. They are ruthless killers! Be careful!"
Ex nodded, "I'll take care of scaly here, you two stand back. Raven, put up a barrier to protect you!" He charged the monster and summoned his weapons. The monster extended its claws and lunged at Ex at an astounding speed.
The monster dodged Ex's first assault, and countered with an attack of its own to his chest. Ex jumped back just as the claws were about to graze his chest. The two combatants seemed to be almost even in strength, but Ex still had the advantage in speed.
The two traded blows and both showed signs of fatigue. The monster let out a loud roar and landed a blow at Ex's chest, sending him flying back, and away form the Raven and Vagare.
"Ex!" Raven yelled, and accidentally lost some power from her shield.
The monster completely ignored the fallen demon, and rushed straight at the weakened barrier. It had broken through the barrier before Raven could strengthen it again. Vagare pulled out her nunchucks and prepared to protect her newfound friend. The monster caught the nunchucks and tossed them aside. It raised a fist to knock Vagare out of the way.
Off in the distance, a pair of eyes began to slightly glow red. Ex got up and shot the chained blade out at the monster. The chain caught the monster's arm, and Ex gave it a quick pull and severed the monster's arm from its body.
"Don't you dare touch either of them." Ex growled as the blade retracted back to its rightful place.
The monster shook off the pain it was feeling from the severed limb, and quickly raised his other hand to attack. Once again, a chained blade shot out, and caught the limb. Ex saw that the monster was about to take flight so he shot the second chained blade out and caught its wings.
"I told you not to touch them!" Ex yelled and he pulled back with both arms and cut off its remaining arm and both wings in one swift movement.
The monster roared out in pain, and with its last bit of strength it charged Ex. But it didn't even make it half way before it dropped dead. Ex pulled out the blade from the creature's neck and banished his weapons. He rushed to his mate and Vagare's side.
"Are you two alright?" He asked, his eyes still glowing slightly. "He didn't get you did he?"
They both shook their heads, "No, you got it before it could get up."
Vagare stared at him in both shock and confusion. "Why did you risk your life to save us? Well, I know why you saved Raven, but why me?"
Ex looked up from his mate and smiled. "I saved you because you have earned my trust, and right now, I consider you part of my pack. Dog demons protect those in their pack." Ex told her. "Lets get back to the tower; I think we've had enough excitement for one night."
They nodded in agreement, and Ex looked to Raven who was preparing to teleport them back. "Why don't we take the scenic route instead."
"What do you mean, scenic route?" Raven asked.
Five minutes later, the three were airborne. Raven and Vagare were mounted on a transformed Ex. Ex had yet again showed them a much larger size of his animal form, and he was jumping across the sky, and they made it back to the tower within ten minutes.
They jumped off his back, he transformed back, and the three walked into the tower, and all eyes turned to them.
"Dude! Where did you guys go?" Beastboy exclaimed.
"Yeah, we heard something that sounded like a loud roar. What happened?" Cyborg added.
"One of the monsters that attacked us in the mall found us. Ex killed it in order to save us." Raven said plainly.
Lilith's eyes shot open, "Were there any others there?"
"None of us sensed any more of those bastards there." Ex replied.
"Are any of you hurt, my friends?" Starfire asked in concern.
Vagare looked at her, "Raven and I are alright, but that thing hit Ex in the chest."
She rushed up to him, "Friend Ex, are you injured?"
Ex groaned, "I'm fine, it already healed. And I told you to stop…you know what, never mind…"
Gabya called out to Ex, "What did that thing look like?"
Ex thought for a second, "Just picture a smaller version of Godzilla, but it has wings. That's basically what attacked us."
He let out a breath, "Then I wouldn't start celebrating just yet. Those are basically the foot soldiers of Hell's army. You have to start worrying when the elites come into the picture."
"Wait, you mean those things that came after you a couple years ago? What did we call those things again?"
"Oh you mean the Whatchmafuckits. Those things were a bitch to beat." Zaru stated.
"What does the 'Whatchmafuckit' look like?" Robin interjected.
