Sarasim and Brother Blood clashed violently in the storage room, ancient bronze sword clashing with reinforced steel claws. Enhanced though her strength was, Sarasim could quickly tell she was dealing with a force far greater, and that to push against it was to risk being overpowered. Thus, she quickly shifted her weight and allowed Blood to push past her, lashing out at his unprotected back with his sword. She missed as he dodged aside as nimbly as an acrobat, landing at the far side of the room.

"Impressive, my dear... you're rather handy with that archaic weapon."

Sarasim did not dignify that with a response as she made another rapid swing, but this time Brother Blood was ready, one hand slapping her blade aside, and the other lashing out at her armor. The blow was negligible, the claws didn't completely penetrate the armor, but Sarasim stumbled backwards from the blow, clutching at her chest. That had been very close.

"A pity... you are still no match for me."

Crystal-blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "I will not permit you to hurt Cyborg... or my friends," she added, thinking of the battle above them. With Cyborg free and Blood defeated, they'd be able to help turn the tide, but that was a bridge they'd have to cross when they got to.

Sarasim changed tactics, leaping upwards, her enhanced leg-plates boosting her natural skill such that she nearly banged her head against the ceiling by accident, sword upraised in an effort to cleave Blood in half... vertically. This, however, was a feint, and when Blood did move to counter the attack, he was unprepared as her booted foot lashed out and caught him full in the face, sending him crashing down into a nearby pile of crates containing spare supplies.

The barbarian queen landed awkwardly, wincing slightly. Her foot had taken a lot of punishment from that kick as well, since she'd put so much strength into it. She was armored, like Blood, but she still had living flesh underneath, and it could still be damaged. She would need to be more cautious if the battle went on for much longer.

And unfortunately, it looked like things were only about to heat up.

Brother Blood howled in rage as he pushed himself to his feet, hurling broken boxes left and right in his rage as he pushed himself to his full height, red eyes blazing.

"You... insufferable little...!" he growled, filling his hands with crimson fire.

"Sarasim!" cried out Cyborg in warning. "Lookout!"

A warning received only a fraction too late, as a blast of fiery red shot from Blood's hands and slammed into Sarasim's midsection, sending her crashing to the ground. Her armor had withstood the attack, but she was still rattled from the sheer force of the blow.

She was, fortunately, able to roll out of the way of a second flow. Cyborg's armor enhancing not only her strength, but her agility as well, and she flowed smoothly into a crouched fighting stance. Unfortunately, her blade had been flung free after the first hit, and she was now disarmed.

Worse, Brother Blood had made his way over and calmly picked up her sword, examining his reflection idly in the blade. Shifting it, he gazed out at her, half of his face hidden by the shining metal, though this was an improvement over his usual appearance.

"A bit... primitive... don't you think? But ah well, if this is how you care to duel... so be it..." intoned Blood, holding out her blade as a fencer might. His superior strength allowed him to hold the heavy, two-handed sword as if it weighed no more than a feather in a single hand. A flick of the weapon, and the sharpened metal edge became wreathed in crimson fire, doubling the threat. If a glancing blow didn't finish Sarasim off, the fire would certainly damage her.

Fortunately, she wasn't out of weapons just yet...

Holding up her arms she activated a set of invisible switches, triggering the back of her gauntlets to slide back and a pair of sharp blades to spring forth and lock into place on the back of her wrists. The design was nearly identical to the secret wrist-blade's she'd used in the Bronze Age, with a key difference. These blades began to glow faintly blue, and a loud hum filled the air as they came on-line.

Brother Blood quirked an eyebrow at her odd new weaponry, but wasn't terribly concerned...

... something he would soon come to regret.

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The roar of a great green T-Rex split the air, accompanied shortly thereafter by the shriek of a tiny bald little boy as he activated his rockets and zoomed out of the way of Beastboy's snapping teeth. However, Beastboy wasn't able to get far, as his great tail was caught up in the grip of the miniature giant Mammoth. His strength far surpassed that of the thunder lizard's form, and with a mighty heave, he hurled Beastboy to the far end of the room, right at Raven. The sorceress quickly enveloped herself in her cloak and vanished out of harm's way as Beastboy crashed into the wall.

Raven re-materialized behind Kid Wykkyd and grabbed a hold of his shoulders, hurling the boy over and away from Robin to give him some breathing room.

"This is taking too long," she remarked, her voice still calm despite the chaos going on around her. "We need to find Titan's East quickly, before something bad happens."

"I agree," said Starfire, dropping down beside the two of them. "I fear for the safety of our friends."

"Alright lemme clear a path... Starfire, go find East...!" he replied, reaching down to the utility belt at his side. With one hand he hurled a pair of exploding disks, sending Mammoth and a small squad of Numerous flying backwards, and with the other he tossed a trio of smoke bombs, covering Starfire's escape as she slipped out of the battlefield.

