"All that stirring of old instincts which at stated periods drives men out from the sounding cities to forest and plain to kill things by chemically propelled leaden pellets, the blood lust, the joy to kill--all this was Buck's, only it was infinitely more intimate. He was ranging at the head of the pack, running the wild thing down, the living meat, to kill with his own teeth and wash his muzzle to the eyes in warm blood."
Jack London, The Call of the Wild
"War is a series of catastrophes that result in a victory."
Georges Clemenceau
The prisoner's had escaped into the streets of Jump City. Their first priority was to get transportation and leave the city, go into hiding. Twelve in total, some had been members of the Brotherhood, others were just slaves to the nefarious group. Either way, they had to get away. After procuring automobiles, the rushed through the streets of the city like Furies out for Agamemnon. One of the prisoners looked out the window, staring at the skyline, searching for the Titans. He looked at the blue sky, looked at his new freedom. Today was a good day. Today was also the last day he or any of the other escapees would ever see again.
Robin stood on the edge of a building, looking at the escaped cars. As usual, he placed an air of grandeur around himself with a majestic, stern pose. Identifying himself as leader were the other Titans in a V-line behind him. "Catch the escapees and get them back to the prison. Everybody take a different car. Starfire, you and me will take one, Cyborg and Beast Boy two others, and Raven the final one. Now, Titans, G-"
Kresk rushed past the Boy Wonder and leaped into the air before Robin could finish his sentence, the Fire Demon howling out "BONSAAAI!" He jumped higher than his short legs and fat physique should have carried him, moving like a locust. Before he had reached the building, the Fire Demon had drunk a bottle of jumping potion. It granted him the extraordinary ability to leap like a flea across the landscape, if only for a few hours. And that was more time than he needed. First impressions mattered the most, and Kresk was planning on giving the Titans all nine Hells of an impression. He had chugged down at least four potions; jumping, bull's strength, and feather fall just to name a few. Of course the Titans didn't know that it was the effects of potions that gave Kresk these magnificent powers. To them, it looked like the Fire Demon could do anything at will, and that was what Kresk needed. They lived on his island by his grace alone. This was HIS city, HIS home, HIS multiverse, and there was no room for debate. Kresk planned on giving the illusion of godhood, and that was what the world would get. Like he told Raven, it was all about presentation. Once more, the world would get Kresk, ready or not.
Kresk heavily landed on the roof of a Greyhound bus passing by behind the escaping prisoners. The potion of feather fall insured that he didn't crash through the roof, but the impact was still hardy. Metal screamed as it bent to Kresk's hooves crashing on the ceiling. Passengers below screeched as the cloven hooves left imprints below. Kresk ran along, leaving more tracks in the covering, still visible below. When he reached the edge of the bus, he leaped off like a frog again. The jump took him to a fugitive's car. "What the Hell?!" one shouted, seeing the craters on the roof, cracking the wind shield. Kresk rammed his fingers through the window, bent down and peered with an evil grimace into the car. "Hello, boys! Now, everybody SCREAM!" the Fire Demon shouted. Grabbing a scar on the side of his face, a cut, he pulled the skin on his face away like a curtain. Underneath, a mass of Lovecraftian tentacles, eyes, claws, and mouths twisted and twitched, trying to bore through the window. An illusion? Damn straight, but one that never failed. The defectors screamed and tried to shake Kresk off the car, only to crash into a building's wall.
The Titans stared down at the carnage. Robin stared at Raven. She only nodded her head into Kresk's direction and said, "Well, go get them." At that, she took off into the air, the other Titans at her heels.
Mean while, the criminals Kresk had frightened got out of the car looking for the currently invisible Fire Demon. "Is it gone?" one asked. Suddenly, Kresk reappeared. He laughed, grabbing one by the shirt collar. Before the either could draw a gun, Kresk had picked his current prey up off the ground. He watched the highway for a while, and then threw the man into the path of the speeding Greyhound bus. He splattered against the window. The bus rocked to and fro before the driver lost control and the vehicle crashed through dry-cleaner, half the building collapsing on top of the behemoth machine. Miraculously, the fugitive had fallen off and was still twitching with life a bit. The other renegade shot a bullet into Kresk's arm. The demon groaned through his teeth in pain before smiling. He put his two fingers into the wound and pulled out the bullet. Resting it on his thumb, he placed his index finger behind it, then muttered out, "Sorry, boys. No survivors." With that, he flicked the bullet with the force of a pistol into the skull of the dying maroon, killing him.
