XII
Encounter, part II
Zerrich reached into the pit of his stomach, calling the energy from his center into his hands. With little effort of his mind, he let loose a stream of powerful energy into the fireball that was Scourge. The fires lanced out, reforming on the other side of the attack. The fire demon turned for Zerrich, coming straight at him. Zerrich was quick to put up his defenses, allowing his entire self to be encased in a glowing blue shell. He felt the slight jarring of impact from outside, sure the fiery monster had made impact with his barrier. He usually felt a tug at his center when his fields would get hit, as if the energy from the impact vibrated its way down to his soul. Not this time.
Confident the creature had abandoned its attack, Zerrich dropped his shield and spun around. Sure enough, the flames had reformed into a burning creature with wings and limbs. It seemed to be angry, angrier than even its fiery appearance had meant to convey all on its own.
"My task is not with you!" came Scourge's voice. Its sound had an undertone that reminded Zerrich suddenly of the large concrete trapdoor from the warehouse weeks ago. The fire demon spun away, again going for the hovering Raven. It took very little time for Raven to react, throwing blasts of black energy into the creature's path. The first hit seemed to decimate the fiery head of the demon, until the flames reformed once the magic blast exploded. More throws of energy hit the creature's body. Scourge bucked in the air with each hit, but his momentum did not slow. Zerrich pushed forward, trying to catch up to the monster. Its large left arm reached out, became solid, and extended its claws for the girl in front of him.
A sonic blast slammed into the limb, pushing it off to the side. Scourge's body rotated with it, but just as quickly he twisted back around, striking at Raven backhanded. The dark girl put up a small black shield to counter the attack. On impact, Raven grunted and flew backwards. She was quick to bring herself to a stop but was given little time to recover before the Firnusium flew towards her again. Its body shed away the flames, and Zerrich took the moment to form a large sphere of blue energy. He could feel it building up between his hands, feel it increasing in power well beyond what he was used to. Long before this point, the energy would simply release and fly off on its own. Zerrich's only question was whether or not the effects from earlier were permanent.
When Zerrich was satisfied, he aimed both hands forward and released the energy ball. It sped across the sky, slamming against the demon's powerful back. Scourge actually accelerated towards Raven, and Zerrich feared he might have done worse with his attack. Then, the monster fell somewhat limp out of the sky. It dove, spun forward one hundred eighty degrees, kicked its feet under its body and extended its wings. Starbolts struck at the creature as he maintained his altitude, and a green pterodactyl swooped in close to give Cyborg another shot at the thing. The sonic blast tagged the creature's wing, and it spun partially from the impact before centering itself. The demon fired back with its own fireball, hitting Cyborg dead center and knocking him off the green flyer. Beast Boy was forced to dive after his buddy, removing two of the team from the fight for the moment.
Starfire swooped in again and fired a series of starbolts followed by a blast from her eyes. Raven let loose a beam of black magic at the same time. Zerrich added to the gang-up with his own blast of energy. Scourge braced himself against Raven's attack before swooping out of the way of Zerrich's. He flipped in the air, spread his wings out for stability, and then threw two balls of flame towards the Tamaranian. When Starfire began dodging the balls of fire, Scourge moved in with amazing speed. Zerrich tried to send a blast of energy to intercept the attacker, but he ducked under it. The creature was getting used to the speed of Zerrich's attacks. Starfire could do nothing to avoid the monster coming up on her, and she grunted when his powerful arm swatted her out of the sky. Her limp form shot towards the ground like a meteorite, plowing hard into the street below in a blast of debris and smoke.
Scourge turned his head back to Raven. "I shall have you, girl," he growled at her. With the same speed as before, he darted for her position.
"No!" she shouted, blasting at him with a stream of black energy. Zerrich made to intercept the creature as it sliced through the middle of the blast, cutting through all the way to Raven. A set of claws pierced through the magic between Raven's hands, reaching for her neck. Zerrich had a ball of energy ready, but this time he chose to try something different. He waited until he was right on top of the creature, it's sickly pink claws about to grab Raven.
