Greetings, loyal readers! I hope you all are enjoying my 3-chapter update for this story. I hope you all are liking the personal replies that I send back. I would again like to thank this moment the C2 Community "The Real OC" and their manager Chaos Tears for the exposure. This is the middle section of a 3-chapter update so if you have been a regular follower through my last update of chapter 11, you will need to go back one chapter to chapter 12 to continue unimpeded.
Continuing without any delay, we rejoin the battle between the Titans and the Raging Ragnarok as the skirmish moves to the air high above Jump City as Starfire is engaging the monster with Beast Boy somewhere nearby searching for her, and Raven recuperating on the ground with Cyborg and Robin.
The Bird, The Boy, and The Mighty Beast
Chapter 13: Watch for Falling Whales
High above the city Starfire was darting among the clouds trying to hide from her extremely irate pursuer. She had flown up here to get Ragnarok away from her friends and the city but was not sure what to do with the beast now that he was up here with her. They had been darting among the clouds; Starfire at first learning how fast Ragnarok was, which was alarmingly quick. On the ground, Ragnarok had seemed deliberate in all his destruction, taking his time. But when his target moved quickly, he could apparently match her move for move. At first, they had darted from cloud to cloud, with the monster roaring firing his heat beams from his eye-like flames into clouds, steaming the sky. But after a turn around a very convenient alto-cumulus, Starfire had lost him and he was now hovering above the city very quietly while she watched with her head just visible from a cloudy covering.
"WHERE IS MY ENEMY?" roared the beast at no one in particular. Starfire noted that he did not seem to need anyone present to make his inquiry. Seemingly not liking what was happening, Ragnarok growled, scaring off a passing flock of geese. He then looked downward over the city that he had flown over. He, like Starfire, could see the city, including the small eastern section that was blazing from the fires he had started.
Ragnarok looked downward at the city and to Starfire's great alarm, launched another wave of heat beams and seared three buildings nowhere near his original battle scene, one of them being the very JumpMart that she and Strata had saved not the previous morning from Punk Rokcet. Ragnarok fired another beam and another street was punctuated by a raging fire.
Robin looked up into the sky and saw beams raining down on other parts of the city, "This is not good. I wonder if Beast Boy has found them yet."
Raven looked up, "I have to go help."
Cyborg grabbed her by the arm, "Careful Rae, you don't look very recovered to me."
Raven phased her arm out of Cyborg's grasp, "My friends need me. Besides, Strata said I was the only hope there was."
"So, you're believing him now?" said Cyborg, "because I also remember him saying that you were a fool's hope at best." Another building was smitten by Ragnarok's heat vision four blocks away.
"A fool's hope may be all we have left," muttered Raven. She focused her thoughts and wobbily floated into the air towards the source of the beams.
"Think she'll be all right, Robin?" said Cyborg.
"Think any of us will be all right, Cyborg? I've learned to never give up hope. And if there's one thing I've learned about Raven, it's that she has an inner strength I may never understand. Her very existence here is reason enough to believe in any fool's hope."
Cyborg was silent for a moment, before speaking, "That's makes me wonder about something."
"What's that?"
"I wonder if Strata saw that strength too."
Robin smiled for a moment, "I don't know. That's something we can't answer now, like most of the mysteries about Strata."
"Where do you think he is? The HIVE 5 said he was nearby. Do you think he got away or worse?"
"I don't know that either. We have bigger things to worry about then the Severing Strata right now; I'm worrying about what's going on in the sky. We can't do anything from down here."
Cyborg thought for a second, "I have an idea about that. Help me turn the T-Car back over."
Starfire knew that she could not allow Ragnarok to attack the city from above any more. She aimed her vision and fired her own eye-beams of energy at Raganrok. They green bolts exploded on Ragnarok's head and he turned to face Starfire, unharmed. Charging at him again, Starfire collided into Ragnarok's torso like a bullet, sending the monster somersaulting through the sky.
Undaunted the beast, extended his arms and stopped his sailing and came to a stop. Then with a roar he flew right at Starfire, stopping just before her to throw a punch with his huge right fist. Able to see this coming, the veteran Tamaranian dodged to the left and then floated back some as Ragnarok came with an uppercut from his left. Starfire charged at his right foot and grabbed his metallic boot-like foot and spun the beast (who had no weight in the air) a full circle before throwing him through the air again. Starfire unleashed a flurry of starbolts at Ragnarok.