The adjacent outlaw next to Kresk tried shooting another bullet at the Fire Demon. Kresk merely raised a shield of fire to deflect the ammunition. When he lowered the abjuration spell, he blasted a fireball at the fugitive, hitting him in the face. The man screamed in pain as his skin lit like a tissue paper, burning to the bone. The Fire Demon grabbed the criminal's face, lifted his head so he could get a clear shot at the throat, and then clawed out the jugular. Holding the limp corpse by the head, Kresk cut with his talons again, forcing a decapitation. Igniting the skull, Kresk threw the bodiless head into building, laughing as it exploded on impact, igniting a fire that would grow into an inferno. Kresk bent down and searched the remaining corpse. Reaching into a pocket, the Fire Demon pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He stared distastefully at them, spitting out, "Just Camel?" He stared at the cadaver, snorting, "You deserved to die." Nonetheless, he stuck the packet into his pocket. "Well, two down. Ten to go."
Leaping on to the top of the car, Kresk shot a fireball into the engine. The vehicle exploded, destroying some of the surrounding scenery. Kresk rode the explosion into the air (using a magical jump as a boost first). There, in mid-air, the Fire Demon called a demon from the Abyss. The demon that appeared was half vulture, half humanoid. Its avian head had a jagged beak. Huge wings came off its back, and feathers started at its head and continued down its spine until they formed a cluster of raggedy tail feathers. The purple skin was leathery, save for where it was interrupted by more feathers. Its hands and feet ended in predator claws and bird scales. Kresk landed on the vrock's back, and commanded it to do his bidding. The vrock knew that Kresk was the stronger demon; it would submit, for now.
Kresk flew down laughing and screaming on the back of the vulture demon. He darted past the Titans, currently trying to put out the fires he had caused and rescuing survivors from the bus crash. One of them yelled something, (Kresk thought he heard "STOP!") but that wasn't his problem. They probably wanted to nag his rugged ears off about 'responsibility' and 'endangering innocent lives', or 'honor' and 'property damage'. In Kresk's mind, there were only two ways to do things: the right way, and the safe way. Survival of the fittest, baby. Freakin' survival of the fittest.
The vrock landed on another car holding escapees. It dug its claws into the roof and pulled it away like a tin can. The salted driver somehow kept the car on the road. The vrock pulled a man like a sardine, and tore his arms off, splattering blood everywhere. The blood reminded the screeching demon of food back on its home plane, of the corpses of soldiers and souls. Hungering for the taste, the vrock bit into the prisoner's side, its beak crushing bones and organs like a hammer. It tore out a chunk of flesh and swallowed. Kresk hopped off the vrock, shouting "Give em' a bath." Leaping away, Kresk bounded in search of more prey. The other demon tossed its food away on to the street for him to bleed to death. The vrock shook its body and feathers. Spores of parasites, dead skin, dirt, and especially seeds came off of the vulture demon. Upon contact with the strays' skin, they instantly started to burn as the buds burrowed in. The driver fell unconscious at last and crashed into the car in front of him, causing a traffic disaster. When the escapee's bodies were recovered for autopsy later, they were found to be covered in roots and vines littered with thorns that had dug into their organs. The vrock flew away into the sky to who-knows-where. Like the Titan's humanitarian concerns, that wasn't Kresk's problem.
Kresk jumped into the rear of a moving truck and scanned for more of the escaped criminals. From his perch, he saw another trio in a car a distance away. Before the Fire Demon went after them, he quaffed a potion of bull's strength as quickly as his throat would allow. The tonic streamed from Kresk's mouth on to his robes, and the demon thought on how blood felt better and didn't stain his red robes. Kresk wiped excess concoction from his mouth and tossed the bottle aside. The Fire Demon leapt high into the air and landed in a few feet in front of the rushing vehicle containing the fugitives. Kresk grinned; barring his jagged teeth in a smile so crooked it could have hid in the shadow of a nail. The demon dug his rough hooves into the ground and clenched his fists. A split second before the car could hit him, Kresk punched it head on. The pain shot through his fists to no end, but now was not the time for griping about bruises. The massive dent had totaled the car's engine, making it incapable of movement. The renegades got out of the auto as fast as they could. Two ran in one direction, scampering for an alley like cockroaches. The third ran the opposite direction, of course. "Bad move." Kresk thought out loud. Amazingly fast, the Fire Demon dug his claws deep into the damaged car he had just destroyed. He bore his talons down until the crumpled metal was nearly at his white knuckles. Then, with all the strength in his body (and that loaned by the two potions he had drank), Kresk shifted his torso and threw the car at the poor man. The vehicle flew through the air and crushed the escapee, then crashed into the building behind him. "And now for the coup de grace-ee!" The Fire Demon shouted. Aiming hands (still sore from throwing a car) at the wreck with the now presumably dead man under it, Kresk unleashed a cone of fire on to the site of devastation, engulfing the bottom floor of the structure in the Fire Demon's maniac pyre. Kresk lifted his glowing index finger to his mouth and blew it out. One of the other two prisoners shouted something out. Realizing his folly, the man ran into the shadows of the city. Kresk turned around and hissed out with glee, "Now they will know why I am called the Tyger!" as the demon began to change.
