Disclaimer: I'm done with this…
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Jump City.
It's afternoon, but the sun is still not yet visible. Instead the sky is still covered by an almost endless blanket of storm clouds that stretched over the horizon. Lightning bolts and cracks of thunder became ever more frequent on the past couple of minutes. A single drop of rain has yet to hit the ground.
All over the city, there was a mass panic. People in cars, bikes, and even bare feet were running away from a truly horrifying sight. Above the frightened metropolis hovered the bright glowing figure of Maria.
She entered the city about twenty minutes ago. The first sign of life she spotted, she started hurling her spheres of explosive energy at. The police had been called ahead by the Titans warning them of the grave situation. In response, the JCPD immediately scrambled to evacuate the citizens. People all over were now running towards the safest hiding spots, namely underground locations such as parking structures and the subway under the supervision of Jump City's most reliable officers.
Other's were taking the fight to Maria headlong.
"This is Cobra One, units, do you copy?"
"This is Cobra Two, copy!"
"Cobra Three here, we copy."
"Cobra Four, we copy as well."
"Cobra One to all units, attack the target at your discretion!"
"Wilco!" they all responded.
The Cobra Squadron, JCPD's personal helicopter attack unit, got the call first to deal with the problem. Each was an AH-64 Apache Gunship, fully armed and ready for the worst case emergency. At this point, it needed to be.
Cobra One swooped in fast and low on Maria's position over the rooftops. He launcehed several rockets towards Maria's body. Maria saw but was not able to block in time. The rockets exploded brilliantly as they made impact. Maria convulsed slightly in pain. She looked back up at the sky. Cobra's Two and Three were in prime missile launching position.
"Cobra Two, Fox three!"
"Cobra Three, Fox three!"
Both gunships fired a hellfire missile directed to wards Maria who didn't bother to even move out of the way. When the missiles did hit, they kicked up a smoke cloud that impaired everyone's vision of Maria.
"Did we get her!"
From out of the smoke came a bright sphere of energy hurtling murderously at the two choppers. The pilots inside almost popped their eyes out of their sockets.
"Evade Cobra, evade!"
Cobra Three managed to get out of the sphere's way but Cobra Two felt the impact on his tail. Cobra Two, in their damaged state, spun wildly out of control in the sky before crashing down on one of the building rooftops in a heap of twisted metal. Though the crashed seemed violent, the chopper's main body seemed mostly intact.
"Cobra Two is down!"
"Cobra Two, do you still copy!"
"We copy, One! Our ride's banged up but we're alright."
"Roger. Cobras, form up behind me!"
The three remaining choppers formed up and began to charge in on Maria again. Maria launched an attack by sending a few more Energy spheres towards the squad. The choppers saw it coming and took evasive maneuvers missing every single sphere. The all began to fire their machine guns in a counter attack. Maria covered her face with an arm as she is pelted with bullets.
The choppers approach ever closer until they are almost within arms length of her. Maria releases her hand from her face and swats one of the incoming choppers. She manages to hit the left engine of Cobra Three.
"I'm hit! I'm hit!"
"Three, what is your status!"
"She got our left engine! Can't stay in the air! I need to make an emergency landing. I'm out of this fight."
"Cobra Four, smother the target!"
"Cobra Four here, wilco!"
Cobra four began to launch its supply of Hydra rockets and Hellfire missiles at Maria. Maria, for once took evasive action and blocked most of the attack with her arms while floating down low around the buildings. Cobra Four's armaments mostly hit Maria's figure but some still hit the building sides creating an awful mess. Maria disappeared behind a Particular sky scraper and Cobra Four chased her.
Upon reaching the site of her disappearance, Cobra four has found out they had lost their target. Maria was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she!"
"Cobra One her, Cobra four, do you have the target on scope."
"Uh, situation pending sir."
Inside Cobra Four, the pilot and the gunner frantically search the immediate area. For a long time they couldn't find a thing. Then from behind them, almost instantly, a familiar giant figure appeared.
"Behind us!"
As Cobra Four hurriedly try to pull a one-eighty, Maria swatted the chopper away with a backhand. The choppers spun uncontrollably and crashed into a sliding wreckage on the street bellow, crashing into a few parked cars and knocking over a street lamp in the process. Maria approached the final resting place Cobra four slowly.
"Cobra Four, What's your status!"
"We're still alive, but jeez, get her away from us!"
"Roger, we're giving you some support fire. Get away while you can!"
Cobra one unleashed a volley of rockets, missiles and machine gun fire towards Maria. After the many hits, Maria turned around to acknowledge the attacking gunship while completely ignoring the downed Cobra Four. Cobra One continued to fire on her with a constant supply of its munitions. Maria countered by launching Sphere of energy towards the offensive aircraft.
Cobra One saw it coming and prepared to evade. To his surprise however, the sphere broke apart in mid flight into a couple dozen smaller spheres of energy that collectively stormed the hapless chopper.
"Oh, sh--!"
Cobra One was completely pelted by the attack, having had no means of escape. The collective damage from the attack was severe enough to force the chopper to the ground. It spun out of control as it came down towards the surface streets. Eventually, it came to rest in the small pond in the middle of one of the city's many public parks. The gunship lies in a smoking heap, but miraculously, the pilot and the gunner survived the crash and began to crawl out of their mangled craft.
Maria watched all this happen with total lack of emotion.
"FUTILE. JUST LIKE YOU EXISTANCE…" she said.
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Off the coast.
The T-sub was making haste towards Jump City. Inside, the Titans were increasingly getting anxious. They had called ahead via their on-board radio to warn the police about Maria. They were hopping that their massage wasn't too late.
Even from where they were approaching, they could see in the distance signs of fires burning and black smoke bellowing out of the streets. Maria had arrived early and it would seem that she had already cause some damage. This worried the Titans even more. All they could do now was to hurry as much as possible.
"Yo, Rob," called out Cyborg over the radio, "We just got a report by the chief of police."
"And…?" asked Robin.
"They received our massage and began general evacuation procedures about twenty minutes ago. They're still in the process of evacuating some of the citizens in the eastern part of town. Also, JCPD's Cobra unit already tried to tangle with Her but were shot down."
"What's the damage?"
"From what he said, there hasn't been a single casualty yet, even from the Cobra unit. But there's an increasing number of injuries on the streets, some are getting real serious, man. We have to haul butt A-S-A-Now!"
"Alright, we're about to approach the city limits. Everyone prepare for battle!"
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At the western shoreline.
The amazing vessel that is the T-ship zoomed in low over the beach, pulling behind it a wake of seawater. It flew past the beach and over the city streets like a falcon on a hunt. For this particular hunt, it was looking for a particularly large prey. Prey which was fairly easy to find. Over yonder in the middle of downtown, Maria was wreaking havoc.
Maria was constantly forming spheres of energy around her body and mentally hurtling them into any and every structure within visual range. Entire buildings were starting to burn as the blew up from the inside. Maria never stooped to even breath. Her onslaught laid waste to all in her path.
Of coarse the Titans did not take this lying down.
"Lock on!" said Robin, "Launching missiles!"
From the bottom of the T-sub opened several panels from which a volley of sidewinder missiles was released. The volley of missiles flew directly at Maria from the back. The sneaky move managed to catch Maria's attention as she turned to acknowledge her attackers. She was a bit surprised to see the Titans still alive. They were more persistent than she thought at first.
"Firing lasers!" said Robin.
From the T-sub's front end, several other ports opened up and from them came a barrage of laser fire that was pelting over Maria's floating form. She tried to block the incoming blasts with both her arms. The T-sub swooped by her figure. Maria looked behind her at the T-sub that passed by which was now turning around, preparing for another attack run.
She acted first, producing a particularly large sphere of bright energy in front of herself. When she felt that the sphere was big enough she launched it towards the T-ship that was heading her way.
"Robin!" exclaimed Starfire over the radio.
"I know, Star," he responded, "Everyone, prepare to separate on my command."
The giant sphere of energy came closer and closer to the ship which only seemed to accelerate. Inside the T-sub the Titans became ever more tense, ready to act at a moment's notice.
"Now!"
Just as the gigantic sphere of energy was about to impact the T-sub. The ship instantly sparated into it's five different pods each piloted by an individual Titan. The sphere of energy hit nothing but air and continued to drift harmlessly into the upper atmosphere. Maria was somewhat surprised at this turn of events.
