In Purgatory's Shadow

Chapter 11: High Above the City Streets

Isis hovered along the city skyline on her ice platform with Terra in tow. The storm was still strong and the wind was so bitter. Terra shivered from the cold but Isis seemed unfazed, almost as if she welcomed it.

"Where are you taking me?" Terra asked as she sat huddled by her sister's feet on the floating ice platform.

Isis ignored her, surveying the rooftops for the perfect place to exact her plan. She finally settled her sights on the tallest skyscraper right in the middle of the city, "Do you see that, Terra?" Isis asked, pointing toward their destination, "That is where it's all going to end."

Isis then felt like they were being followed and spun her head around to look for the perpetrator, but she saw nothing among the tall buildings that was out of place. She huffed and turned back around to continue towards the roof of the skyscraper.

Meanwhile, less than a mile away, if one were looking closely enough, one might see light rippling as it was being bent around the T-ship in its stealth mode. The ship itself was completely invisible save for the occasional visual distortion akin to looking through a glass filled with water. It hovered slowly behind the twins, making no noise at all.

"Where are you going?" Robin rhetorically asked as he watched Isis intently like he was waiting for her to make a chess move. The still abundant hail pellets bounced off the glass dome of his cockpit with nothing more than a muffled 'ping' sound.

"Why do I feel like we're walking into the belly of the beast?" Raven droned, "Wherever she's going, we don't stand a chance with this hail storm above us. Maybe it's best if we just wait it out."

"We can't keep waiting," Robin lectured impatiently, "Whatever she's planning has something to do with this storm. And if what she said was true, than all the time in the world wouldn't make our chances any better."

"You can't possibly believe what she said," Cyborg objected, "I mean, a never-ending hailstorm powerful enough to destroy the city? That's impossible."

"I believe that we have seen much stranger occurrences in our time," Starfire added, "With Isis being as powerful and … unstable as she is, I do not wish to think of what she could do."

"The heck with Isis," Beast Boy growled, "I just want to get Terra back!"

"She nearly took your head off, man," Cyborg reminded, "Isis seems to have a personal vendetta against you. Maybe it would be better if you don't rush head first into this."

"Ask me if I care!" Beast Boy snapped.

"Quiet, everyone!" Robin interrupted, "She's landing."

Isis slowly lowered her platform onto the roof of the skyscraper. When she made contact she kicked Terra off her platform and tried to reabsorb it into her suit. But the water only poured out through the broken shoulder piece. This caused the device on her wrist to beep and flash, reminding her of the suit's malfunction. "Whatever," she sneered as she ripped the device from her wrist and tossed it over the edge of the building, "I won't need to scavenge for ice when this is over."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Terra asked.

Isis walked right past her and stepped up to the skyscraper's lightning rod. She paced around it, letting a finger skate along the surface of the rod. She then stopped and placed an open palm against it, "All I need is to get close enough to the storm clouds, and something by which to channel my energy," she then brought the blue light to her eyes and sent a pulse of energy through her arm and into the lightning rod. The 30-foot tall shaft crackled with blue energy, "Tell me dear sister… are you afraid of me now?"

"Isis, nothing that you're saying is making any sense!" Terra protested, "How do you even know all of this?"

"Because, dear sister. While you spent your lifetime barely being able to keep your powers under control, I was experimenting with mine, learning the finer points of it, what it can and cannot do… and then I started to get interested in yours; in the Gaia," Isis let out a mocking laugh, "You really are weak. You've had this power since you were born, then I take it from you and wield it like you could only wish to. At least now I proved which one of us is stronger! Obviously, I could never attempt something as big as this before, but with your Gaia, I…" She trailed off squinting her eyes to see into the distance.

Without another word, she deterred her energy away from the lightning rod and waved her arms in the air, crafting a giant icicle and launched it seemingly at nothing. The T-ship, now advancing on the villainy girl, shed its cloaking field in an instant and unleashed a powerful stream from its sonic blaster. The sonic beam obliterated the oncoming icicle and hit Isis at full force.