Kresk rushed into the alley, engulfed by darkness. The Titans arrived at the scene of the latest destruction. "What the Hell is he doing?!" Robin snarled out. "What he does best." Was all Raven replied. "Raven, I don't care how well you know this guy, he has to go! Just look at what he's done to the city! We were just supposed to catch twelve escapees! We could have done that in no time flat, with minimal damage. But look at THIS! Three buildings are on fire, a bus AND a car have crashed-"
"To be fair he threw the car."
"And he's killed at least seven men! We just needed to capture them, not murder them."
"Yes. And?"
"Do something!"
"Why? I'm not his keeper." Just then, a scream came from the alley. Yelling and howling came closer and closer until, at last, an orange shape jumped on to a wall and then into the broad daylight. It was a tiger, but larger than any tiger the Titans had ever seen. It was red-orange from its nose to the tip of its tail, save for the trademark black stripes, which were asymmetrical and jagged. The fur was ruffled, rugged, and thick, without a single white splotch to be seen. Its black claws almost looked like its stripes had come off its paws. And its eyes were orange and black, to be sure. In its mouth was a screaming man, blood trickling down his skull from the punctured skin. The tiger placed its claws on the back of the evacuee's legs and pinned him against the ground. All at once closing his jaws and pulling the man's head, the derelict's skull burst just seconds after it was pulled from his neck. The blood splattered all over the tiger's fur and whiskers, the big cat licking it off with glee. The feline turned and orange eye to the Titans. Kresk's voice sounded in their heads, "Move!"
"What?" Beast Boy asked. He realized that the tiger was in fact Kresk in a different form. Garfield was no longer the only shape shifter in Jump City. Kresk started snarling at the Titans and dug his claws into the ground. Embers started to float out of the demon-cat's mouth and began to become a fire. "No way." Beast Boy muttered out. Kresk breathed out a cone of flame into the alley behind the Titans. Moments before the inferno could hit them, the Titans moved out of the way. Robin was too slow, and the flare ignited a small patch of his cape. In the alley, the third stray bellowed out as the flames engulfed him and burned through his skin. Robin tried swatting out the expanding phlogiston, to no avail. Then, a fox appeared. Well, it looked like a fox anyway. Robin wasn't sure what was what with all he had seen. The fox had silver fur, lined with patches of snow white on its stomach, paws, ears, and tail. But most importantly, it had lavender eyes. The fox opened its mouth and breathed out a small jet of cold, extinguishing the flame. The fox stared at Robin, allotting him the time to ask, "Raven?" All the fox did was stare before it chased after the massive tiger.
Kresk (in tiger form) bounded after the last three criminals. Raven (in fox form) managed to scamper next to him. "I'm losing their trail." Kresk communicated to his apprentice, via telepathy. "You set Robin on fire." She blandly replied. "Huh. I've had roast chicken, but I've never tried roast robin. I might have to give that a taste."
"You have to be more careful. They don't like all this destruction you've caused."
"Et tu, Raven? Unless you're going to say something helpful, keep you trap shut for now! I'm in the zone."
"I can tell you the fugitives are on the other side of the city by now."
"What? Damn! They must've gotten away while I did all the work! Are your idiot friends good for nothing?"