"Titans, make your attack run!" commanded Robin over the radio.
Each pod began their attack run, bombarding Maria with a barrage of laser fire and missiles from different angles. Maria twisted and convulsed in pain after every impact. The amount of damage being dealt to her was truly overwhelming and she couldn't even bring her hands up to defend herself with. All five pods swooped past her as soon as they got too close to continue their attack.
"Titans, form up!" commanded Robin.
All five pods flew up in formation which was intended for reattachment. Slowly but surely, the vive pods slowly started to reconnect with each other. The forward pod, the central pod, the tail pod, and the two wing pods became one magnificent T-sub once again. However in that moment of short defenselessness, Maria recovered and made her counter attack
"HOPELESS PESTS."
She gathered more energy into a sphere and immediately directed it to the Titans' ship. The T-sub was still in its last stages of reattaching and was totally defenseless since it could not evade. Just as the T-sub reached its completion, so did the giant sphere of energy make impact.
The Titans were caught off-guard and the T-ship received extensive damage. It's entire underside lost almost all its armor plating. The ship manage to stay on its orientation, amazingly enough.
"Damage report!" demanded Robin.
"We've lost both engines!" responded Cyborg over the radio, "we can't keep to the air!"
"No choice, everyone bail out, now!"
in a split second after Robin gave that order, all five cockpit bubbles blew upwards and all five Titans bailed out into safety. The T-ship then started to spiral out of control until it finally crash landed on the wide span of the freeway. It skidded a few hundred feet before grinding to a halt. It stayed moderately intact but the T-ship won't see any flight time in the near future that's for sure.
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On one of the building rooftops.
Robin glided in in his specially made Glide suit which he stored in the T-sub as a back-up accessory and wore it on their way back to the city. The suit composed of a beak-shaped helmet and a pair of flexible wings made of a lightweight but very sturdy metallic alloy. The suit was worn over Robin's regular costume as an add-on.
The suit of his premiered itself during the case when the Titans came up against a talking piece of space tofu that wanted to steal all of the earth's cow population. Despite the ridiculous circumstances of that particular case, the suit was proven on the battlefield as a great asset to Robin. With it he can truly live up to his namesake.
Behind Robin The other Titans formed up. Beast Boy landed as a crow and transformed back into his elfin form. Raven came out of a black portal that materialized on the floor. Starfire came in carrying Cyborg by the shoulders. Upon setting down Cyborg immediately looked to where the T-ship had crashed. He wasn't happy.
"Oh man!" exclaimed Cyborg, "That is gonna take me forever to fix!"
"Hey dude," said Beast Boy, "We outta be thankful were not soup right now!"
"Beast Boy is right," said Robin to his team, "As long as we can still fight there is still hope."
"THERE IS NO HOPE."
The Titans turned to see Maria hovering close to them to the side. Her body was as immaculate as ever and didn't seem damage at all.
"I AM THE ULTIMATE BEING. MY RAIN OF DEATH SHALL COVER THIS LAND. THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO TO STOP ME."
"Not on our watch!" exclaimed Cyborg aiming his sonic cannon.
"Hope is the one thing that keeps the people of this city and everywhere else a reason to live," said Raven, "No matter what, it must not be allowed to be extinguished by you or any other being."
"You rampant destruction shall end tonight!" exclaimed Starfire.
Starfire, being her aggressive and righteously furious self, attacked first by zooming upwards and pelting Maria's figure with a barrage of starbolts. Maria was taken aback a bit and tried to block Starfire's attack. Starfire came to eyelevel with Maria who stared back. Starfire's eyes glowed bright green then she let loose a powerful optic blast towards Maria's figure. Maria jolted her head back and yelped in pain, disoriented.
"ARGH!"
Cyborg followed up this attack with his own. Taking a solid stand on the rooftop he was currently standing on, he charged his sonic cannon to a high degree. He aimed and fired a powerful blast that hit Maria's mid-section. Maria convulsed in pain as the blast forced her backward and crashing into a building side. Glass windows shattered and rained down on the streets.
"UUGH!"
Maria quickly recovered though and returned the Titan's attacks. She telepathically formed a bunch of energy spheres in front of her and directed them towards the Titans. The spheres of energy flew through the air at an astonishing rate. The Titans took immediate evasive maneuvers. Robin, Starfire, and Raven flew of to one side while Beast Boy transformed into a pterodactyl, grabbed Cyborg, and flew both of them away to the other side just as the spheres of energy turned the rooftop into a chimney.
Robin jumped off the building and glided through the air like a true bird of prey. He flew towards another rooftop and expertly perched on the edge. Once he had proper footing, he quickly reached into his belt, grabbed a few explosive birdarangs, and hurled them straight towards Maria. The birdarangs made impact and exploded brilliantly.
"DAHH!"
Maria countered by throwing a few energy spheres towards Robin who leapt off hi perch and glided away to evade the attack. This left Maria defenseless from her other side. Beast Boy readily exploited this. He flew in as a pterodactyl towards Maria's head. By the time Maria noticed something and turned her head to see, Beast Boy was already upon her. Beast Boy swooped in and quickly clawed at Maria's face. Maria convulsed in pain.
Beast Boy quickly circled around and swooped by once again performing the same attack. Maria tried to swat away Beast Boy but miserably failed at doing so. She saw Beast Boy circling around again, most likely to perform the same attack. She acted first and floated away from her spot. Predictably, Beast Boy followed her.
Maria led Beast Boy a distance before she made an attack. Maria gathered energy into a big sphere. Beast Boy saw this and slowed down to a stop. Maria released the sphere of energy towards Beast Boy who prepared to evade. However, the sphere suddenly exploded into a hundred smaller spheres that spread out like a firework. All the small spheres began to converge on Beast Boy who sweatdroped nervously knowing he didn't have an avenue of escape.
Luckily enough for Beast Boy, Raven suddenly flew up to him and formed a black shield around them both. The shield managed to absorb the whole of the attack. As soon as the attack subsided, Raven let down her shield and decided to throw a counter attack.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
Raven shot forth a barrage of black lightning towards Maria and made clean hits. Maria backed up supposedly in pain. Quickly enough, Maria recovered and threw a bunch of energy spheres towards Raven and Beast Boy. Raven quickly formed a portal behind them and transported the both of them away and out of the path of the incoming spheres of energy. The spheres flew harmlessly into the atmosphere.
On a nearby rooftop Cyborg had taken up a prime position for attack. He transformed his arm into his sonic cannon. He aimed and fired. The blast hit Maria squarely on the side of her head causing her to wobble right into a building front, breaking the glass windows.
"OOF!"
Cyborg continued his attack, firing blast after blast of sonic energy at the pinned down figure of Maria. Maria struggled desperately against Cyborg's barrage of sonic blast but to no avail. Cyborg continued without tiring. That is until he heard a very ominous beeping.
Cyborg for some reason couldn't continue his attack and a closer inspection of his sonic cannon confirmed why. He saw on the little LCD screen a bright red massage: Overheat! He cursed himself for not seeing this coming. What can you expect from continuously blasting that sonic cannon for over a minute. He knew it would take him about thirty seconds to cool down his weapon.
Problem was he didn't have thirty seconds.
Maria had quickly recovered albeit a little shaky. She looked down on Cyborg threateningly. Cyborg looked up at Maria while sweatdropping nervously. He grinned like an idiot. Maria, apparently not amused, began to gather energy into a sphere that she was about to throw at Cyborg,
She was distracted when a bunch of explosive birdarangs hit her in the back. She swung around to face her attacker. Robin stood perched on the edge of the rooftop of a nearby building, ready with another fan of birdarangs. Maria ignored Cyborg and prepared to attack Robin.
Again she was distracted this time by huge pieces of debris that hit her side. She swung around again. Raven was telekinetically throwing broken pieces of roof along with Beast Boy in gorilla form. Together the two Titans continuously hurled slab after slab of broken concrete. Maria covered herself with her arms and contemplated on how to counter attack.
Yet again she was distracted by a zooming Starfire that charged Maria head-on at three hundred miles per hour fist first. Starfire impact with Maria was devastating. Even after the initial impact Starfire fly forward bring Maria in with her. Both of them eventually impacted a skyscraper and were actually buried within the standing structure.
"AAARGH!"