Ragnarok stopped in mid-air again as the energy detonated harmlessly on his chest. "WHERE IS MY ENEMY?" he yelled.
"I do not know who your enemy is, perhaps you might explain, please?" queried Starfire, "And please stop blowing everything up and trying to hurt me."
Unmoved by anything Starfire could possibly say however polite she was, Ragnarok used his full speed and bore down upon Starfire. He leveled a mighty fist right at her. Starfire dodged the brunt of it, but the force of Ragnarok's furious punch just grazed her and Starfire was sent hurdling to the side by the blow. Ragnarok wasted no time in chasing her and before Starfire could react, appeared behind her and kicked the princess with his left foot.
"Oomph," said Starfire, feeling very bruised as Ragnarok's huge boot connected with her back, "That felt like a Tamaranian acupuncture treatment for the measles." Her pain turned to alarm as Ragnarok raced upon her again and grabbed her in his metal fist.
"I am sorry to disappoint you but I am stronger than I look," said Starfire as she rallied her strength to loosen his grip. Pushing with all her might she found the colossus' grip unshaken by her efforts, "Umm…" said Starfire, "It also appears that you are much stronger than you look…umm…err…hello?" Ragnarok growled as Starfire fired eye-beams his face. Neither the beast nor his mighty grip flinched. Starfire was a bit worried, "Hi! My name is Starfire, do you want to be friends?" Ragnarok growled again. "Umm…" said Starfire again, clearly out of options, "Help!" she yelled.
At that moment aided by Starfire's yell as a means of locating her, a large green pterodactyl descended from the sky and landed on top of the Raging Ragnarok. Giving a mighty cry, Beast Boy in his flying dinosaur form clawed at Ragnarok's back and helmet with the talons on his feet. He gave a high-pitched cry and drove his bony head into Ragnarok's.
The Raging Ragnarok shook himself violently and loosed himself from Beast Boy's grip. Turning her around, he hurled Starfire as a projectile directly at the flying reptile. Connecting, the two Titans were hurled backwards through the air. Starfire responded by charging at Ragnarok again, "You are not a nice monster." Ragnarok raised his left forearm and caught the brunt of her assault on it and was not moved very much at all. Starfire dived out of the way, avoiding a downward punch from Ragnarok's right hand.
Ragnarok was then sent hurdling downwards as a large green whale, the morphing Beast Boy, appeared in the sky and crashed into Ragnarok's head. The duo descended some 500 feet, Ragnarok being stuck under the mighty green whale before the monster righted himself and stopped his descent and lifted the whale above his head with both arms. Throwing the whale soccer style, the behemoth hurled Beast Boy, a.k.a. "The Green Moby Dick" as the local papers would call him the next day, right at Starfire.
Starfire was a special enough fighter, however, that large whales hurdling towards her in the sky did not bother her at all. Instead, she hurdled herself at the whale and knocked it back downwards at Ragnarok, much to Beast Boy's regret and back pain for the next two days.
Ragnarok was knocked down some again but caught Beast Boy by the tail and spinning the whale above his head with one arm (truly, no whale has ever made as much noise as that stunned green one did at that moment) through the whale back at Starfire. Beast Boy, this time, had had enough of being a large mammalian ping-pong ball, and morphed into a hawk and sailed to the side with a little glare at Starfire, which she never noticed.
The monster roared, "WHERE IS MY ENEMY? WHERE IS MY ENEMY?" Starfire could not help but wonder how she and Beast Boy were not enough and if Ragnarok was having the same problems with siblings that she did. Her thoughts were broken up by Ragnarok who launched a new flurry of heat beams from his flaming eyes in the center of the black slit in his helmet. "Look out!" yelled Starfire, and she and Beast Boy flew in circles to try to confuse the beast.
How long they could have dodged; it will never be known as Raganrok was sent flying upwards by a black beam. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" chanted Raven, who came wobbily floating up from the ground, having finally caught up with her teammates. "Take this!" called the dark girl as she pushed Ragnarok back further with another beam. She hovered in mid-air, clearly exausted.
"Friend Raven, should you be up here?" said Starfire. Beast Boy the hawk screeched in agreement.