Raven merely ran beside him, still managing to give Kresk a disapproving look through a canine muzzle. Kresk snorted through his feline nostrils. "I'll have to teleport. Try to keep up!" The tiger leaped into the air and burst into a fireball when he hit the ground. He manifested on the other side of the city in his bipedal demon form. Kresk watched as the last three escapees almost got away, before the Fire Demon developed a plan for one last trick. Kresk shifted and contorted like wet clay until he looked like Robin. He conjured a missile of force in his hand and enchanted it to look like one of Richard's bird-arangs. Taking careful aim, he blasted out the tire in the get-away car. Hopping down on to the street, Robin (Kresk) waited for the three renegades to leave the immobile automobile. When they got out, he rushed towards them and kicked one in the face, careful not to use his own voice. Kresk found the boy's form to be surprisingly agile, but weak. He was already missing his own rotund form. The faux battle went on, what with the punching and kicking, until Kresk (Robin) feigned defeat and ran off. He seemed to disappear into thin air. Men with common sense would have left and taken victory, but men locked in prison for a decade were hungry for carnage. They searched until one of them heard a bellowing coming from an alley. A candle zoomed through the air in strange patterns, the tail of light painting symbols in the air, while a voice howled out in a strange language (Russian):
Ну, служащий Kostchtchie!
Ну, Гигант Мороза Ледяных Трат!
Ну, берсеркер Бога Гнева!
Я командую этим!
The candle's flame tuned into a fireball, growing huge and casting shadows on Kresk's face. The flame turned blue and then disappeared. A stormy roar came out of the alley. The three miscreants felt the earth shudder as something ran towards them. Something big. A giant burst into the light. Naked save for a loin-cloth made from animal furs and heavy mammoth hair boots, his skin was light blue with his hair and beard being a darker shade. Standing sixteen feet tall, huge muscles rippled under his skin. He roared out in barbarian rage and blue light came from his mouth. But the most stunning detail was the giant's hammer; the thin handle was crafted from dragon-bone blackened by magical enchantments, and the head was nearly as large as the owner's body. In various places, a series of runes had been carved into the stone.
The giant raised his hammer over his head and brought it down on one of the men. When he raised it again, there was only a splat of blood and gore. The other two men ran and screamed. The giant raged after them, howling in fury and madness. Swinging its hammer to and fro, it smashed cars, planted craters into the streets, knocked down posts, and blasted anything else into the air. The two men got in their car and tried starting it up. The driver fumbled with his keys, his hands sweaty from his pursuer. Just then, a snarling was heard at the side of the window. Leering in, the Frost Giant snarled and raised himself back up. He brought his hammer above his head one more time and crashed it into the car. One of the men got out in time to escape; the other became another crimson blot on the hammer.
The survivor ran into a two-story building, assuming the giant wouldn't follow. But there was no structure that could stop the Berserker of Kostchtchie, no matter the size. The Frost Giant ran inside, swinging his hammer without any notion. The rogue dodged and weaved, taking advantage of the tight space constraining the muscled behemoth. The giant was more and more infuriated by this, and swung his hammer even more, knocking down pillars until all but one was standing. The fugitive made a fatal error and ran up against the column. Cornered by the Frost Giant, he planned to run between the barbarian's legs for an escape. But before he could move a toe, the giant opened its mouth and shot out a beam of blue light. When the deserter looked again, he saw that his feet were turned to blocks of ice. The giant smiled and swung its hammer, obliterating the last of the escaped men, but also crushing the pillar. Its foundation destroyed, the building rumbled as it began to collapse. The giant looked at the dying roof and howled out in defiant rage a challenge to gravity. The structure fell around him and the Frost Giant disappeared in the dust in rubble.
Kresk stood in front of the desecration and stared. He summoned oil above the wreckage, soaking the debris in fuel. The Fire Demon pointed a single finger at the carcass of a building and set it ablaze. The Titans gathered around him, Raven staying closest. "Why did you do that?" Beast Boy, mildly horrified asked. "He needed a funeral pyre. It's tradition." Kresk said. "Do you know what you've done? There were people in that building!" Cyborg panicked. "Well I sincerely hope they believe in an afterlife, I really do." The Fire Demon growled.
"There was no need to set the place on fire! We could've saved the people in there!"
"What's stopping you? Afraid to get a little dirty?"