Starfire soon flew out of the rubble, leaving Maria entangled within the standing skyscraper. She was caught with in a network of cables and metal poles that encased her body and some even stabbing into her like nails. Maria struggled in apparent agony to free herself but the Titans would not let the opportunity pass.
"Cyborg!" called out Robin, "Is your sonic cannon cooled down yet?"
Cyborg looked up at Robin. "Yeah, just about!"
"I think it's time for us to try the sonic boom again," Robin reached into his belt and pulled out a red and black disk, "only this time with a bigger boom!"
"You got it, dawg!" he gave a thumbs up towards Robin then looked at Beast Boy, "Yo, BB, get over here man!"
Beast boy nodded in response. Knowing what to do Beast Boy transformed into a pterodactyl once again and leapt off his perch towards Cyborg's location. Robin in the meantime leapt off his perch and glided along the wind towards Maria. Beast Boy reached Cyborg and quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and carried him away. Robin, while in mid-flight, stalled and threw the red and black disk. Cyborg, also in mid-flight, shot an extra powerful blast of sonic energy towards the disk.
As with before the charged disk flew straight into Maria. It impacted and created a comparatively bigger explosion than before. It completely engulfed Maria in a brilliant blaze of bright yellow flames. For a while the atmosphere was as bright as daylight.
The explosion subsided. The building in which Mara was encased in was totally covered in a cloud of smoke. The atmosphere was dead silent.
The Titans had gathered on a nearby rooftop overlooking the scene. They stare long and hard but find no sign of Maria's body as the cloud of smoke completely covered the building and impaired any view of what was inside.
"Did that do it?" asked Beast Boy
"I would hope so," said Starfire.
"Man that was one big explosion," said Cyborg, "Rob, I didn't know you kept something that powerful on your belt."
"Just a little something I've been saving for a rainy day," said Robin.
"Appropriate weather," said Raven as she looked up at the still darkly clouded sky. On any other occasion, a sky like this would probably be something she would feel comfortable with. But today, the sky seemed nothing to be one continuously bad omen.
Then things decided to get a little worse.
Raven noticed the clouds starting to swirl over the building were Maria would be. Bolts of lightning and thunder became ever more frequent around that particular area too. All the Titans had also notice the turn of events and were increasingly getting nervous.
"This can't be good…" said Beast Boy.
Suddenly, bolts of lightning struck the building where Maria laid. The lightning bolts flashed at an abnormal rate, almost one bolt every second, all targeting the same spot. The Titans covered their eyes from the blinding flashes of light. This continued for about a few more moments until the building simply exploded.
The Titans uncovered their eyes to see. What they saw took the breath from their lungs.
Maria was still alive and barely looking damaged. Her body was glowing brighter than before and she was radiating out visible strands of static electricity. She rose above the mangled wreck of the building below her and rose above the Titans who were staring up in awe and fear.
"WORTHLESS IS YOUR ENDEVOR. YOU CAN NOT WIN…"
Maria stretched forth her right arm up to the heavens. Slowly, the limb gathered energy around it but not into spheres like before. Instead the energy seemed to be absorbed into the arm itself. Finally a last bolt of lightning struck the arm and blinded everyone who was looking, namely the Titans.
The Titans drew their sight back from the blinding light. They couldn't see a thing for about ten seconds or so. Eventually their sight came back and they looked back towards their enemy. It wasn't any comforting.
Maria's right arm all the way up to the shoulder. had completely transformed. The shoulder area had doubled in thickness while the whole forearm transformed into what looked like a gigantic sword of some kind. The blade was made of her own flesh and had the same outer appearance. The blade was also very broad and about twice the length of her regular arm. It was glowing brightly.
"Definitely not good…" said Beast Boy.
"ALL SHALL FALL BEFORE MY POWER!"
With that, Maria charged at the Titans, blade arm swinging.
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Meanwhile, on the docks.
Riya and Sakura finally arrived. Their powerboat was just docked at one of the many concrete ports. They themselves were standing on the dock staring up into the city. They saw it clearly, the battle between the Teen Titans and Maria. It was truly a spectacle to behold however there was one thing that was obvious.
"The Titans are losing…" said Sakura.
"They can't win," said Riya, "Not like this…"
"How so?"
"I've read up on Maria through the files that Dr. Volkov kept. The thing that's making her so powerful is her ability to absorb anything thrown at her and that energy she stores up and simply throws it back. Another thing that truly makes her invincible is that she is constantly evolving."
"Evolving?"
"Her body is constantly changing into an improved and more powerful form. Constantly she is adapting to any form of attack that is used on her. So the more you hit her the more she becomes stronger. Fighting her like this is hopeless and soon she will become totally invincible."
"Then…there is no hope now…is there?"
"…No…"
"…"
The two were silent. They knew as much that nothing they could ever do would be able to destroy the monster they had help create or rather re-create. They were lost. Completely without hope.
"You're wrong."
The two siblings looked to the side at the sound of the voice. It was Dr. Cannes. He was dressed in a wool sweater, leather jacket, and khaki pants. He had somehow traveled down to the docks and met with Riya and Sakura. Coincidence it may be but this was probably destined for them all at some point.
"There is still hope," said the old man.
"Dr. Cannes…" said Riya, "you're the last person I'd expect to show up."
"And you two are here just as I had expected. Lucky I was able to catch you two before you did something stupid."
"What do you mean 'before'?" said Sakura, "I'd say we did something very stupid already. So stupid it probably means the end of everything as we know it…"
"…Sakura…"
"She's right Doc," said Riya, "We made a mistake. We brought that wretched thing to this world and all because we believed in something that was never real. This world that we lived in has been nothing but cruel to us all our lives since we've been born. We never experienced a mother's love throughout our childhood. We fought endlessly for reasons we couldn't even understand. We acted out against the world, making ourselves look like bad guys who are selfish and uncaring."
"All we ever wanted was a family to call our own," continued Sakura with teary eyes, "A home where we could feel safe in. A set of values that we could believe in. But…all we ever did was run blind into the night making one lousy mistake after the other. We we're so damn naïve that we couldn't see the light. In fact we refused to see it, all for some worthless dream."
"It doesn't matter what we do now," said Riya, "Maria is too powerful. Nothing can destroy her. It's useless to even try…."
"I don't think you two heard me clearly," said Dr. Cannes calling the two's attention, "I said that there is still hope."
"What in heavens name could possibly bring hope to this screwed up situation, Doc?" asked Riya.
"First, let me tell you kids something. There is no such thing as 'no hope'. What do you think got you this far? It wasn't some false ideal that Volkov fed you. It was the hope for something that you both wished for. The hope that you would be able to leave behind your Godforsaken past and move on to a better life. This same hope is shared by all who live on this Earth."
"Why should we hope for? Can't you see that everything we do is useless at this point? What reason is there left for hope?"
"You are still alive, that's what."
"…"
"Hope is synonymous with life. We live every day of our lives with nothing but hope to drive our hearts. Without hope we have no ambition, no purpose, no meaning. Our existence depends on this. If we give up hope, we give up life. You two are still alive. You two still have a future and everything to gain from it. You of all people have the most reason to hold on to hope."
The two siblings contemplated these words for what seemed to be the longest time. Before this moment they were sure that their lives have basically went down the drain. All their ambitions were dead and buried. They were also convincing themselves that any effort to stop Maria would be useless.
Why then would there be any reason to hope? Why did they bother coming back to the city? Did they want to see the Titans somehow win against all odds? Or, did they want to somehow find a way to rectify their mistake? Was it for redemption? Repentance maybe? Or could it be…
"You still have a future, children…" said Dr. Cannes, "…You still have a choice."
For a while no-one said anything. Riya and Sakura were looking at each other, contemplating their options. Though they said nothing, something was definitely shared between the two. Then they looked back down onto the ground with forlorn gazes, silently contemplating
Riya eventually broke the silence. "You know…I've always wanted to try a Pepsi."
Dr. Cannes raised an eyebrow. Similarly, Sakura stared up to her brother with a very curious gaze.
"They wouldn't let us have any in the facility," continued Riya, "And we were so busy helping out Dr. Volkov that we were only able to eat rations and water. But every time we went out on a mission I always saw these ads everywhere about how Pepsi taste so good. I've always wanted try one out, even if just once."