Now the odds were three to five... a bit more tipped than the Titan's would've cared for, but they'd saved the world a dozen times before they were old enough to drive, and were skilled at using teamwork to their advantage.

The HIVE Five, on the other hand...

"Attack Pattern... Beta!" shouted Gizmo, activating the spider-legs of his backpack and allowing them to lift him up and safely out of reach. Mammoth and Numerous ducked under him and charged forward, three Numerous clones jumping at Robin, Mammoth hoping to smash in Raven's head.

Robin leapt up and over, using a grapple hook to yank himself out of harm's way, and the Numerous clones landed in a heap as they tripped over one another. Raven threw up a defensive black shield to protect herself, though it buckled under the pressure of Mammoth's relentless attack.

See-More slipped in then, hand on the side of his helmet, and let loose a short, concentrated blast of red energy that cracked Raven's shield and allowed Mammoth to break through with the next bone-crunching punch, sending the lavender-haired sorceress flying...

... right into the arms of a green kangaroo as it leapt up into the air, catching her in it's small but thankfully still strong forearms. The kangaroo's flight path was such that it landed forward on it's stronger, larger legs, slamming directly into Mammoth. The bulky superteen went flying through the air to crash into the shallow pool on the level below, sending up a small geyser of water...

... which also, coincidently or not, splashed onto Gizmo, and quickly shorted out his equipment.

"Hey, what-the-hell! No! This model isn't waterproof! Get-it-off-me! GET-IT-OFF!"

Gizmo's hardware went completely haywire, and the little boy genius was send hurtling through the air by a pair of activated rocket packs to slam into the far wall, where he collapsed. Thankfully, the backpack and suit had auto-shutdown systems installed if Gizmo lost consciousness, so there was no further risk to him or the Titans.

Robin dropped down as lightly as a shadow, cloak billowing around him as his eyes searched the smoke and wreckage for any remaining opponents. As the smoke cleared, he saw that indeed, a large number of them were waiting by the far wall, now indented from a starbolt attack earlier in the fight. The path had led into the Titan's East kitchen, and from it emerged a small squadron of Billy Numerous, each brandishing a number of homemade kitchen-appliances-turned-weapons. A rolling pin, a number of knives, forks, one had even decided to bring a frying pan as a bludgeoning instrument.

Robin calmly reached behind his back and drew out his tonfa's, letting them slide out to their full length with a solid 'clack' sound, whirling them about and readying himself in an offensive stance.

The battle continued.

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In the bowels of Titan's Tower, Cyborg watched helplessly as the love of his life did battle with the bane of his existence. Sarasim and Brother Blood seemed more closely matched than he would've liked, and he knew that was primarily because Blood was holding back. He was toying with Sarasim, content that he could beat her and his HIVE underlings could beat the four Titans without Cyborg's help. The classic maneuver of divide and conquer.

Cyborg didn't intend to let him win, but as it was, he was still helpless to do much about it. During the battle, he had done his absolute best to strain against the bonds holding him down, but so far hadn't managed to do much. The restraints were too thick... too strong.

So he had to watch helplessly as Sarasim and Brother Blood battled. He'd already drawn up his files on his previous encounter with Brother Blood, which had given Sarasim enough warning to escape that last attack. He was hoping to give her a similar edge here.

Still, it might not be enough of an edge. Unlike Cyborg, Sarasim was completely human... there was no way Brother Blood would be able to control her, her will power was unquestionable... but there was no way she could face him as an equal, either. Worse, Brother Blood knew it.

"You are a bit out of your league, dear," remarked Brother Blood, casually knocking aside any of the rapid attacks she was making with the wrist-blades, swatting them out of the way as if she was a child. "You have little hope to defeat me... your armor may be impressive, but the warrior inside is not."

Sarasim panted heavily for breath. Even with the armor boosting her strength, it was heavy, and she was throwing all she had into these attacks, which weren't working. She was going to get tired soon. "I can see through your armor as well, evil one," she replied grimly. "I see in you a heart as black as coal..."

"Flattery will get you no where," replied Blood, parrying one of her attacks, then springing forward suddenly, hoping to catch Sarasim off-guard and end the fight quickly, the tip of her sword poised to pierce her heart.

Fortunately, she was counting on that... she'd purposefully left her guard open, gambling that Blood would be unable to resist. As it was, he missed her completely as she spun around, arm upraised, and lashed out with the other glowing blue blade at her wrist.

"YAAAAUURRRGGGHH!"

Sarasim's sword clattered to the ground, followed immediately by Brother Blood's right forearm, severed cleanly at mid-length. Sparks shot from both ends, and the former HIVE Headmaster howled in agony, clutching at his prosthetic limb. The pain was all psychoempathic, since sensors terminated the instant the limb was cut, but as far as a cybernetic individual was concerned, it still hurt like hell.

"You... aaaaaghhhh..." Brother Blood sank to one knee before his sword and arm, as a slender shadow fell over him.