"Why? Why did you do this? Those people had families! They were loved! You've caused so much suffering with your carelessness! Do you have nothing to say to that? Do you have anything to say to all this pain?" Starfire cried. Kresk took a deep inhalation of ash, intoxicated on the smell of blood and burning flesh. He slowly eased out, "I say, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." Robin had had enough. Enough of the suffering, of the chaos, of the evil and blasphemous creation. He screamed and charged Kresk. He leaped into the air, but before he could even land a blow, an explosion came from the rubble. A bloody, dirt covered blue hand burst out and began to crawl out. The Frost Giant pulled itself out and dragged its hammer along with it. Distracted, Robin allowed Kresk enough time to grab the boy by the neck. The demon snarled out, "Now boy, you wouldn't want to be doing that now. However well the carnies and Bruce trained you, Richard, you're severely outmatched. I alone am enough, but the Berserkers of Kostchtchie are utterly ruthless. So you'll want to back down." The Titans stood in wonder. Kresk had spoken Robin's true name, a taboo act almost as perverse as any sexual escapade of Socothbenoth. And furthermore, he had brought up Robin's personal life. Robin's history before the Titans was known to all of them, but it was never brought up. As far as they were all concerned, there was no Robin before Titans, no life before the formation of the pack. There was only the youthful sense of 'now' deleting those droll concepts of 'then' and 'later' (save for Starfire who drifted through girlish musings of long kisses, intimacies, and wedding bells).
Kresk threw Robin to the ground. Unwittingly, he had begun the next few minutes that would define his relationship with the Titans. The Fire Demon bent low and growled out "Watch your dreams. A flash of red and you'll be a vegetable for my soup." (Robin; irrational mind games and nonsensical psychotic threats.) "Why are you so violent? Why are you so cruel?" Starfire pleaded, overwhelmed by all the suffering. "Life is cruel. Existence isn't about rainbows and sunshine, you hummingbird bimbo! It's about suffering and change! Survival of the fittest! I've lived long enough to know the multiverse is a dark and bitter place. You would do well to submit to this inevitability." (Starfire; insults, underestimation, and pessimistic ranting meant to cause self-doubt and despair.) "Dude, why are you acting like such an asshole?" Beast Boy protested. "Ah, and now you come seeking my council, Stupid. But the price for knowledge may be more than you're willing to pay."
"What?" Kresk curled up his fist and harshly punched Garfield in the stomach. He then stared blankly at the sky and shouted, "The price has been paid!" (Beast Boy; random physical abuse, namely a punch in the stomach for questions.) "Hey, there's no need for this to get rough. But if you're looking for a fight, you came to the right place." Cyborg challenged. Kresk waved his hand and uttered out a prolonged, "Meeehh." (Cyborg; usually indifferent with negative undertones. Later, Cyborg would realize how good it was to be out of Kresk's loop.) "Come, children, and Apprentice. It's time to kick back. All will be explained at my humble abode. But first, I must pick up something from the Crusty Door." Kresk said, wiping dirt off his sleeves. "The Crusty Door? That old place where all the druggies and wine-os go to hang out?" Robin asked, on his guard for a punch to the stomach. "They are not druggies and wine-os! They are customers! My loyal customers! Each and every one of them!" Kresk retorted. "And what is it you sell?" Cyborg asked, almost scared of the answer. "Why, I sell the good word, of course!"
"Yeah. Seriously, what is it you're selling?" Kresk started to walk away, saying, "I sell everything you want."
"We can't just leave! We have to help all these poor people, all the survivors!" Starfire berated. "Survivors? What survivors? Face it; whoever is dead is dead. The fire on the other side of the city is burned out, done taking its lives, as are the rest of my handiwork."
"There might be people in the rubble here!" Starfire tried again. "I ask again, what survivors? Whoever wasn't killed by the building's collapse was eaten by the giant as he dug his way up and…Say, where is he?" Kresk pondered. It occurred to the others that the Frost Giant had somehow disappeared. "Ah well, if we need him, I'll just follow the screams. Now come. My patience grows thin. I have to go pick up that parcel. I think you're all going to want to see this."
The Crusty Door was your typical den of villainy and scum. Addicts, prostitutes, perverts, and the insane floated around looking for one more fix. The air was filled with smoke from all manner of tobacco burning pleasures, choking the air and light. Either men looked into their drinks morosely or compulsively drank round after round until their sorrows were drowned. Kresk had taken Robin and Raven with him inside before taking a human shape himself (a portly man wearing a trench-coat and sprouting a bushy moustache), telling everyone else to wait outside, much to their chagrin. Kresk talked to the barkeeper and disappeared into a backroom. The two Titans waited into a corner, trying to stay out of the way in the cramped pub. It was proving harder and harder. They were only just barely able to dodge several patrons. Everybody ignored Raven; she came in with Kresk and nobody asked why. The bottom of the barrel wasn't allowed to judge. The dance of duck continued until finally an old waiter crashed into Robin, dropping several glasses off his tray. He swore in a thick British accent, "Ah, bloody hell!" He looked at Robin with distaste which only deepened when he spat out, "Oh, bollocks. Don't I get any peace with you?" Robin looked closer and saw the true form of Mad Mod, the old, balding man with glasses. He asked just to make sure, "Mod?"