"…yeah," said Sakura, "I think I'd like to try one too…"
"But if Maria continues on like this, we'll never be able to try one…"
Riya looked back towards the city, towards the fighting. Then he looked back towards Dr. Cannes with a soft smile.
"…What can we do?" asked Riya
Dr Cannes actually smiled at this. "I'm glad you see it this way. This may be a chance for you two to regain what you have lost, or at least build a better future for yourselves, You've made the right choice."
"If ever could redeem ourselves, we'd gladly take the chance," said Sakura, "All our lives, we knew only how to fight. It's time we put that to good use and fight for something worth fighting for."
"Although…" said Riya, "Maria won't go down easy. Unless you have some kind of miracle weapon, were only going up a creek without a paddle, or a canoe for that matter."
"Actually I do," said Dr. Cannes, lifting up his right arm.
For some reason, it was only now that Riya and Sakura noticed that Dr. Cannes was actually carrying a large metal briefcase. They both eye it curiously having no idea what could possibly be inside. Was that the so-called 'hope' that Cannes was boasting about?
Cannes knelt down and gently placed the briefcase on the ground. The siblings moved in closer and knelt down themselves to get the best view of the thing. Dr. Cannes unlocked the two locks on either side of the handle. He opened it and laid it flat on the ground. Riya and Sakura observed the contents.
Inside the briefcase, held in place by a protective foam padding, were a small metal cylinder and what looked like a handgun of some sort plus a small empty dart. The siblings didn't know what it was they were looking at so they looked at someone who probably did, namely the Doctor. Cannes heard their silent inquiry.
"Volkov probably never told you this but this isn't the first time the induction process was successful in bringing a clone of Maria to life."
The siblings' eyes grew wide.
"Seven years ago, Volkov successfully, albeit illegally, performed the induction process and made a clone of Maria just like today. And just like today, Maria wreaked havoc upon the facility in which she was resurrected from. The whole facility turned into ruble overnight. Luckily we we're able to defeat her but lost a few good men in the process, sadly."
"How did you defeat her?" inquired Riya. "She is supposed to be indestructible."
"Yes, but not against her own power."
"…?"
Cannes reached into the suit case and pulled out the small metal cylinder. He carefully unscrewed the top and slowly pulled out a glass out of the metal case. The glass cylinder was filled with a blue liquid of some sort. The siblings eye it curiously then looked back at Dr. Cannes.
"From the start of the project," continued Cannes, "I knew Maria posed a significant threat. So I decided to personally find a countermeasure incase something like this ever happened. I personally oversaw the development of this to make sure we had a fighting chance against her."
"What is it?" asked Sakura.
"It's a virus. Genetically engineered based on Maria's genome. Since we knew she would be invulnerable to modern weaponry we came up with this to kill her from the inside out. This virus specifically hunts down her genome and devastates it while being completely harmless to everything else. Once this gets into her system it will break down her body from the genetic level so that means she won't be able to counter it. This is the weapon we used to beat her back then and this is the only chance we have now of saving this city."
Cannes reached into the briefcase and pulled out the dart. He opened up one end and inserted the glass cylinder with the blue colored virus. Then he reached into the briefcase again and pulled out the handgun. He opened up the barrel and inserted the dart then brought down the barrel to lock it in place. Effectively, he has loaded the handgun with the dart that contains the virus, after which he handed the gun over to Riya who took it with moderate hesitation.
"This is the last sample of the virus I have," said Cannes, "You mustn't waste it."
"Okay," said Riya while placing the handgun in his holster where his .45 would be if he had it, "We understand. Once we get close enough we'll just shoot this at her and--"
"No, it can't be just anywhere on her body. We tried that before but her skin is impregnable with this weapon."
"What?… then how did you--?"
"Did you two notice the yellow colored crystalline growth just bellow her neck?"
They both nodded.
"That's her only weak point. You must make sure that you hit her with the virus there and only there. Any other spot would only waste our chances."
The two stand up. They both look towards the city. Over the buildings they could see the Titans desperately fighting Maria against all hope. It made them wonder. If this can really be their one true hope in this situation. If they still have a chance for redemption. They turned their sight away and looked at each other, again silently communicating. They knew the answer was: yes. They seem to have reached that agreement as Dr. Cannes stands up.
"We'll do our best," they both said simultaneously.
"I'm glad you children finally see the light," said Dr. Cannes.
"It was always there," said Riya, "We just never wanted to see it. Until now."
Riya then walked towards the powerboat still docked on the port. He walked with a renewed determination. He hopped onto the boat but didn't restart the engine. Instead he reached behind the two seats and retrieved two large plastic cases. He hopped off the powerboat and onto the port then briskly walked to rejoin Sakura and Cannes. When he reached them, Riya lowered one case in front of Sakura and lowered the other at his own feet.
"This will be the final battle," said Riya opening his case to reveal a bunch of gun parts.
"The battle for our existence," said Sakura opening her case to reveal two Japanese Swords.
Riya quickly took the parts of the gun and assembled them with the ease from years of experience. Sakura took the sheathed swords and tied it around her belt, one sword on either side of her waist. She quickly drew both swords, twirled them around skillfully, and then quickly sheathed them again. She grinned slightly.
"This will decide, once and for all…" said Riya finishing up on his work, "…what our future will be."
Once he finished, he held up his new weapon: a large 10mm anti-tank rifle. The rifle was over six feet long and it was a pretty impressive sight to see Riya actually carrying it single-handedly. He loaded a clip full of explosive 10mm rounds. He lifted the whole rifle up and slung it onto his back.
"For our future…" said Sakura.
"For this world…" said Riya.
Behind the two siblings, Dr. Cannes gave a soft smile.
------------------------------------------------
Back near the center of the city.
Cyborg was running parallel Maria as she was flying down the metro highway. Cyborg had his arm transformed into a sonic cannon and was continually firing at Maria's figure. She all but ignored his lame attempts to damage her, still he was an annoyance. She readied her giant blade of an arm to be swung down on top of Cyborg.
Cyborg saw this and knew he had to back away. Maria swung down her heavy blade arm towards Cyborg. The metallic titan managed to dive out of the way as the heavy blade slashed into the building he was standing on. The blade dug deep into the top floor and threw up a lot of debris in the process. Cyborg continued to run away so that he may be able to find a better point of attack.
While Maria was in the process of lifting her huge blade arm from the building, Starfire came swooping down on top of Maria, throwing starbolts at her defenseless back area. Maria seemed to hardly feel the attack and she gave her blade arm one final yank. It popped off the building and swung wildly in a wide arc. The blade swung all the way around and nearly slashed into Starfire who gave a quick "Eek!" and managed to dive low and out of the way.
Starfire recovered her flight and flew up above Maria. Maria turned around to face the Tamaranian princess. Starfire wasted no time in dealing more of her starbolts in Maria's direction. The barrage of starbolts pelted Maria in green explosive energy and she block most of the attack with the broad side of her blade arm.
Then with her free arm, Maria formed a sphere of energy which she readily hurled towards Starfire. Starfire gave another "Eek!" and dove out of the way letting the energy sphere fly straight into the building behind her and explode in a brilliant white fireball. Starfire flew away clear of Maria's range of attack.
Maria's sight followed the retreating titan and she looked like she was meaning to pursue but a squall from behind her distracted her and Made her look back. Coming from behind her, Beast Boy flew in as a Pterodactyl once again. Maria quickly formed a bunch of energy spheres and directed them towards Beast Boy. The green Titan managed to weave in and out of the barrage of energy spheres without much trouble then flew up above Maria.
Once he determined he was high enough he folded his wings back and began a dive towards. Maria looked as if she was going to prepare another volley of energy spheres before she was taken by surprised by Beast Boy who, in mid-dive, transformed into a ten ton triceratops. The three horned green dinosaur came down on Maria like a prehistoric bomb. Maria acted quickly and brought up her blade arm by the broad side. Beast Boy collided with Maria's blade arm pretty hard and actually managed to bring her down to the street.
Maria was almost one on knee by the time she and Beast Boy came to a complete stop. Then in an amazing feat of strength, Maria swung out her blade arm and shoved Beast Boy back up into the air flailing madly. Beast Boy managed to regain his composure and transform into a sparrow and flew away to safety. Maria meant to follow but she was again distracted, this time by a car horn.