She flailed off the rooftop like a rag doll and regained her bearings in time to group a mass of ice pellets under her feet and create a new platform. She flew back up to the roof where she was greeted by heavy artillery fire from the T-ship. Raven and Beast Boy, in pterodactyl form, flew out of their respective cockpits followed by Starfire, with Robin in tow. Cyborg quickly set the T-ship on autopilot and leapt out of his cockpit to land onto the rooftop with a deafening 'slam' sound, actually cracking the pavement under his feet.

They all stood there, proud and strong, standing between Isis and Terra.

Robin planted a foot forward and extended a finger towards the villainy girl, "It's over, Isis! There's nowhere left to run! It ends here!"

Isis's breath became laboured, not from fatigue, but from pure anger. Her eyes and hands were set ablaze with the blue light, her hair flailed about under the sheer power of her own aura. "Why… don't… you… just… DIE!" She screeched as she swung her arms upward, summoning every single airborne ice pellet within her range of influence to congregate above her so quickly, that it created a void in the storm for a solid moment before it was filled in by more falling hail.

She crafted the collective ice into a giant, crude buzz saw and launched it horizontally at the Titans. Robin flipped over it as it came to him. Starfire and Raven easily levitated out of the way. And Cyborg stood his ground and met the assault by timely pounding it into the ground with his fist. The buzz saw shattered into a multitude of pieces, most of which clattered harmlessly to the side. But one particularly large shard came flipping through the air on a collision course with Beast Boy.

He was nearly run through if Terra had not yelled, "Look out!" and leapt in to push him out of harms way. The shard came so close to striking Terra that it clipped off a bit from the end of her long hair which flowed behind her. The shard then continued its path unopposed until it struck firmly into the floor with a sword-like 'shunk' sound.

Beast Boy looked up at Terra who was lying on top of him, "Terra… you saved me."

"I guess I'm not completely useless," she smiled.

Beast Boy smiled back until he witnessed Isis leap into the air and encase herself in a giant icicle, about to perform her signature move. Beast Boy quickly rolled over so that he was on top of Terra and transformed into a giant land tortoise. The villainy girl's icicle kick shattered upon Beast Boy's rock hard shell and the girl within pounced off the changeling and landed on her feet. Beast boy returned to human form, standing in front of Terra, and glowered at his opponent.

"It's nice to see just how much you care for her," Isis smirked, "But I told you not to follow me, and you did. A promise is a promise, Little Freak! Terra is mine! Oh, but you can have her back once I get through with her. She might even need you to spoon-feed her! I'll bet you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Terra recoiled at this threat but Beast Boy stood his ground, "Say it all you want! That doesn't mean that it's gonna happen!"

"Indeed," Isis smiled, "By the way, Terra. Your boyfriend is a lousy kisser."

"Wait, what? You kissed my sister!" Terra asked Beast Boy in a revolted tone.

"Um… sort of… I mean… c-can we talk about this later?" Beast Boy stammered.

"Typical man!" Isis laughed at the couple. "They never want to talk about their relationships. Or their other women. Isn't that right, Little Freak? We were very close, you and I, weren't we? You made it so easy. Of course, I really can't blame you. After all, I always have been the pretty one. Honestly, Terra, if I were you, I'd dump him. I mean, he's easily turned by a pretty face. I'm sure I could've made him forget all about you if I'd wanted. And if I could do it, well, what about when someone who would actually want him comes along? You really don't have very much to offer."

"You bitch!" Terra foolishly pushed her heroic protector aside and charged at Isis.

"Terra! Wait!" Beast Boy yelled in vain.

"Yes, Terra. Come a little closer," Isis simpered under her breath as she crafted an ice dagger in her hand behind her back. Just as the twins where about to meet and Isis was about to swing her arm forward, a wall of dark matter came between them and Isis was pelted with a combination attack from Cyborg's Sonic Cannon and Starfire's eye beams.