"She said, NO!" he shouted as he released the energy at point-blank. Blinding light forced Zerrich to close his eyes, but the instant the power left his hands a new barrier took its place. He sensed more than felt the blast against his field, wondering how bad the effect had been on Raven. After a quick moment, Zerrich dropped his field and looked around.
Raven was much further away, a black energy field dissolving from her fingertips. It looked like she had gotten her barrier up late as her eyes winced in pain or weariness. Quickly, Zerrich's head turned towards Scourge. The demon was a good distance away, holding a claw to the side of his gut as his leathery wings flapped to keep him in place. Zerrich gathered more energy, firing a stream ahead of him. Scourge curled up within his wings, dropping just below the blast before extending them again and maneuvering out of the way. Zerrich flew after him.
The demon moved too sporadically, and Zerrich held his fire to avoid damaging the city blocks much further. When Scourge straightened to turn back around, Zerrich took advantage and unleashed a powerful blast. The energy plastered across the creature's back. Its wings folded up and out of control for a moment before flapping down and regaining control. Zerrich fired again, hitting his target on the left wing. Scourge rolled with the hit, coming full around and throwing a fireball ten feet in diameter straight for the man from Azarath. Zerrich put up his protection, feeling the fireball surround him and dissolve. When the field dropped again, Scourge was no longer in front of him.
"He's right below you!" Raven warned from behind, firing a stream of black energy at the creature. Zerrich, however, wasn't fast enough, and a large claw came up and swiped him across his own back. The impact itself was jarring, causing Zerrich to grunt and almost fold backwards. His body spun out of control, and before Zerrich could stop his forward tumble he slammed shoulder-first into the side of a building. The old brick cracked and broke away at the impact point, and Zerrich lost his concentration. He immediately began falling towards the street below, too far down for a safe landing. He reached out with his good arm and grabbed onto a window ledge, ending his plummet with a violent stop that finished with Zerrich again slamming into the side of the building.
Wasting no time, Zerrich immediately concentrated on trying to heal his wounds…and was surprised at the speed in which the pain left his body. The gashes in his back were no longer throbbing, and his shoulder had started to feel more like a mere bruise. He took a deep breath, let go of the window ledge and floated back out to the battle. Scourge was, again, chasing after Raven. The dark girl attacked the Firnusium with everything she had left, and it was just enough to hold the creature off while Starfire gained altitude below them. Green starbolts shot up at Scourge, tagging him in all sorts of places. A sonic blast followed shortly after as Cyborg and Beast Boy once again entered the fray. Zerrich hurried to join the reformed team in the air. Scourge turned to face the other attackers, holding off Starfire first.
When Starfire was forced to dodge the creature's onslaught of fireballs, Scourge went straight for Cyborg and Beast Boy. It turned to flames as Cyborg fired his sonic cannon. The fiery mess separated and allowed the energy to fly past before reforming. Then, Scourge slipped out of the flames, going for Cyborg head-on. Beast Boy couldn't maneuver fast enough, and Scourge violently slammed Cyborg off the pterodactyl's back. Cyborg went flying back until he crashed through the window of a nearby building. Before the creature could turn around and attack Beast Boy, a large bus encased in black energy plowed into Scourge from below. Its body sank through the front of the bus, debris flying everywhere. The crashing sound of the large vehicle being speared down the center echoed off the building walls, and the demon was pushed higher into the air.
That was when the center of the bus exploded out as Scourge freed himself from the wreckage. What remained of the upper and lower halves of the vehicle stayed suspended in the air for a moment before beginning their plummet along with the rest of the debris. In that instant, Zerrich fired another stream of energy into the monster, and the impact pushed the Firnusium out of the aerial mess. When Scourge turned to face Zerrich, the man was already slamming his fists into the monster's stomach. Scourge was quick to grab Zerrich's arms by the elbows, but Zerrich had already begun powering up his fists with energy, energy that had no other place to go but straight into Scourge. It was a trick he'd learned about the hard way.