Maria looked to the side and found a SUV flying straight towards her face. The impact caused her to tilt her head back in pain. She tilted her head back down to see Raven holding a few cars in the air using her dark powers of telekinesis. Raven didn't wait for Maria to recover but instead threw all the cars she held in the air one after the other without pause. Maria was bombarded with a storm of automobiles and her body bucked, bent, and convulsed with every impact, though she didn't seem in pain
Maria managed to stand her ground as Raven continued her barrage. Suddenly, Maria manages to actually catch one of the flying cars in her free hand. Raven was taken aback. Maria crushed the Vehicle in her hand then dropped it to the ground. Maria then proceeded to gather energy into three spheres of energy then direct them towards Raven. Raven acted quickly to form a black shield which absorbed the attack.
Maria was preparing to throw another barrage of energy spheres. Raven knew she had to act quickly. Raven looked around her for anything she could use. She saw something behind her and decided to go with it.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she chanted.
With her awesome powers Raven lifted a huge gas tanker truck, still full of petrol, and hurled it straight towards Maria. Maria saw this and quickly abandoned her energy gathering. Maria swung up her blade arm. Just as the tanker truck was about to impact her, Maria swung down her heavy blade arm onto the tanker truck. The result was a huge explosion accompanied by a brilliant fireball. The shockwave caught Raven by surprise and shoved her to the ground.
"Oof!"
Raven landed on her butt. She groaned as she tried to get back up. She looked up only to see that Maria was almost upon her ready to swing down her mighty blade. Raven looked up nervously.
Maria was about to bring down her blade when a projectile of some sort exploded upon impacting with her face. Maria lost her concentration on Raven allowing the girl to teleport to safety. Maria looked in the direction where she thought the projectile came from. She saw Robin holding ready a fan of birdarangs while perched on a low building. He was close to where Maria. Maria noticed this fact and took advantage of the close range by stabbing her blade arm towards Robin's position. The boy wonder noticed and quickly jumped out of the way.
Maria's blade arm embedded itself deep in the buildings structure so she wasn't able to pull it out as quickly as she would hope to. Robin leapt down and took advantage of the situation. He glided towards Maria's head and threw an explosive disk in Maria's face. The impact caused her to tilt her head back in pain. Robin quickly pulled out a grappling hook and fired at Maria's neck. The grappling hook latched itself around Maria's neck.
Robin held onto the other end of the line tightly as he proceeded to glide around Maria once, twice, three times, four, five, six times total, wrapping the grappling wire nice and tight around Maria's neck like a noose. Robin then glided down to street level. There he was joined by Cyborg and Beast Boy. Together, the three boys held onto the wire (Beast Boy transforming into a gorilla to help) and pulled down hard.
Maria found herself being pulled down by the neck painfully choking. The three Titans bellow gave it all their strength to pull her massive figure down. Maria was almost struggling to stay on her feet.
From above, Raven and Starfire float over Maria's struggling figure. They assisted the three boys below by pelting Maria with their own aerial attack. Starfire fired volley after volley of starbolts and Raven fired off black lightning from her hands.
Being attacked from both sides, Maria found it harder and harder to maintain her composure. How she stayed on her feet at all was already an amazing feat. Above all else she was getting extremely irritated. The Titans were insects compared to her and she was having a harder time taking care of them as she had expected.
Maria decided to pullout all the stops at that point. She concentrated a lot of energy into her wings which caused the wings to glow doubly brighter. Then in one great burst of energy, Maria propelled herself straight up. The Titans were taken by surprise and had no time to react. The boys were yanked up into the sky along with Maria and the girls were nearly bulldozed by Maria's upward charge.
Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg eventually let go of the grappling wire. It turned out to be not such a good idea considering they were about a quarter of a mile into the air at that moment. They fell to earth like a sack full of batteries. They flailed around trying to orient themselves.
Below, Raven and Starfire recover and notice the boys' plight. They immediately flew up to assist. They reached the boys soon enough and began the rescue. Raven caught Beast Boy and Cyborg in two black bubbles of dark magic while Starfire caught Robin by the shoulders. They then flew down to a nearby rooftop and settled down.
Just as they were catching their breath, the Titans noticed Maria looming over them from the side. The Titans were too shaken up to act immediately. Maria had no evident emotion on her face but it could be surmised that she was particularly pissed off right about now. The Titans knew this so they were understandably worried.
"INSOLENT INSECTS!" said Maria as she lifted her huge blade arm.
She didn't bring down the blade arm immediately but gathered energy around it instead. The Titans knew where this was going and it was gonna be anything but good. Raven bravely stepped forwards and looked as if she was about to create a black shield of protection though she knew it wouldn't hold out much. Maria was about to bring down her blade arm when…
BANG!
A really powerful bullet impacted Maria right on the cheek. The impact was instantly followed by a powerful explosion was powerful enough to almost break her neck and also made loose her concentration along with the energy she gathered on her blade arm.
"ARGH!"
The Titans were equally surprised at this turn of events. They looked to the side to where the shot had come from and so did Maria. They saw Arsenic, holding a large, smoking, anti-tank rifle in his arms, aimed at Maria. The Titans wore a surprised look on their faces. Maria on the other hand was practically fuming. She ignored the Titans and charged Arsenic where he was perched.
Arsenic didn't move from is spot. As Maria approached him and became increasingly closer, another figure leapt from behind Arsenic into the air towards Maria. The figure was holding two Japanese swords. Maria couldn't react in time. The figure quick slashed at Maria as they met then quickly leapt off Maria's body with a good kick.
"DAH!"
The figure landed on a nearby rooftop. Maria and the Titans got their first good look at who it was. It was Lithium holding two Japanese swords at ready. Again the Titans looked surprised but Maria stayed pissed. Immediately she attacked in anger at Lithium by swinging down her blade arm hard. Lithium stared up emotionlessly. As the blade came down on her, she quickly sidestepped out of the way. The blade missed Lithium by inches.
The blade was lodged into the building rooftop. Lithium wasted no time. Lithium jumped up onto the blade and ran up to Maria's shoulder. There she perched herself and began to relentlessly slash away at Maria's head and neck. Maria twisted her head in pain from the cuts. Maria quickly reached out her other arm to try and grab Lithium and throw her away. Lithium noticed early and leapt of by herself onto another rooftop and Maria grabbed nothing but empty air.
Meanwhile, Arsenic was aiming again his rifle. He pulled the trigger and the rifle sounded off an awfully loud bang. The bullet impacted Maria on the shoulder which caused her to shriek. The following explosion was enough to push her back and actually dislodge the arm blade that was lodged into the rooftop.
Maria quickly made a counter-attack. She formed a sphere oh energy and hurled it in Arsenic's direction. Arsenic did not stick around but quickly slung his rifle despite its weight and ran to the side. The sphere impacted missing Arsenic by a large margin. Arsenic leapt off to another building and perched on the rooftop.
Maria was about to attack. The Titans decided to act then and there. The took advantage of the fact that Maria had her back to them. Raven and Starfire flew up and began to shot starbolts and black lightning towards Maria's vulnerable backside. Cyborg joined in by shooting at Maria's back with his sonic cannon. Maria was taken by surprised and convulsed in unusual ways in apparent hurt.
"AAAHH!"
Maria quickly turned around to confront the Titans but only saw the three that attacked her. Robin and Beast Boy were already on another rooftop nearby. Robin began to toss explosive birdarangs in Maria's direction. The explosive impacts called for Maria's attention. By the time Maria was looking in their direction. Beast Boy had already leapt off the rooftop as a veloceraptor and clawed at Maria's chest.
Maria flailed around in pain while she tried to reach out and grab Beast Boy. Beast Boy leapt of just in time before Maria could get a hand on him. He transformed into an eagle and flew off. Maria was about to launch an energy sphere towards the animorph when she was distracted by another attack from the side.
Lithium had again leapt off from a rooftop towards Maria and quickly did another quick slash-and-leap attack on her side. Maria tried to grab her but Lithium had already leapt off and landed on another rooftop which was coincidentally the same rooftop Robin was on and landed right next to the Titan leader.
Lithium got up then looked at Robin. Robin looked back at Lithium with a partially intense glare. For a while they didn't do anything. Lithium then gave Robin a nod. Robin did nothing for a while but eventually he returned the nod with one of his own. They seemed to have come to an agreement. Beside the rooftop, Maria loomed over them both. Lithium readied her sword while Robin reached into his belt and pulled out his bo staff.