"Well for starters, they're big, and if I remember correctly, they have a bluish colored fur completely covering their bodies. Their eyes glow a deep red, and have extremely long and sharp claws." Lilith stated.
"Yeah, and they attack anything their master has deemed as an enemy. They may look weak, but they're not. They gave us a run for our money." Zaru continued. "They are fast, and attack without hesitation."
"And they don't feel pain at all; they are almost the perfect killing machine." Gabya finished.
"We'll have to up the training in the morning, but right now we should relax." Robin said.
"Let's watch a movie." Beastboy suggested.
"Which one?" Raven said.
"Uhhhh…." Beastboy started.
Lilith rolled her eyes, "Just pick one, green boy."
After several moments of searching, Beastboy yelled, "Ah ha! Found it!"
"What'd you pick BB?" Cyborg said.
Beastboy stood up and faced everyone. "Only the sequel to the scariest movie ever! Wicked Scary 2!"
All of the Titan's faces paled, and turned to Raven.
"What?" Ex asked.
"When we saw the first movie, my emotions went all haywire and basically recreated the movie. So they think it will happen again." Raven responded irritably.
"Oh, ok. This is gonna be good." Ex said with a grin.
Beastboy put the movie on and hit play. The movie played, the Titans, minus Raven, were either adverting their eyes, or watching in horror. While their demon guests on the other hand were watching on with amusement.
At the end of the movie, Robin and Cyborg were hiding their eyes slightly; Beastboy had long since ran to the bathroom and started puking from the sight of all the blood. And Starfire had jumped behind the couch and was peering over the edge, staring at the screen timidly.
Everyone else in the room was either laughing and making comments at the movie, or laughing and making fun of the Titans that were actually cowering in fear.
Beastboy came back into the room, "What's so funny?" He yelled in confusion.
They all stared at Beastboy, and Ex spoke in a humorous tone. "Because, Beastboy, we have lived through events that were much worse than that film."
Beastboy's eyes widened and turned towards Ex. "What sort of events are we talking about here?"
Ex gave a quick glance towards Raven and the others, and said, "Well for starters, I lost control and slaughtered over one hundred demons and reveled in the feeling of the kill."
Vagare stepped, "And I woke up in the center of a battlefield, surrounded by corpses, and having no memory as to why I were there."
"And getting attacked by a creature much scarier than that." Raven added.
"If you've been on the receiving end of God's wrath as I have." Gabya stated.
"If you've fought monsters and demons much uglier then that." Zaru added.
Lilith looked up at everyone else, and added finally while gesturing to Zaru, "If you've seen him eat a restaurant out of business multiple times."
The other Titans stared in shock for a while Beastboy broke the silence. "Whoa…."
"I guess that would explain why you all thought the movie was funny then…" Cyborg said in shock.
"We should get some rest, especially you two." Lilith motioned to Ex and Raven. "We have a lot of work to do to prepare for the ritual."
Everyone nodded and left for their rooms.
Elsewhere, deep underground beneath the city, Slade knelt before a flame glyph.
"It is as you suspected Master." Slade stated. "Someone is interfering with your link with Raven."
"Who!" Trigon's voice boomed.
"A demon by the name Exile has taken your daughter as a mate." Slade said. "And he also has the ability to absorb any form of fire."
"What! Exile is there?" A voice boomed out, one that was filled with much more malice yelled.
"Lord Lucifer!" Trigon yelled.
"Sire?" Slade questioned.
Lucifer ignored his question, "I will give the power to be able to ascend to his level, and give you the power to fight him."
"Yes sir." Slade bowed, and a blood red flame shot out and sucked into his body. Slade began to radiate with more power then he thought he would ever have, and he began to laugh evilly.
"Now Slade, go and prepare the troops for the final assault on the planet Earth." Trigon ordered.
"As you wish." And Slade slipped through a flame portal and disappeared from the cavern.
"Soon the Universe shall tremble at the power of Hell's army!" Trigon's voice boomed, echoing in the vast caverns, and the flame glyph dissipated back into nothingness.