"I'm not giving up, Starfire," said Raven. "Look out!"
Ragnarok descended from the sky at Beast Boy. He would have flattened the green hawk, but Raven put up a shield. Ragnarok's foot crashed through it easily, dispelling the dark energy, but it gave Beast Boy enough time to slip away. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" yelled Raven and she pushed another dark beam against the monster. Ragnarok stood his ground and tried to fly into it like before. His eyes flickered as he prepared to incinerate Raven with his eye-beams. He fired into the dark matter and the dark beam was shortened as Ragnarok's heat energy pushed against the weakened Raven's power. Flames danced where their beams met and the inferno was moving closer towards Raven. "I can't hold it," cried Raven.
"Raven!" yelled Starfire. Beast Boy morphed into a parrot, "Awk! Get out of there! Squawk!"
It was just then that providence (or more specifically, Cyborg) intervened once more. From the ground, a huge sonic cannon blast collided into Ragnarok. The beast was sent hurdling upwards above the three aerial Titans.
"Fire two!" yelled Cyborg from the ground, on top of the T-Car. The trunk of the T-Car had been opened and a large platform had extended out from under it. Mounted on the back of the T-Car was a large artillery-style sonic cannon, similar to the one on Cyborg's own arm. "I knew adding this thing would come in handy one day when we needed some raw power." Cyborg was on the platform on the back of the T-Car. Robin was at the wheel.
"Cyborg, what do you see?" asked Robin. The metallic Titan scanned the air with his infared vision.
"Direct hit, with the first and second blast. I can see Ragnarok well; he gives off a strong heat signature. Here he comes! Get ready to drive!"
Robin activated his communicator, "Robin, calling Starfire, how is everyone?"
Starfire responded, "We are all ok…mostly," she rubbed her aching back and ribs, "What is happening; the Ragnarok just flew back down."
"Cyborg and I have an idea to get him out of the city. We're driving towards the bridge; stay out of his path."
Ragnarok descended from the sky, racing towards the T-Car in a low flight just behind it. Robin pressed the accelerator and the T-Car raced forwards with Ragnarok chasing them, heading west. The T-Car bounced through the rubble. "I need more time to clear this, and it looks like he's gaining!" shouted Robin.
"Okay, here we go! Take this!" shouted Cyborg. The sonic artillery cannon from the car launched a third shot and connected with Ragnarok, sending the beast crashing into the ground. "Booyah!" yelled Cyborg, "direct hit!"
Ragnarok was not down long as he came up angry and flew just off the ground, charging the racing T-Car. "Need some more?" said Cyborg, "Take this!" The back bumper on the T-Car lowered revealing an array of small missiles, similar to the ones on Cyborg's own armor. They launched and connected with the monster in mid-air. Ragnarok stopped and hovered to brush away the smoke, and Cyborg fired a fourth short from the artillery cannon. Ragnarok rumbled to the ground from the explosion. "Got him!"
"We've hit open road; the bridge is not far," called Robin from the driver's seat, "keep him coming!"
The T-Car was speeding away as Ragnarok regained his stance. He roared loudly, "RAGE! RAGE! RAGE!" Accelerating into flight again, he chased after the T-car as it rounded a corner. Ragnarok's flaming eyes burned against the surrounding purple metal armor and he launched a new wave of heat beams at the T-Car.
Robin swerved right as a patch of rode burst into flames beside the T-Car. A building ahead them was charred as well. The T-Car shuddered as Cyborg unleashed another short of the T-Car's cannon. Ragnarok was driven backwards. "We're approaching the bridge!" yelled Robin.
The T-Car raced onto the bridge leading out of the city with Ragnarok in pursuit. Cyborg unleashed a volley from the cannon, and Ragnarok crashed into the asphalt once more. The T-Car raced over the suspension bridge and stopped when across it. Ragnarok regained his feet, and the behemoth stood up in the center of the long Jump City bridge.
"He's not following," said Robin, "do you think we've hurt him?"
"I'm not sure," said Cyborg, "He has not tried to block at all, but we are the fastest moving target he's had all night."
"He just stopped," said Robin, "He's in the middle of the bridge just looking at us."
"WHERE IS MY ENEMY?" Ragnarok roared at the setting moon; dawn was approaching.