Maria attacked them by swinging down her blade arm down on them. Robin and Lithium split up by jumping away from each other and the path of the blade. Maria missed them both and only got her blade stuck again on the building. Robin and Lithium didn't waste the opportunity. They both ran up the blade towards Maria's head. Lithium slashed away while Robin swung his staff smacking into several sensitive places.
"NYAA!"
Robin and Lithium both leapt off and landed on separate rooftops. As Maria finally dislodged her blade arm from the roof, Raven attacked by throwing a large water tank towards Maria using her telekinetic powers. The impact made a bigger splash rather than a crash. Maria ended up soaking wet much to her annoyance like most other things around her.
Robin took advantage of this and used a couple of freeze disk to throw at Maria. Upon impact, the freeze disks actually flash froze the water from the tank Raven used seconds ago, freezing Maria's entire body solid as arctic ice. It would probably take her about half a minute to brake out of her frozen encasement but she wasn't given the opportunity.
Cyborg and Starfire prepared to attack quickly by launching a sonic blast and a volley of starbolts. The impact prematurely freed Maria but at the same time hurting her and forcing her back a short distance. Maria quickly recovered and was already preparing a counterattack. Maria quickly gathered energy into a large sphere.
Cyborg and Starfire naturally got nervous. Suddenly from behind the two Titans a small object was tossed up at Maria. It was going too fast for the Titans to see what it was and Maria was the first to get a real good look at it just as she was about to release the energy sphere. The small object turned out to be a hand grenade. The grenade blew up in Maria's face which caused her to loose her attack and to clutch her face with a hand.
"YAAARGH!"
Cyborg and Starfire looked behind them to see who had tossed the grenade. It was Arsenic. They all stood there for a few moments doing nothing. Eventually, Arsenic grinned and gave a casual salute with only two fingers. The two Titans seemed to calm a bit and took the gesture as a sign of friendliness. Arsenic walked up to them and took position in-between the two Titans.
Maria had recovered at that point and was preparing another attack. On the rooftop, Arsenic readied his rifle while taking a kneeling position. Starfire and Cyborg took this as some kind of cue and prepared themselves, Starfire charging a particularly powerful starbolt and Cyborg powering-up his sonic cannon. Maria was about to attack. The three waited for the right moment to strike.
Maria had gathered enough energy into a volley of energy spheres and showed that she was about to release them. It was the opportune moment the three have been waiting for. All at the same time, Arsenic, Starfire, and Cyborg fired their respective munitions. All of the shots hit Maria dead in the face which caused her considerable pain and forced her to fly backwards and crash into a building behind her.
For a while it looked as if Maria was down for the count. Soon enough though, Maria was already launching herself from the building which she crashed into and flew towards the rooftop where Arsenic, Starfire and Cyborg were perched, glowing blade arm first. Starfire quickly flew upwards as Arsenic and Cyborg jumped towards either side just in time to avoid being skewered.
"BOTHERSOME INSECTS!" said Maria as she forcibly yanked out her blade from the building, "YOU SHALL BE THE FIRST I TURN TO ASH!"
Maria raised her hand and gathered a large amount of energy above her, formed it into a large sphere, and launched it into the air. In the middle of the air, the large sphere exploded into a dozen or so smaller spheres of energy which rained down onto the area around Maria. The Titans along with the two siblings found themselves jumping around in random direction as they are bombarded with energy spheres.
There were explosions on rooftops all over the place and even some on street level. The explosions kicked up a whole lot of smoke and debris into the air fogging the area and impairing vision. Maria searched her surroundings and found no trace of any of the seven teenagers yet. But she found one soon enough. Three large air-conditioning units, surrounded in black energy, suddenly emerged from the smoke flying towards her. They impacted Maria on the chest and broke apart into a million pieces of scrap.
"ARGH!"
The smoke and dust settle down and Maria found Raven and Starfire floating near her. Maria swings her blade arm at them in anger. She misses as the two girls fly away in separate direction, Starfire firing starbolts towards Maria in the process. Maria ignores the starbolts and gave chase to Starfire as she fleed and continued to pelt Maria in Tamaranian energy.
On several other rooftops, the rest of the group collectively recovered and began to give chase to the fleeing figures of Maria and Starfire as they saw the scene take place. Beast Boy flew into the air as a hawk and flew along side Raven while Cyborg and Lithium jumped from building to building, all ready to take the fight to its highest ends.
------------------------------------------------
On another rooftop.
Robin was just recovering himself. A sphere of energy that landed uncomfortably close to him a little while back managed to knock him on his back for a few moments. He was groggily getting up when a hand was offered to him. Robin looked curiously at the hand and looked up to see who was the owner. It was Arsenic.
"Need a hand?" asked Arsenic sounding as friendly as possible.
Robin looked at him for moment of hesitation. Here was probably one of the most tenacious foes that he and the Titans have faced in a long time and now here he was offering a hand to him. But only a few minutes ago he and his sister probably saved his and the Titan's lives or at least a really expensive hospital bill. Well, this day had been filled with one crazy happening after another. What the heck, right?
Robin took the hand and Arsenic pulled the boy wonder to his feet. Robin did a primary survey of himself to see if had sustained anything serious but seemed satisfied that he hadn't. He brushed himself off and looked back at Arsenic who was standing there patiently waiting for Robin's attention.
"Thanks," said Robin.
"No problem," said Arsenic.
"Glad to see you guys managed to get out of that disaster out at sea. We actually thought you guys were goners for sure."
"The feeling's mutual, believe me."
"Heh, I bet. I'm also glad you decided to join the party. Although I can't say it will amount to much in the long run. Maria, she's practically invulnerable, you know."
"We know that, but that doesn't mean we should give up on hope just yet."
"…?"
"You're right when you say there's no beating her like this. She can't be destroyed with just brute force. If we do, she'll just continue to evolve into something that can take whatever we throw at her. That's what makes her so powerful. But there is a way to defeat her. You just have to know what you need and how to use it."
"I like where you are going with this… What have you got for us?"
Arsenic smirked and drew out the handgun in his holster. "This is what we need."
"What is it exactly and where did you get it?"
"Fortunately for us, we still have a good friend who's willing to help. Cannes gave it to me. We mat at the docks a little while back. He told about how Maria was reborn before. He had to use this on her as well. It was the only thing that could defeat her."
"Cannes… somehow I would have guessed. If it's from him then I guess we could trust it. Now tell me how are we suppose to use it to defeat Maria."
Arsenic opened up the handgun to show Robin the contents of the thing. He then proceeded to quickly explain the things that Cannes had told him, how the virus was created and how to use it properly. Robin got the message pretty quickly and knew what he had to do. A ray of hope has finally revealed itself and to Robin it couldn't have come any sooner.
"Alright, we'll do our best to give you a good shot."
"Good. Hopefully, this will work as it's suppose to. This is probably the last chance we have of doing anything to stop her. We must finish this tonight."
Arsenic held his rifle and turned around to jump away.
"Wait!" called out Robin, "are you sure you guys really want to do this. After all, isn't Maria your…"
"…No, she's not," said Arsenic, "Now we are sure she is not, and she never was."
"…"
"It was just a false dream we have been chasing throughout all this time and because we have been to blind to see the light, this city of yours and it's people are the ones paying the price. We never wanted things to end this way, we never wanted anybody to get hurt. Now all that's left for us is…"
"…hey…"
"Robin, please don't deny us our last chance for redemption. Let us have that at least."
Robin walked up top Arsenic and planted a hand on his shoulder.
"Agree," said Robin, "Let's work together to end this here. Who knows? There might be a happy ending in here somewhere for the both of you."
Arsenic smirked at Robin. "Yeah, who knows?"
They nodded at each other. Arsenic leapt off the rooftop first and jumped from building to building after the battle. Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out his communicator.
"Titans, new plan…"
------------------------------------------------
In the middle of the city.
Beast Boy was flying circles around Maria as a pterodactyl again. Maria was relentlessly swinging her blade arm trying to swat the annoying animorph but was not having much luck in doing so. Beast Boy swooped in close every now and then scratching Maria with his talons. Maria then got lucky as Beast Boy cam close one last time and she managed to grab him in her hand.