It was the second blinding explosion Zerrich had winced at, but this time the brunt of the energy went into his opponent. The monster fell out of the sky, smoke trailing from his midsection. Zerrich dove after him to finish the job. Scourge barely had time to spread his wings and slow his decent, putting out his feet and landing hard on the ground. Zerrich landed a good block away, reaching deep within his center to find the energy he needed to begin this final round. His eyes began to glow white, his hands surrounded in crackling blue energy. Scourge turned around to face this attack, his own eyes still burning bright. The monster looked prepared to pound his opponent into the ground, regardless of his chances for success. Zerrich took a deep breath…
The man from Azarath suddenly exhaled quickly, gasping for another breath. His vision blurred slightly, and he began to feel dizzy. His breathing became rapid, as the air around him never seemed enough. The energy surrounding his hands dissipated, flashing quietly as it flew in all directions. Zerrich found it hard to stand. He quickly caved to one knee, the world around him sinking away and coming back into focus for moments at a time.
T…t-the, hell…
Shaking his head only made things worse, and Zerrich had to reach for the ground with his hand to keep from completely falling over. Then, even that didn't stop him. He tumbled to his side, his head landing against the concrete harder than he could control. The world around him suddenly darkened. Everything went black, except for those fiery eyes in front of him.
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Raven watched the spectacle below. She watched as the two combatants landed on the top of the street's T-section at opposite ends. She watched as they held their ground and prepared to face off one more time. She watched as Zerrich collapsed to the ground. Immediately, she knew the cause: the energy boost had left him. Worse, it seemed to have the aftereffect of wearing Zerrich out. Raven instinctively started flying to Zerrich's aide, and as she flew she watched Scourge's body become flame once again. This time, the flames increased with intensity, flaring all about. The monster's fiery wings spread out as far as they could, allowing the flames to dance in all directions. Then, the beast took a massive step forward, and every bit of fire blasted ahead of him…right for Zerrich.
The fire, however, did not simply become a giant ball of flame. It continued to stream from Scourge like a condensed wave. The continuous wall of fire blasted forward, tearing up the concrete, sidewalk and anything near enough to be ripped from its foundation. Zerrich didn't move. Starfire was behind Raven, two blocks away. Just below Raven was Robin, sprinting towards the action as fast as he could. Raven knew that neither would be fast enough. She was the one with the best proximity and speed in this situation. Besides that, she was the only one that could put up any kind of defense against the destructive power of these flames. But, Raven was tired. She had found herself more exhausted than normal with only one reason in her mind as to why. She buried the thought and concentrated on the task in front of her.
As Raven pushed forward, a sudden fear entered her mind. She started realizing she wasn't going to reach Zerrich in time. She pushed the emotion away, preventing it from distracting her. Still, the logic in the emotion was accurate; Raven was a half step too far out. Her mind pushed at her body again, a flash of desperation filling her soul. For a fleeting moment her determination commanded her powers beyond their normal scope, even with her condition. That moment was enough, and Raven found herself suddenly in between the flame wave and the unconscious Zerrich. She screeched to a halt as she felt the burning fire on her back, chanted out loud and put her hands high in the air. Black energy crackled to life, starting from behind her and enveloping both Raven and Zerrich inside.
Her chest and stomach seemed to cave in as the flames attacked the barrier from outside. It was a relentless assault, vibrating and rumbling the field, her body, her mind and her soul down to every particle and fiber. She begged her powers for more energy, but her magic only dwindled the more time passed…the more the fires outside continued. Sweat poured down her face as she grimaced, feeling the burden from outside her defenses continuing to gnaw at her. It finally became too much, and she couldn't hold the field any longer. She screamed out, her mind desperately trying to keep the grip on her powers strong. It proved futile as the energy simply slipped away from her. Finally, with the fires outside still going, her black energy barrier shattered.
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Robin made a mad dash for Zerrich's position. He was way too far away, and the stream of fire easily as tall as Scourge tore its way right for him. Above, Raven sped through the air. She passed him up in no time, and his sprint simply died away. He watched her land with a last-second dash in front of the fires. She was quick to putting up a barrier of black magic, and an instant later the black dome was engulfed in flames.