"What have I told you about emotions? And controlling them?" Raven asked Terra as she appeared at her side.

"As far as you're concerned, control isn't something I'm good at." Terra bit off, then slowly backed down, realizing she was being a burden to her friends. "I'm sorry, Raven."

Raven gave a huff, "Okay, I'm teleporting you to somewhere safe. Let us handle this, you'd only get in the way."

"No, wait!" Terra stopped her, "I promised you! I said that I wouldn't run away!"

"You mean you could hear me back then?" Raven blinked. Terra only looked at her with the most determined look in her eyes. Raven hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Alright, fine. Just don't get yourself killed."

"Hey Raven? Thanks. For believing in me. I won't let you down."

"Whatever," Raven returned in a disinterested tone before rejoining the fray.

Terra rolled her eyes as the sorceress disappeared. "Oh right, I forgot. She's always like that."

Beast Boy chuckled. "Actually, she's usually way harsh. I'd say she might be starting to… tolerate you."

"I'm still angry with you." Terra changed the subject.

"I'll explain later. This is the fighting evil portion of our day!"

Back in the battle, Isis fought hand-to-hand with Robin when Raven emerged from the ground behind her to add to her problems. Isis glanced back to see Dark Matter expanding over her and quickly ducked under Robin's fist, punched him in the gut, and flipped him over to collide with Raven.

Isis took this moment to escape from the flank and bolted off to the side where she was met with an aerial bombardment from Starfire's star bolts. She sprinted left to right then erected an ice shield to block a group of star bolts that she couldn't evade. Her makeshift shield shattered upon contact with the energy attack and Isis quickly brought the shattered remains of her shield to fly up and keep Starfire company. Starfire floated back as she shot off an array of star bolts and short pulse eye blasts at the abundant ice shards that came at her.

Isis, in this distracted moment, didn't see a big green gorilla slam her with both fists in her side, sending her stumbling towards the railing along the edge of the roof. She caught the railing firmly to regain her balance and looked back to see that the offending gorilla had morphed into a triceratops and was now charging right at her.

She quickly raised her arms up in front of her face, instinctively summoning a cluster of ice particles to further her defence. But all her defences were shattered when Beast Boy's armour plated head ripped through her ice wall and hit her with the force of a freight train. The feeble steel railing and the cement holding it to the rest of the building broke apart and Isis began a freefall off the roof, slipping away in her plummet beyond the obscurity of the hailstorm

All the Titans gathered near the edge where the girl fell, not sure if she was down for the count or not.

"Beast Boy, do you not think that was a bit… excessive?" Starfire concerned.

"I'm sure it'll take more than that to finish her off," Raven droned, "If we're lucky, she'll simply be too tired to keep fighting."

"Let's not count on it." Cyborg quipped.

"Agreed." Robin nodded. "We need to organize. We're not coordinated. We need to turn her weaknesses against her."

"She hasn't exhibited many." Raven countered.

"Maybe not. But she's desperate. She came here for a reason, and it wasn't to fight us. She's making mistakes that we aren't taking advantage of. She doesn't want to fight us here."

"What makes you so sure?" Cyborg asked.

"Because she used Terra as an insurance policy back in the gorge. She didn't want us following her, so we did anyway. Now she's having trouble regaining the upper hand. She's angry."

"When I get through with her, she'll be way worse than angry!" Beast Boy roared.

"Talk like that and you'll play right into her hands." Robin shook his head. "Isis is a lot of things, but she isn't stupid. You don't think it got quiet all of a sudden so that we could regroup, do you? She's planning her attack. And we need to be doing the same thing."

"Spoken like a true general." Raven crossed her arms over her chest.

"Robin's leadership has always been an asset." Starfire countered. "He is right."

"I'm tired of losing." Robin's eyes narrowed. "All we've done since this started is retreat. No matter what we do, we always seem to be playing on her turf, her rules. No more. Whatever she's planning, we're not going to give her the chance to carry it out. This isn't going to be like fighting Slade, or Mumbo, or Mad Mod. Isis doesn't have some lofty goals, or delusions of grandeur. You heard her. She wants us dead. I don't know about you, but I don't intend to let her have her way."

