Unsuspected Heroes

An alternate look at the Prophecies Universe
Cyborg shook his head as he watched the JCPD conduct their investigation and clean-up of the common room. The Titans already had all the data they needed, and it was time for the common room to be wiped of the aftermath of the slaughter…though Cyborg rather doubted that the memory of that scene would ever go away. Indeed, he felt a sense of worry at the possibility that he would be able to forget the blood and bodies.

What would have to happen to a person to make carnage such as this insignificant? Or to create it?

He pushed such thoughts from his mind. He had other things to do. Such as check up on Jinx's recovery. The pink-haired girl was still unconscious, a result of the chemicals they had pumped into her to induce a coma. The nanobots that were doing the majority of the work on Jinx's injuries were able to do better work in comatose patients, and considering her grievous injuries, they had taken no chances. As of now, it looked like she would fully recover, physically at least. Mentally was anyone's guess.

Passing through a door guarded by a pair of new MCU officers, Cyborg found himself in the alternate sickbay. The one that was reserved for enemies, not allies. In some ways, it was an even more secure holding facility than the small detention area that the Tower held.

The only current patient was still in a neutral-buoyancy tank. A few medical technicians were on-duty, but it was obvious that they were left with nothing to do. Cyborg didn't bother them, instead striding over to the tank's main display and taking in the information offered there. What was there was promising. Any day now, she would be ready to be brought out of the medical coma.

Shifting his focus from the panel to the viewport, he stared at her now-peaceful face, surrounded by a cloud of pink hair. Not so long ago, he had actually had a relationship with her.

'You could have been one of us.'

It was true. He could have been. His enemies had shown him every bit as much companionship as had his friends. They had been his friends. And the sad truth was…he had betrayed them. It was for the greater good, but he had betrayed people who had trusted him. Friends. Every clash and the line between black and white got more fuzzy.

'I could have been a lot of things.'

Could she?

"Raven, you've got a call." Beast Boy peered into the open door of the somewhat gothic Titan's room. As she often did these days, she was looking at her new pendant, the one that guy had given her. "I think it's him."

Slender fingers curled about the golden mote, then released it. "Right. Thanks." Shadows folded about her, and she disappeared from view, likely teleported off to the communications room.

Beast Boy sighed and turned around, heading nowhere in particular. Raven had become withdrawn again. He was glad that she had found something with that guy…he guessed, anyway, but all the old shields were going back up, and in different patterns. And Lord was he jealous. Jealous of Raven for finding a special someone…and jealous of him for finding Raven, of all people.

He needed to do something. Something distracting. Something that would take his mind off of his life.

But nothing came to mind.

"Hello, Ker," said Raven, a little shyly, seeing the face of the boy who loved her for the first time since he had left Jump City.

He gave her a little smile. "Hi, Raven. You guys having some trouble back home?"

She nodded. "Red X is dead…killed with a color guard saber, along with a full squad of elite officers from the MCU. They were butchered right in the common room of the Tower. We're looking for who did it."

One of Ker's eyebrows rose. "The cameras didn't catch it? No sensor records?"

She shrugged. "According to Cyborg, there's some really weird interference during the whole thing. We've got some basic movement patterns, but that's it."

Ker's face brightened. "That could be helpful. If you send the patterns to me, I could help you analyze the footwork for tendencies of styles."

"I'll do that. Ker, I never did tell you why I was at the school, right?"

He shrugged. "I assumed that you thought you found evidence of metahuman activity and were trying to find them. Well, me. Never really seemed important."

Raven frowned, but only a little. "That's sort of correct. There was an incident during which a vigilante with some sort of light-based power took down a few crooks. They were also using a band uniform for their costume, along with a color guard saber as a weapon. I was supposed to find them…"

Ker nodded. "And due to me being in band, along with my training, I was a prime suspect. That makes sense. And with this color guard saber being used in this killing, you think it's the same person?"

"It's possible…" admitted Raven, "But I talked to them recently…they seem to know you, by the way. And they're not exactly on good terms with you, either. But they didn't seem ready to do that…"

He frowned. "People are capable of doing much more than you'd think. Point of example. I've only recently washed off quite a bit of black blood."

"Demons?" asked Raven, dreading the answer.

"Yeah. I'm fine, and so is Templar…"

"Do you know who sent them after you?" she asked worriedly.

"Actually, we stopped a scouting party. Near as I could make it out, they were bound to a demon lord by the name of Scath."

Raven froze. "Did you say Scath?" At Ker's nod, she covered her face with her hands. "No…Ker…Scath is Trigon…Trigon the Terrible."

Ker gave her a questioning look, then yelled at someone off-screen. "Yo, altar-boy!"

"Stop calling me that!" Templar walked into the picture, and waved. "Hello. So what's this about Kaku?"

"Stop calling me -that-," grumbled Ker. "You're the expert on the demon hierarchy. Have you heard of a Trigon the Terrible?"