The fire kept coming. Robin's eyes widened as he realized the attack wasn't going to simply end. His sprint came back to life just as Starfire flew overhead. He grabbed for a pack of explosive discs, and Starfire unleashed a fury of starbolts. The creature's wings extended, becoming a wall of flame that shielded its body from the green orbs and eyeblasts. The stream of fire continued. Raven and Zerrich were still somewhere underneath…if Raven's defenses could hold. Robin was close enough now to throw his explosive discs, but they did very little on impact. Concrete, sidewalk, mailboxes, ruined debris fallen from the buildings above and all sorts of other junk Robin couldn't readily identify were torn up and flying alongside the wall of flame. What didn't catch fire or melt simply tumbled along in the fire's wake.
Finally, Scourge could maintain the onslaught no longer, and the stream of fire stopped. It tore through the street until it finally passed and revealed in its tail a disintegrating sheen of protective black energy. The garbage and debris continued to tumble along at viciously high speeds, clattering along the ruined ground until they could come to a stop.
One way or another…
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It was a struggle for Zerrich to regain consciousness. His eyes simply refused to open, and while his brain was telling his arms to push off the ground he wasn't entirely sure if they truly were. Then the light changed in brightness through his closed eyelids, as did the temperature. The air seemed to be burning. Following that realization was a blast of burning wind like a shockwave from some massive explosion. Debris and rock pelted and stung Zerrich's body, seeming to help bring him out his daze. His eyes opened to a blur. Just in front of him was Raven, her arms outstretched. He couldn't entirely be sure through his blurred vision, but she looked to be wincing hard. Suddenly she fell to her knees exhausted, her arms dropping to her sides. The burning wind had stopped.
Zerrich quickly realized through his haze that she must have done something to save him. He struggled to stand, but Zerrich found that even his ability to get up was terribly hindered. Fighting against it did nothing but wear him out. He looked over to Raven. She seemed to be gazing directly at him. He couldn't quite make out her face enough to tell.
"Y…" Raven started to talk, "…o-okay?"
Zerrich couldn't get his lips to move, opting instead to just nod an affirmative.
Raven didn't speak again, her head dropping down in exhaustion. Then, her entire body fell forward and collapsed on the pavement just to Zerrich's right. She had used every bit of her strength in whatever she had done. Suddenly, Zerrich's attention was taken away from her exhaustion, concentrating on something that now caught his eyes. Was he hallucinating? He tried desperately to clear his vision, to bring into focus what he was seeing. At a perfect ninety-degree angle from Raven's body was an object standing straight as a flagpole. The double-sight cleared as Zerrich forced his eyes to focus, and he realized what he was seeing.
It was a structural support bar. Humans called it re-bar. And it was sticking out of Raven's back.
"Nnn-nn…" Zerrich tried to say outloud. He reached weakly with his left hand, pushing at the girl's shoulder. She had fallen at just the right angle that Zerrich could roll her body without much effort. He looked to her stomach, his own clenching tight at what he saw. The end of the re-bar was protruding through the material of her leotard. Desperate, Zerrich placed his hand above her stomach, calling what energy he had to attempt to heal her in any way he could. His hand barely took on a glow as what little power he'd recovered drained from him in two seconds with no effect, save one. Zerrich's eyelids became too heavy to hold open, and just as his hand slipped to the concrete, the man from Azarath once again fell unconscious.
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Scourge took in the sight of his fire blast as it tore down the paved ground. Chunks of it tore away simply from being too close to its power. When he could not sustain the attack any longer, he released the fire and let it finish its travel. This lone target had done enough, and when signs of his weakness came to the surface—whatever its cause—Scourge had taken advantage. Now, the fires of his home would incinerate this weakling's body. Nothing would be left.
This is what the Firnusium had thought as he released his power. When the flames finally passed, a new figure had found herself between Scourge and his opponent. It was her, the primary being he had been summoned for. Her head dropped, the rest of her falling over in a slump. Scourge became very aware of the piece of structure sticking out her back. It was a piece of debris from the fire blast's wake. He found it peculiar that the flames themselves found little effect on the girl, but this single piece of twisted metal could have possibly slain her…
Scourge grunted suddenly. He folded inward, and just as he'd felt once before in his existance his head became a chamber of pain. He yelled out, the sound vibrating the very ground he stood on. His vision filled with starlines of red, the high pitched broken sound in his ears nearly deafening him. He clutched at his head, trying to keep everything still to no avail. He dropped to his knees, ready to crush his own skull to make the pain stop.