"You should not underestimate me," said Sarasim, crossing both wrist-blades at Brother Blood's throat. From this distance, he could easily see they were the ones projecting the humming noise he'd heard, and he could tell exactly what they were.

"Vibroblades," he hissed. Blades that vibrated so fast it was practically invisible, and could slice through anything as cleanly as a hot knife through butter.

"Whoo! Alright Sarasim, you go girl!" shouted Cyborg from the sidelines, infinitely relieved she'd won. Sarasim blushed faintly at the praise, turning to face Cyborg. Relief was evident in her expression as well.

However, in that critical moment, she let down her guard for real.

And Blood struck.

His hand shot up and instantly grabbed a hold of the front of Sarasim's armor, around her neck, and before she could bring her blades to bear, he hurled her aside with all of his superhuman strength, sending her crashing into the far wall with enough force to shatter her spine. She slumped to the ground, stunned at the very least, if not unconscious.

"NO!"

Brother Blood smirked dangerously, turning back to Cyborg, and reached down to recover his limb, jamming it into the ground by his claws, holding his stump of an arm over it. He filled his other hand with crimson fire, sealing it over the two pieces. He cried out in pain... real, true pain this time... and smoked wafted up from between his fingers, but when he was finished, Cyborg saw it had worked. He'd sealed his hand back into place on his arm. It might've been crude, but it worked.

"Ah..." said Blood, flexing his fingertips. "Much better... now then... Cyborg..."

"No!"

Crimson eyes shot open wide as Blood whirled around in shock, seeing Sarasim. Her armor was dented and broken in places, and the blue glow had faded, showing that power was low. She herself looked a little better, but a cut on her forehead was bleeding feebly. Still, her sword was back in her hand, and she was on her feet, standing.

"This ends now, Brother of Blood," she said. Then, with a mighty war-cry, she took two steps forward and hurled her sword at the crimson cultist.

Brother Blood dodged aside, his shoulders sliding smoothly out of the way as he gracefully shifted out of the blade's path without even moving his feet. Then, he shifted right back, limbs locking into place as he made a slow, deadly advance towards Sarasim.

"You should have made your throw count, wench..."

"She did."

As Brother Blood turned to look in horror, he saw the blade of Sarasim's sword had embedded itself into the metal restraint on Cyborg's left arm, narrowing missing his limb, but breaking the bond. With a smooth, fluid gesture, Cyborg ripped his arm clear, sending the piece clattering to the floor. A smile was on his face.

"Booyah!"

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Author's Notes:

Sarasim and Cyborg vs. Brother Blood. Place your bets. Also, ratings been bumped up a notch to this mysterious 'T' thingie, since there's a lot more action violence to come, as well as some cybernetic carnage. Still, if Cartoon Network can get away with it, so can I.

Toddfan: I love those kinds of cliff-hangers the most, but I hate it when you get those and the story abruptly stops. And glad you enjoy my one-liners.

IwuvMyKenshyPoo: I don't think Blood is all that old, actually... the gray hair is misleading. And sorry, if any Jinx, it'll be brief at the end. Sorry.

Guardian of Azarath: I try to please my readers, but through them for a loop every now and again I find they enjoy most. I'll see what I can do for you. And yes, Blood is definitely one of the more arrogant villains. Gives him personality.

Jimmy the Gothic Egg: When have I ever -not- had a huge climactic battle in my stories? I could never quite buy Speedy/Aqualad myself, but to each their own, not like we had hard evidence one way or another.

Super Chocolate Bear: A small jab, but actually I liked the metaphors Blood used. And to be fair to the East gang, they've only ever beaten Control Freak and LeBlanc on their own... that's not very impressive. But they'll be back. Glad you enjoy my fights, I hope you enjoyed this chapter then.

Ray1: Private party, exclusive to those with cybernetic enhancements. Even the rest of the Titans are busy with other matters to attend to, like the HIVE Five.

Blackbird: Readers are drawn into stories of misery and suffering, so I too plan a little conflict in every story of mine, followed by fluff and sap. It is always darkest before dawn, they say.

Comet-hime: Someday I will find the material/inspiration to write a Speedy/Cheshire, and doubtlessly include all you imagined (and more) in it. But for now, it's some harmless love-hate on the side.

JesusTitanFreak: Always nice to find a new fan in the woodwork. Anything in particular you liked?

Koriand'r Star: Cheshire definitely had some serious potential, and some Speedy/Cheshire flirting/fighting would've been welcome but, alas, the series is over, and some things are left unfulfilled. Robin sending Sarasim was yes, partly because she'd go anyway, partly because he wanted her out of a big, mainstream fight. She's more suited for one-on-one fighting.

ViciousAssassin: I count that as a good thing, it means I can keep the reader surprised and interested in my work. Hope you've enjoyed the opening part of the battle, but believe me, more to come.