Templar gaped at the increasingly longer-haired swordsman. "How have you NOT?"

Ker gave a long-suffering sigh. "Humor me."

"HE'S SATAN, YOU AGNOSTIC FOOL!"

Ker raised an eyebrow. "Wow…we just pissed off the Morningstar? Suddenly last night doesn't seem like such a waste after all."

"Well, we probably just oh, I don't know…FAILED GOD!"

"Funny, I think he'd like one of his crusaders striking a blow against the forces of Hell. But that's you. All I can say is that I did something that needed to be done."

"Have you thought of the fact that while God is the better of the devil, we might not be celestials?"

"And neither is he on Kanesada and Muramasa's edges. He isn't a fallen angel, he isn't a demon, and he isn't something that wants to become a god. He's human to my blades. And that means he's killable."

Raven would have found their banter amusing, if it wasn't for the dire subject matter. The two of them were somewhat like Cyborg and Beast Boy…if Robin had been slammed into them in equal parts. "Ker…you can't kill him. It's prophecy. He will take this world for his own."

"And that's bullshit," replied Ker, flatly. "Prophecy always has an element of uncertainty to it. Talk to Sarah about that…she's the expert on it. People twist prophecies for use as psychological weapons. Maybe he will come to this world, no matter what. But that doesn't mean he'll be able to TAKE it. It's always in the final outcome." A wolfish grin spread across his face. "Heh. The devil's in the details." His expression sobered. "Of course, that being said, the conflict will come. And it won't be easy. But there's hope."

"I wish I could believe you."

"Look, just talk to Sarah. She'll know the REAL prophecy, not the one Trigon disseminates. Templar and I have something to look into. It shouldn't take us long. We'll call you when we're done. Ai shiteru, koishii." The screen cut off.

Raven hugged her knees to her chest and looked at her pendant. "A…ai shiteru." Admitting that fact to herself, she composed herself and strode strongly out of the communications room.

"So what do we have to look into, Kaku?" asked Templar as they walked from the communications room. "I mean, it's not as if we have any leads on Trigon's cults…"

"Stop calling me that. I'm a swordsman, not the personification of victory, writing, a divide, a brush stroke, or anything of the sort."

"I don't know about the personification of victory. You're an elemental force, I swear."

"No, that would be my sensei."

"Whatever, Kaku. But you still haven't answered my question."

"We're going to go find Serre."

"You mean the French girl? Talon?"

"Yeah, the belle with the blessed bracer blades."

"Nice alliteration."

"Tojikomeru." But Ker smiled. "Last I heard, she was operating somewhere in the Rockies. If we get moving, we should be able to catch up to her before she moves on to another cult." The two of them exited the police station and got into Ker's car, which he started.

"So, is she a savateuse?" asked Templar as they entered traffic.

"Maybe," answered Ker, "but to be honest, I doubt it. Savate wouldn't seem to lend itself well to bracer blades. Of course, she could have incorporated her weapons and savate into one martial art, but a person doesn't have to follow a martial art corresponding to their ethnicity. Hell, I'm a Roma, but I practice what might as well be a Chinese martial art."

"I thought it was Japanese."

"It is, but it shares more with internal kung fu than it does anything else. Most Japanese styles are more external, excluding aikido and judo. Touki no Fenikkusu-ryu might have acrobatics in it that put Monkey-style kung fu to shame, but the core is a blending of taijiquan, baguazhang, and xingyiquan. The weapon forms were adapted for the Japanese weapons, but there's a lot of similarity between the major forms of Chinese internal martial arts and TnF. The other prime influence is Wing Chun."

"Huh." He pulled out a map. "So where in the Rockies is this girl? There's a lot of mountain range to chose from, you know."

"Technically, the foothills. Denver."

"Technically the plains outside the foothills."

"Tojikomeru."

Serre, better known as Talon, perched herself in the hills above the secluded lodge where this branch of the cult she had been investigating had taken to meeting. A laser microphone trained on the main room's window related the whole meeting up to the headphones she wore.

"FOR SCATH!"

The terrifying roar of a demon came to her to her ears, along with the shouts and crashing sounds of brief combat…but no laser microphone was needed to bring the sound of the massive explosion to her ears, nor was any pair of binoculars needed to see the pillar of fire that marked what had once been the location of a hunting lodge.

Sweating, and breathing heavily, she got to her feet, dark clothing still bearing pieces of the forest floor. Brushing a strand of her strawberry-blonde hair from where it had fallen in her face, she stared at the devastation. "Cerise…what have you gone and gotten yourself into?"

A/N: HAH! I actually broke my Fates-cursed writer's block. I'm not actually going to give myself an update schedule. That's a sure course to disaster for me. But as they come you'll get them. That being said, my going to Japan on Friday is a pretty good clue that updates won't be coming for about two weeks after I leave.

Please review...I enjoy them ever so much...and I really do use them to improve my story, when given an opinion. Come on, I wrote this for your enjoyment...won't you please return the favor?