"NO!" he shouted to no one in particular. "It was not my intention!"
The torture did not end. The red streaks in his vision started to blind him as the sound in his ears grew louder. The world around him seemed to disappear and become unimportant. He tried to fight against the agony, to fend it off and come to his senses. The torture would not let him
"WHY!" he screamed. He didn't need to ask the question. He knew why, and he knew by whom. His master was punishing him. He was to bring the girl alive, not slain. His master seemed to know exactly what had happened. Could he have truly been watching him, seeing his every action? Through the pain, a sense of doubt entered Scourge's tortured mind. If his master truly could see all, he would have no need for Scourge or others of his kind to search the various dimensions in pursuit for this one prize. Still, the pain held against his mind.
Scourge forced himself to his feet, roaring with frustration. He would have to get away. If it was the end for him then there was nothing he could do, but if his target were to survive his presence would only hinder that. These weak fleshlings would be granted their chance to save his objective from death. If they could be successful, he would return for her. Failure would simply mean his own destruction as well. His wings spread, and Scourge—his hands still clutching the sides of his skull—leaped into the air and away from the scene of destruction.
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The large monitor displayed most of the carnage in downtown Jump City. However, most of the tape was from a distance, as local law enforcement deemed the area hazardous even from the air. News choppers had spectacular views of the disaster from too far off to give any specific information.
For the most part, it didn't matter. He knew what was going on. The demon creature had arrived. The man watching the monitor limped slowly to his lone seat as he took in the reports. The creature had started its rampage where it had arrived, and sure enough the Teen Titans had arrived to stop it. Excellent. The Titans could always be counted on to show up. It was exactly how he wanted it.
Still, with the news coverage from too far away, he could not decipher precisely what was going on. Fires raged from everywhere, explosions occurred a number of times, and then the Titans left the scene. The creature had somehow disappeared without being caught by the cameras. However, if that had been the worst of the story, it would have made little difference. Enough time had passed that the demon should have come along by now. He was nowhere to be found.
The man stretched his legs out as he sat, pondering where the demon menace would have gone. The monster had no way of returning home without another ritual cast to open the portal between their dimensions. Where could the demon have flown off? This would not do. The man reflected on past months as he laced his fingers together in his lap. He had studied the Azarath language from the recovered artifacts stolen from the target Titan. He had traversed the barrier between Earth and the realm of the Firnusium—spent over a week speaking to the monsters that dwelled there about the offspring of Trigon and where she could be found. The flame demons responded, saying that many had made such a claim. They also stated that the realm holding Earth had been searched previously with no results. The fiery creatures had prepared to dismantle the man's protective warding and destroy him.
But he had been ready. He informed them that enough time had passed, and that the child had come to his planet within recent years. When they showed their doubt he disregarded all explanations, properly requesting the appropriate party be sent to Earth and investigate the planet again. He performed the request ritual with practiced ease, guaranteeing cooperation. The man would play the part of intermediary, which in the end would require the sent demon to report to him once contact had been made.
It had been hours since the conflict. The monster was nowhere in the city. The impact on the Titans was at least a partial mystery, as the camera crews had only caught the Titan's one vehicle leaving the scene. Damned Firnusium. He was the one who had summoned this creature. Still, this only granted him so much, for while he called this demon forth, he was not the one who commanded it.
Command. It was an issue that would change soon enough if all went according to plan. The man allowed his hands to separate and relax along the armrests of his seat, the black and gray armor blending with the dark material of the chair. He held onto his last thought. Command. Ultimately, it was exactly that which he truly wanted. After all the research, all the studying, he was finally going to bring it all to fruition. Ultimate control would be his. All he needed to do was apply a little more patience.
His attention turned back to the reports of the monster on the loose. This fire demon would have nowhere else to go. It would have no way of going home except through the proper rituals, as well as knowledge of where to be and when. If the beast truly wanted to return to its realm, it would at some point have to come to him. And when it did, the true strategy would begin. Oh, the power that would be in his grasp. Finally, after everything, it would all be his. Moments like those were well worth waiting for. And they were well worth meticulously planning for. Nothing could afford to go wrong.
And if he had anything to say about it, nothing would.