"Shoot him again!" yelled Robin. Cyborg fired another beam from the sonic artillery cannon.
Ragnarok glanced at the two heroes and fired a shot of his heat beams right at the artillery blast. The explosion of the two beams detonated in mid-air between them, harmlessly. Ragnarok then raised his right arm into the air. Suddenly, purple energy began forming in his hand and slowly extending a few feet outwards from his grasp. "RAGE!" roared the beast. "I…RAGING RAGNAROK!"
"What is he doing?" asked Robin.
"Robin, I have a very bad feeling about this," said Cyborg, "He did something like this the last time he was here."
"The sword!" said Robin, remembering his crime files, "This could be bad."
The energy focused and pulsed in Ragnarok's arm. The purple energy formed into Ragnarok's mighty blade which he had pounded the Titans with on his first appearance. The slightly curved blade was sharp on its front edge while the back was laced with the same purple armor and crimson trim that Ragnarok wore on his armor. Ragnarok raised the blade up and pointed at the T-Car. He raised his empty left hand and extended his index finger and wiggled it at the two heroes as if motioning them to come closer.
"Is he calling us out?" said Robin.
"Bad idea, very bad idea," said Cyborg, "The guy just materialized a giant sword, has been kicking our butts all night, and now wants us to come closer? Let's not Robin, no shame in it, it's just you and me here."
Ragnarok raised his sword and cut a horizontal slice through the air. Where Ragnarok sliced, a huge energy wave appeared that raced forwards and crumbled the far western side of the bridge and sent the T-Car rolling. "WHERE IS MY ENEMY?" roared the behemoth.
"Robin, you ok?" called Cyborg, who was lying in a grassy area after being thrown off the platform.
"I'm fine, Cyborg," said Robin, crawling out the front window of the turned-over T-Car.
"I think the artillery cannon is crushed though," said Cyborg, "The car looks ok."
Ragnarok soared into the air and cut three horizontal slices above the bridge. The energy waves crashed into the center of the large bridge and to Robin and Cyborg's amazement the bridge crumbled, supports and all from the mighty waves of energy that Ragnarok sent raining down upon it. In a huge series of splashes, dust, cracking asphalt, and breaking cables the entire Jump City bridge fell into the river, severing the two heroes and rendering them speechless for several moments.
"He just blew up the entire bridge with a few swings!" said Cyborg.
"Worse, we're cut off from the city," said Robin, "I can't grapple hook us enough even close to get us to the city side. We'll have to drive the T-Car around the city and come in from the northern highway. And Ragnarok is flying back towards the city!"
Robin was right. After severing the bridge and crashing it into the deep water, the monster roared and flew at a high speed back towards the city. Cyborg and Robin were left to look on helpless.
"I thought we had a great plan too," said Cyborg.
"What bothers me is that he stopped following us right about as we had him outside the city. Cyborg, this really strikes me harder than anything. Did you see the way he gestured at us. It was like he suddenly knew what we were trying to do. This could be scary, but Ragnarok may have some intelligence—how much I do not know. Clearly, he's no genius; with his power he could have crushed us many times tonight had he acted somewhat more logically. He is easily distracted."
"Are you saying we have an attention-deficit monster on our hands?"
"I'm saying that we may have seriously underestimated our opponent. That rage of his may give him more qualities than we like to admit. See how he struck the bridge and flew back towards the city. He's drawn to destroying things."
Cyborg sighed, "Strata did say the rage was to cover the sorrow. So, the point may not have been to follow us to nowhere…"
"Yes," said Robin, "He may have only been interested in taking us on as part of his destructive force as long as we were part of causing maximum damage. Had he fought us outside the city, it could have lost appeal to him. Of course, I'm guessing somewhat."
"And now we're outside the city, and he's still very much in it,' said Cyborg.
"I'm calling Starfire," said Robin, "for now, it's up to them."
To be continued…On the verge of victory, Cyborg and Robin have their plans upended by Ragnarok who is displaying more power than ever. Meanwhile, their quarry speeds back towards the city towards the aerial trio, the most injured of the group. Can Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy repel Ragnarok without the aid of Robin and Cyborg? And where is Strata and what can the Titans possibly do to stop Ragnarok? Both questions loom in Chapter 14; the third section of this 3-chapter update. Move towards it without delay!