Beast Boy struggled to get free. Maria began to squeeze even tighter. On a rooftop to the side, Lithium leapt off towards Maria and landed on Maria's shoulder. She slashed away with her twin swords at Maria's arm which caused Maria to let go of Beast Boy who flew away to a safer distance.
Lithium continued to slash away until Maria tried to grab Lithium. Lithium leapt off but as soon as she was in the air Maria swung her blade arm at Lithium. Lithium reacted out of instinct and blocked with her two swords. The three blades made a huge 'clang' and caused Lithium to flail around in the air, out of control.
Raven came to her rescue. Raven formed a wide platform of black energy where Lithium managed to land on and reoriented herself. Maria prepared spheres of energy around herself and fired them upon the two girls. Raven used her free arm to create a shield to protect herself and Lithium. The shield held, blocking Maria's attack effectively.
Behind Maria, Starfire flew up with glowing green eyes. Starfire let loose a optic stream of energy down Maria's spine between her wings. Needles to say, that was far from pleasant for Maria who immediately turned around to acknowledge Starfire. Maria swung out her blade to try and swat Starfire but the Tamaranian girl was quick enough to dodge and charge in with a powered-up punch to the stomach.
"UUGH!"
Then to finish the combo, Starfire flew up to Maria's face and gave her a powered-up uppercut to the chin.
"DAAH!"
Starfire flew all the way up and when she was high enough. She looked down and charged a volley of Starbolts that she rained down on Maria, pelting her large figure.
"AARGH!"
On a nearby rooftop, Cyborg had taken a firm stand. He locked onto Maria with his cybernetic eye and opened both shoulder pads of his to reveal a volley of six missiles. He launched them and they all headed towards Maria. The missiles made impact all at the same time causing Maria to convulse in pain. Maria quickly recovered however and quickly threw a sphere of energy towards Cyborg. The metal Titan quickly jumped over to the next rooftop to evade.
In the explosion that followed, Beast Boy flew in as an eagle which dive bombed Maria from the back. In mid-dive, Beast Boy transformed into a T-rex. Only then did Maria actually notice something behind her but by then it was already too late to react. The green T-rex flipped forwards doing a complete summersault and Hitting Maria with his tail.
"AAAH!"
Maria was forced to go down. She crashed onto street level where the Beast Boy also landed just a couple dozen meters away from her. Beast Boy gave out a large roar to challenge Maria who was just groggily recovering. Coincidentally The road they were on was actually on the edge of the river and behind Maria was Jump City's famous Suspension Bridge.
Beast Boy wasted no time and began his charge, causing a small quake with every gigantic step he took on the street. This seemed to quicken Maria's recovery as she was able to stand up and swing sideways her blade arm as Beast Boy came close. It missed and amazingly enough, Beast Boy managed to actually catch the offensive blade in his massive jaws.
Beast Boy's gigantic jaw clamed down on the blade like a vice, refusing to let go. Maria did her best to struggle and free the blade from Beast Boy's jaws but wasn't having much luck. The rest of the Titans didn't waste This opportunity. Raven, Starfire and Cyborg gathered next to Beast Boy and pelted Maria with almost everything they got.
"ARGH!"
The attack managed to stun Maria for a short while and Beast Boy took his cue. Beast Boy let go of the blade arm which fell limply, then quickly did a one-eighty and smacked Maria with his mighty tail. Maria was sent flying involuntarily to the middle of the suspension bridge. There she crashed into a heap and kicked up a cloud of dust.
Beast Boy transformed back into his elfin form and settled down on the street along with Raven, Starfire, Cyborg, and even Lithium. A while later, the last two boys, Robin and Arsenic, came running up to join them. They all watched as Maria slowly get back up to her feet in the middle of the bridge.
"Everybody know the new plan?" asked Robin.
Everyone there nodded their head. Arsenic and Lithium knew the plan first hand and the Titans received the plan from Robin via the communicators just a little while ago.
"Then let's all go and end this once and for all."
Again they all nodded. Robin then looked to the side to where Arsenic and Lithium were standing next to each other.
"I'm glad we're able to fight together like this," Robin said to them.
"Yes, I too am very thankful for you assistance as well," said Starfire, "It is a great honor to be able to fight alongside you as comrades."
"Yeah, you guys kick butt!" said Beast Boy, "Too bad we can't work together like this all the time."
"Still, I'm glad y'all finally showed your true colors," said Cyborg, "I never believed you two to be all that bad anyways. Really!"
"Azar knows, we would never be able to survive this fight without you," said Raven. "Thank you for bringing us hope."
There was something about that last line that made the two siblings smile a bit.
"Thanks…" said Arsenic, "But we owe you as much anyways."
"It's the least we could do," said Lithium, "After all the stuff we put you and the city through. This is, as we see it, our personal way of redeeming ourselves, for the mistakes we made."
"Making mistakes as a fact of life," said Robin, "How strong you are is determined by how much you are willing to give to learn from and rectify your mistakes. I truly admire you two for the strength you have exhibited throughout all this time. And because of that, I believe there is truly a better future for the both of you waiting past the sunrise."
They all looked at each other with approved smiles. Arsenic and Lithium gave satisfied nods of thanks to the Titans who eagerly return them.
In the distance, Maria's deafening shriek was heard. The Titans and the siblings looked towards the center of the bridge. Maria has finally recovered and was standing in all her glory. She looked as if the glowing aura around her has partially increased in brightness. The seven teens looked on.
"Let's finish this," said Arsenic while cocking his rifle.
"Yes, let's," said Robin in response, "Titans, GO!"
------------------------------------------------
In the middle of the suspension bridge.
Maria was fully recovered by then and was simply waiting on the attack of the Titans and the two siblings. They have all proven themselves very big annoyances. But she knew it didn't matter. No matter how much pain they deal to her, she can return it tenfold. She will fulfill her destiny of destroying this world but she will make sure to start with these seven children first.
Raven was the first to show up. Raven did a quick survey of the filed and found a lot of stuff she could use. Maria attacked by throwing a volley of energy spheres first. Raven swerved around them evading them with relative ease. Then she starched out her arms and chanted her famous magic incantation.
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!"
Streams of black energy stemmed forth from Raven's body and picked up a bunch of abandoned cars that were resting on the bridge. She immediately hurled them towards Maria who blocked the incoming attack with the broad side of her blade arm. The cars exploded with every impact. Maria couldn't see because her blade arm was in front of her face.
After she felt the last car, Maria steadily lowered her blade arm. She was immediately greeted by the sight of Starfire charging at her, green glowing fist first. Starfire came crashing into Maria's face at practically the speed of sound. Maria's head was tilted far back as she yelped in pain.
"ARGH!"
Cyborg ran up from the ground and transformed his arm into a sonic cannon. He aimed his cannon at Maria's leg and fired. The blast hit the shin as planned and caused the leg to fly backwards. Maria fell on one knee.
Beast Boy charged in as a T-rex again, head-butting with the force of a wrecking ball. Maria flew backwards and fell on her back. Beast Boy gave a victorious roar though a little early. Maria, now really pissed off, Quickly recovered by concentrating most of her energy on her wings. She propelled herself upwards and quickly reoriented herself.
Maria looked down on Beast Boy with murder in her eyes. Beast Boy sweatdropped. Maria formed a volley of energy spheres which she rained down on Beast Boy. The animorph quickly transformed into a sparrow and weaved through the fire and out into safety.
From one of the maintenance platforms on the bridge's tower, Arsenic lied down on his chest in a prone firing position with his rifle. Above him on a hire platform, Robin held ready an explosive disk. Robin was the first to act by tossing his disk towards Maria. It made impact close to her neckline and Maria was visibly hurt. Maria turned her attention to the boy wonder. Arsenic took this as his cue and fired on the crystalline growth below Maria's neckline. The bullet impacted and exploded. Maria shrieked in pain.
"AAARGH!"
the crystalline growth on her chest was broken. It began to bleed profusely with a mercury like liquid that glowed white. Now everyone could see a brightly pulsing red organ inside. Maria was convulsing in pain and seemed as if she was in some kind of shock. That gave the teens the time they needed.
"That's our target," said Robin.
"Let's start the plan then," said Arsenic. He began waving his arm towards the other tower on the far side of the road.
On the other tower, Lithium saw the signal and knew what she had to do. She hopped down her perch and began to run down the main suspension line. As she traveled she slashed away at large metal binders. The binders broke and released the more thinner suspension cables below the thick main one.