"Yeah, it's me. What do you want?" the Englishman snarled. He set down the tray on the table and pulled a broom and pan from a nearby closet. As he swept, Robin asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Working. What's it look like?"
"But why?"
"Because I'm old, damn it. I'm old and poor. And I'm just now realizing that I'm TOO old to be chasing you and your brat friends around all over the place. And I need money to get back home. I seem to have pissed away my inheritance on you. I hope you're proud. You've robbed an old man of his family's money. That was old money, you know. That was money that saw Washington cross the Delaware. That was money that saw Waterloo. That was money that remembered Britain ruling the waves. And now almost all of it's gone, thanks for nothing. So I'm going to earn it back. I'm working here until I'm back on my feet. I just got to earn enough to buy my way back home and get my family's land back. I had to sell it for funding, thanks for nothing again. Now leave me alone. Fellows here need something to die in." At that, the old Brit wandered into the back to get more shot glasses. Kresk emerged on the way back with a parcel wrapped in brown paper, the same kind of paper used to wrap fish of the coast of Isle of Man.
Fish, dead and lifeless, stared up at Beast Boy as he sat at Kresk's dinner table. The changeling felt sick. Nearly everything at the table had meat of some kind. The demon feasted ravenously. An anaconda stuffed with glass eels had been ripped open as a decorative display. A whole pig with an apple stuck in its mouth sat on a bed of ribs. And fish stuffed with hen glared at the ceiling. And that was naming some of the more common meats on the table…
Kresk quaffed a mug of… something black and bubbling. When he was done, he slammed his glass on the table, sighed contentedly, and rested in a stupor a while before he said to the Titans, "And now for the answers I promised. However, to ensure the quality of truth, I'm silencing you children." The Fire Demon snapped his fingers. The Titans' jaws twitched and were clenched shut. Kresk coughed and proclaimed, "I am the Fire Demon Kresk, immortal. I have dwelled in the spheres for many years, my home being this one in particular. Every now and then, when man grows to unbearable or I simply get tired, I go to a secluded spot of the world and rest for a long time. And so I came here, to a cave in what was then a deserted island near a deserted beach. And so my compatriots and I slept for forty long years. But then, something awoke me. A shift in the elemental balance, the source of which being a girl called Tera. I awoke, only to find my exit blocked. By the time I had clawed my way to the surface, she had left. However, I met a young shadow mage by the name of Raven. We had our tussles at first, the most infamous of which resulted in me having my jaw broken in three places. But in time, we came to become friends, and helped each other through our trials. In time, with full willingness, she became my Apprentice, who would learn my secrets. It was then that she was initiated into the order of the Arcanists. Unwittingly, I assumed nothing would come of this, believing the other three Arcanists dead. But they are alive as ever, and have their own Apprentices. And now we are ready to perform the Initiation, which will occur after the Magnificent Odyssey. And so I fear I must steal precious Raven away from you, for this is a mandatory part of the order. We will be gone for a while, but I promise to return her in mint condition." Kresk looked down at Raven, "There I kept up my end of the deal. Now go get packed, we're leaving tomorrow. If you have anything to say to your friends, do it later. And the rest of you, scatter! Out of my house! Except you, Richard. I have something for you."
The other Titans left, following Raven. Robin sat in his chair and waited impatiently for Kresk. The demon pulled out the brown parcel from his robes and threw them to Robin. "Here, an old friend for you." The Fire Demon snorted. Robin removed the brown paper and gasped. There, resting in his hands, was Slade's mask. Kresk grinned evilly as Robin asked, "Where did you get this?"
"I have him in a room in the back. If you want to see him, I could show you. And since I like you, I'll do it for free."
Kresk guided Robin into the back halls and started knocking on various doors, looking for just the right one. Robin opened one impatiently. Behind it was a brick wall with a crack in it. A man moaned out "Help me… Please…Help me."
"Oh, shut up Fortunato!" Kresk yelled. He slammed the door shut and opened another. Beyond it was a set of stairs that seemed to go on for infinity. The Fire Demon closed the door and opened a final one, smirking "Ah, here he is." Robin ran over. There, sitting in a chair was Slade.