"The lightning rod," Terra cut in, everyone turned their gaze toward her. "She said that she was going to use it for something. Something about it… and the Gaia, and this storm. I don't know exactly."

"Does this have to do with that perpetual storm she was yammering about?" Cyborg asked.

Raven set her sights on the lightning rod in question, sifting through her extensive knowledge of the magic arts and the medahuman phenomenon. Her eyes widened when she came to the realization, "It's a catalyst!" She announced, " That's why she came up here! She's going to-"

Just then, humongous icicles jutted out from the floor that they were standing on. The Titans backed away as the icicles twisted in their position and tore the whole corner of the rooftop apart. Following the chaos, Isis herself shot up from beyond the edge of the building on a floating ice platform. The giant icicles that caused the damage came to her sides like loyal hounds, along with a legion of other icicles of varying sizes. She stood high above the Titans, looking down on them like an angered god. Her dark silhouette was accented with intensely glowing eyes and hands. The storm howled demonically as a voice for her contempt.

"Do you think I'm screwing around?" Isis screamed at the top of her lungs, "That's it, I'm through playing nice with you!"

"That was playing nice?" Cyborg muttered under his breath.

Without another word, Isis led her army forward, coming in for a reckless strafing attack upon the Titans. She swept through towards the lightning rod, having her pets clear the path of any would-be heroes who might stand in her way. When she came to the lightning rod, she leapt off the platform and willed her giant icicles to form into a wide circle around her and begin spinning at lethal velocities. Just in case anyone decided to jump up there and stop her.

She took one look at her opponents and willed the blue light in her left hand to intensify, bringing it up so that all of the Titans could see it. "I do not make idle threats!" she growled before she lunged her open palm against the lightning rod. This time, the lightning rod didn't just crackle with her energy; it was downright set ablaze by her power.

"I have to stop her!" Raven declared as she propelled herself into the air with Dark Matter and sent a pair of slashes streaming from her hands towards Isis's barrier. Her efforts broke a gap in Isis's protection and Raven threw herself forward to take Isis on.

Isis brought her free hand to the rod and whipped it back, letting her abundant energy arch out from the lighting rod and crack Raven across the chest. Raven let out a howl of pain and flailed back, striking the ground with no attempt to break her fall. Starfire came to her dark friend's aid to find Raven shivering in bitter coldness and a layer of frost scabbed over where the energy hit her.

Isis forced her power to strengthen even more and the light around her free hand glowed like a torch. A very faint blue haze began to emanate from her whole body. She gripped the lightning rod with her right hand and the rod was engulfed with so much energy that it was impossible to contain it. In a blinding flash of light, the lighting rod let loose the overwhelming force into the sky as a jagged bolt of lightning.

The bolt pierced the storm clouds and rippled throughout the sky. The clouds immediately became to twist and darken as if they were stricken with some kind of plague. Jagged arches of Isis's power leapt from cloud to cloud, infecting it more, causing it to become darker; bigger. Then the inevitable happened.

The first of Isis's new army came down upon the shed atop the roof that led to the stairs. It tore the structure apart with monstrous size and force. But it was not only the rooftop, giant balls of ice, many as large as basketballs, and many more sharpened to icicles, raining down all over the city. Many buildings were pieced clean through and cars sitting idly on the streets below buckled into the ground when hit with this new threat.

Raven awoke with a gasp as she quickly brought her hands to the sky and summoned the apparition of a raven, her soul self, to blanket her friends from the intensified storm. She wished she had the power to shield the entire city, but this was the best of her capacity.

Isis's barrier floated aside, making way for their queen. Isis stepped down from her perch, the lighting rod finally given rest from her power. What was most disturbing was that her body had been completely set ablaze by her own powers. Engulfed in blue fire, her hands and eyes glowed so intensely they nearly overshadowed her form. Each step forward that she took came at great effort, as the ground would freeze over with each contact of her foot.