Similarly on the other side, Cyborg had gotten on the main cable from bellow and started running up. On his way up, he destroyed the binders with his sonic cannon aimed down, releasing a bunch of suspension cables.
"Alright, we're ready to go then," said Robin into his communicator, "Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, you guys are up."
The three said Titans formed up above the scene, Beast Boy as a pterodactyl again to help. The separated and they knew their roles. The all flew down towards the mangled suspension wires the were sprawled all over the street The picked them up collectively, Raven with her powers, Beast Boy with his talons, and Starfire with her bare hands.
With cable in hand, the three Titans flew circles around Maria's hapless figure. The flew in and out, in-between her arms and legs and around her body wrapping the cable around and around, tightening it as the go Using the cable that was trailing them, Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy tied Maria to the ground by her arms, legs, waist, shoulders, just about her whole body was wrapped in cable.
Starfire and Beast Boy landed and were soon joined by Cyborg. Beast Boy transformed into an elephant and grabbed a trunk-full of cable. Cyborg and Starfire similarly grabbed handfuls of cable and pulled down hard effectively holding down Maria as the did with Robin's grappling hook before, only this time with way more leverage.
Maria was tied down to the street like a circus tent. She couldn't move, let alone defend herself. She was still recovering her energy and she couldn't summon the strength to break free yet. This was an opportune moment for the plan to take its full effect.
"Looks like I'm up," Arsenic said as he got up from his prone position and simply left his rifle there. He hopped down the tower and onto a maintenance bridge that connected the two sides of the tower ten stories from the street. Arsenic took out from the holster his special handgun with the viral dart and prepared to take his shot.
He took a quick moment to asses the shot he was about to take. Distance: about a hundred yards. Wind speed: about thirty kilometers per hour to the west. Target: minimal movement with an area of about twenty square feet. All in all, an easy shot.
He aimed his pistol carefully placing all the angles and considering all the factors. He had proper aim. Now just concentrate. Focus on the target, don't let anything distract the aim. Finally, just slowly squeex the trigger…
SNAP!
One of the cables breaks apart from all the stress put on it. It broke off and swung wildly in the air. It then came whipping down on Arsenic's position. Arsenic noticed in too late a time and was not able to react enough. The free swinging cable whipped the hapless teenager off the maintenance bridge and sent him falling to the pavement. Arsenic fell ten stories down to the ground and the only thing that cushioned his fall was an abandoned station wagon which he totally flattened.
"Aaaargh!"
"Riya!" screamed out Lithium as she hopped down the main suspension cable and Rushed to her brother's side. Robin also came down with the assistance of Raven and her telekinetic powers. They all reached him at about the same time. They saw that the care was a total wreck and Arsenic was on his back and clutching his right arm.
"Thank God for air bags, huh?" he said.
"Are you alright!" asked Robin.
"No, I'm not. My right arm is broken at the wrist."
Lithium did a quick survey of her brother and found no other serious injuries but she did find that one thing was missing.
"Hey, where's the virus!" she asked.
Arsenic lifted his arm to point to the side. Raven followed it and spotted the handgun just a few feet away. She summoned it using her telekinetic powers and quickly handed it over to Robin. Robin examined it as best as he could. He didn't seem satisfied.
"What's wrong?" inquired Arsenic.
"This isn't good," said Robin, "The dart seems fine and none of the fluid leaked out but this gun in totally wrecked. It's useless. We have to find another way to deliver the Virus."
In the distance Maria shrieks. Beast Boy in his elephant form let out a trumpet sound. A couple of more cables snapped and swung wildly. The three Titans holding on were visibly straining.
"Can y'all hurry it up!" yelled out Cyborg, "I don't know how much longer we can hold on over here!"
Robin looked back at Arsenic who gave a nod. Robin nodded back. Robin then took apart the broken hand gun to retrieve the viral dart inside. Then he took his bo staff and extended it to its full length. He took some wire from his utility belt and tied the dart to the end of the staff like a spear head. He double checked his work and seemed satisfied with the end product.
"We'll be back for you," said Robin.
"We're not going anywhere…" said Arsenic.
"I'll stay with him," said Lithium.
With that everyone gave a last nod. Robin and Raven were off. They rushed towards the scene of their three friends struggling to keep hold of the ropes. Raven helped by floating above the rest of the team and wrapping the ropes in her black energy and helped hold them down. Robin continued his run holding the bo staff, tipped with the viral dart, like a javelin.
Robin reared up, sighted his target, and launched the staff like a javelin into the air. The viral tipped staff flew through the air like a missile, straight and true. It soon found its target in the center of Maria's chest just below the neckline. If Maria didn't already have bug eyes, she would have gone bug eyed.
On a microscopic level, the virus immediately began spreading. The virus divided at an exponential rate invading the whole of Maria's body in under a minute. The individual viruses started burrowing into the normal cells around them. Once inside, the virus caused their host cell to spontaneously produce an overload of energy. The cells almost immediately went into a total meltdown and combusted.
Maria was convulsing in unimaginable ways, as if her entire body was burning from the inside out, and it really was. The Titans let go of the cables allowing Maria to shake herself free and float off into the air. All the while she continued to clutch herself and constantly shriek in pain. Her body was glowing doubly brighter by the second. The seven teens below watched in awe.
She was already a couple of stories above the highest point of the bridge when her skin spontaneously combusted. Her body was completely engulfed in a brilliant blue flame. She was writhing in agon and continued to shriek hysterically.
"IMPOSSIBLE! I CANNOT BE DEFFEATED!"
She could feel her body reaching its absolute limit. And then it was the end for her
"NOOOOOOOO----!"
In a great flash of light and a deafening crack, her entire body exploded from within. Her carcass completely disintegrated into nothingness. The flash of light was enough to momentarily turn night into day, and the loud crack of the shockwave could be heard miles away. The Titans and the two siblings covered their eyes and ears until everything subsided.
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A little later in the night, at the Jump City suspension bridge.
It was raining. Not a really bad, thunder storm type rain, just a gentle shower that washed over the city. The thunder storm stopped and there was no longer any sound of lightning or thunder. All that was left was the gentle rain. By then the place was surrounded with cop cars and had six or seven helicopters overhead, some police, others are from the media. Near the center of the bridge Robin was walking to a nearby ambulance.
Seated on the ambulance, with an arm sling around him was, Riya with a medic tending to his wounds. Next to him, Sakura sat on the edge of the ambulance and watched as the medic worked. They were also being watched over by two officers. As the medic was leaving Robin arrived on the scene.
"Hey, how are you guys doin'?" inquired Robin.
"Not bad," said Riya, "Considering everything that's happened, we did pretty alright."
"Listen, you guys did well today and if you like I could--"
"No, don't," interrupted Sakura, "You don't have to go through all that trouble, hero boy. We made our decision quite clear."
"Turning ourselves in like this to the police is what we think is the best choice we can make."
"You're absolutely sure about this, then?" asked Robin.
"We would rather spend time in jail than run around like fugitives. It's what we deserve. Besides once we get out, I'm sure everything will turn out a little better… for all of us. Think of it as a refresher coarse for me and Sakura. We clean up and start fresh. Best option we've thought of all day."
"Alright, I respect your decision. Who knows? We might get an opportunity to work together again sometime."
"That would be something to look forward too wouldn't it?"
"If you need anything else, remember were here for you guys."
"We'll remember…"
"Take care of yourself, hero boy…" said Sakura in a rather girlish way.
They waved goodbye to each other and Robin went away towards the Titans. The rest of the team was gathered near the center of the bridge. They were waiting for Robin and seemed eager when he actually arrived.
"So then," began Starfire, "is it as they say 'a case that is closed'?"
Robin seemed mildly entertained by that. "Yeah, Star. It's 'case closed'"
"Splendid."
"Yo, what about those two?" inquired Cyborg.
"Yeah dude, are they really turning themselves in?" inquired Beast Boy.
"Yes they are," answered Robin, "They feel it's the best way to resolve the situation. And frankly I agree with them. It may not go as we want it to be but it's their decision to make. We can't do anything about it right now."
"If that's the case, can we really say it's over?" asked Raven.
"For us, maybe. But for them… it's a fresh start to something new…"
And the rain continued to wash over the city.
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Author's note: Read the epilogue!