"My god!" Robin exclaimed, "What has she become?"

"I…AM… the GAIA!" Isis's voice bellowed, "This is MY will! This cannot be STOPPED! My goal is COMPLETE! I no LONGER give mercy to you or ANYONE! Your… death… comes… NOW!"

She didn't have to gesture, she didn't even have to move. Every icicle possible came to fall on the Titans. Raven strengthened her force field, but the icicles sought to twist themselves in, stretching the force field inward like a balloon ready to pop.

"I… can't… hold… it!" Raven wheezed as she fell to one knee, sweat forming on her face as she struggled to keep her hands in the air. More giant icicles came to add to the pressure like needles on a pincushion. Raven cried out in agony as a lapse in strength caused the force field to buckle in a few feet. The points of the icicles came prone to the Titans whom all huddled together inside the dome. Only a thin layer of Dark Matter separated them from certain death.

"Beast boy, I'm so sorry!" Terra cried as she held her beloved.

"Don't be scared, Terra. This isn't the end." He consoled her, barely being able to convince himself.

"Yes it is!" she sobbed, "And it's all my fault!"

"Terra! Listen to me. No matter what happens, I don't want you to blame yourself for this! You are not a bad person. You're a hero. You will always be a hero! You've made mistakes but that never changes who you are right now! You're a good person! You're a friend! You're the best friend I ever had and I couldn't imagine living in a world without you! And…" The barrier fell in another few feet. Beast Boy could feel Terra shivering in his arms. Raven was at her breaking point. In a few more seconds there would be nothing to protect them. He clenched his eyes closed and held Terra as tight as he could, "… I love you."

And that was it. Raven fell to the ground, the force field shattered, and every icicle was free to strike. All the icicles forced themselves inward. Piling together in one sick movement accented with an echoing 'shink' sound. And then silence.

And so the assault did rest in a massive pile of bladed ice where the Titans once stood proud and brave. Isis took a moment to draw it all in before she let out a demonic laugh to the heavens which she lay claim. Her laugh was loud, inhuman; it spread throughout the city that was under her siege. Nothing stood in her way now. She had won. Then something at her feet caught her attention.

The cement floor that she stood on began to crack and splinter apart. She staggered back, watching the cracks spread and the concrete tiles dislodge. She quickly realized what was happening and immediately swung her arm towards the pile of icicles. The pile of ice brushed aside with her force to reveal that not a single body lie under it, only a sizable hole in the floor where the Titans once stood.

She looked back at the floor before her in time to witness it burst apart with the aid of sonic blasts, dark matter, green energy, and explosions. Isis attempted to move out of the way but small chunks of pavement around her feet snagged her by the ankles and pulled her under.

She fell through the gapping hole in the ground to the floor below and landed roughly in a pile of debris that used to be the roof above her. She realized her situation before she could get to her feet. Within this ill lit room filled with various machines meant to work the tower's many services, stood the Teen Titans in a circle around her, staring her down. And at her front was Terra with a look of contempt on her face.

"You lied, you said that you wouldn't try to kill me," Terra glared at her sister.

"Things change," Isis retorted simply.

"It seems like you're full of lies lately." Terra narrowed her eyes and filled them with a yellow light, "Well I'm done believing in them."

Author's Notes:
And another chapter is up. When I started writing this instalment, I intended it to be the final chapter before the epilogue. But given that the scenes stretched out so long, I decided to split it in two and prolong this story by just a little bit. This also explains the somewhat abrupt ending, which I apologize for. I have to say, the more powerful and crazy I make Isis, the less I enjoy writing her. Perhaps, when this is all over, I'll write an original story with her in it. No promises though, I already have an original story in the works. I haven't completed the first chapter of it yet, but you can see the first of my original works on the sister site: Fictionpress. I use the same screen name there as I use here.