AN: So here we are again, my annual update of this story. It was totally not my fault that I missed it last year, as my computer was broken. to make up for it, it's extra long! This chapter is still featuring some OCs belonging to other people - see previous chapter for who belongs to what.
Only one more chapter and maybe an epilogue to go. Should be done by next year!
There might be some mild language in this chapter.
The two sides leapt at each other, a wall of red and black meeting a wall of many colours. And then the walls broke and it was no longer two separate groups, but one large, writhing mass, with energy of all shapes, sizes, and colours being tossed carelessly within. In all, it bore a remarkable resemblance to chaos.
Beast Boy was the first one off the mark, morphing into a pterodactyl as he launched himself into the air. Not far behind him was Metatron who actually seemed to sprout wings as he took off into the air as well, and began to rain balls of golden energy down on the opposition. A couple of the enemy soldiers leapt up to meet them – one of them Zhara, Leo's sister. She shot into the air straight at Beast Boy, who was surprised and unable to dodge, and slammed into him at top speed, smashing him into the ceiling. He gasped as the air was forced from his lungs. Still pinning him to the roof Zhara pulled back her first and wreathed it in flames. Desperate, Beast Boy changed to a gorilla. The excess weight caused Zhara to judder in the air, and she lost her grip on him as a sparks appeared from her armour. Slipping out of Zhara's grasp Beast Boy changed to an eagle and flew at her, his sharp claws raking the armour where he had seen the sparks, tearing open the complex electronics.
In another situation the look on Zhara's face would have been comical as whatever was powering her flight cut out and she dropped ungracefully to the floor. Beast Boy followed her down and changed back to a gorilla just before he landed. Zhara was still trying to regain her balance, leaving her vulnerable, and Beast Boy raised an arm to swing at her-
When it was caught from behind. He spun quickly to hit this new threat, but whoever it was ducked. Then Beast Boy recognised him.
"Dude, don't scare me like that!"
"Zhara's mine," Leo Knight said, his eyes glued to those of his sister.
Beast Boy looked back and forth between them for a moment. No way was he going to get between those two.
"Suit yourself."
He turned and leapt back into the air, flying over to where Metatron was fighting the other airborne soldier.
The half-demon had been having considerably less luck than Beast Boy. He'd been happily doing the whole 'raining death (well, at least moderate wounds) from above' thing when this soldier had floated up in front of him. Metatron had formed an energy ball and tossed it at him, only for it to be deflected harmlessly away, without the soldier moving.
"There's no way you can hit me," the soldier said.
Metatron formed two more energy balls, one in each hand, supercharging the energy in them to the extent that they were difficult to look at directly. He tossed first one, and then the other.
Both bounced away from his foe with apparently no effort.
"Huh," Metatron said, but that was all he had time for because suddenly the soldier was flying straight towards him. He flapped his wings and flipped backwards, bringing up his legs in a kick aimed to knock the soldier upwards. And it would have done, had it hit. But it did not. The soldier changed direction at the last moment and swerved to the side, then diving in again attempting to capitalise. His fist swung out, but was caught at the wrist, centimetres from its target. Met grinned and contorted his body, spinning around and swinging the soldier like a shot put, launching him straight at a wall, not even waiting to see if he hit it before sending more energy balls flying at him. Dust was thrown out as the soldier impacted the concrete and the energy balls disappeared into the cloud.
Then the dust settled, and the soldier was hovering in the air a couple of inches in front of the impacted wall with the energy balls still in front of him.
"Not good enough," he said, and then he thrust his arms forward, and the energy balls were heading straight at Metatron…who stood there and let them hit him. They were absorbed back into his body.
"Back atcha." Metatron grinned. "It won't work on—" and then he was cut off, as something large, heavy, and hard slammed into him from behind. He fell, managed to recover, and was then hit again, this time from the side, sending him spinning into a wall. He dug his currently-clawed hands into the wall for extra support and this time managed to see what was hitting him: two giant weights, presumably from the weight machines that could be seen in the corner.
Which put the question of exactly which superpower this soldier had beyond any doubt – telekinesis. He'd deflected away Metatron's energy balls, probably absorbed his impact into the wall, and was now flinging giant pieces of metal at him.
Met couldn't hope to beat him at range as any of his own attacks could be easily deflected while the soldier had an almost unlimited number of things to throw at him. So he would have to take the battle in close. Which was probably going to be easier said than done, because at the moment it was taking all of his concentration to just avoid said giant wheels of metallic pain. He had to jump from wall to wall, to ceiling, to floor, to wall again, trying to avoid being hit. His manoeuvrability in the air wasn't as good as his enemy's, being as it was reliant on his wings rather than telekinesis.
A weight narrowly missed his ear as landed on the ground, took two steps, and leapt for a wall again, over the heads of two more soldiers. He needed something, needed a distraction, he needed… Beast Boy to be flying in at the telekinetic from behind, right now!
He flipped in mid air, landing against the wall on his feet, pushing off again almost immediately and beating his wings at the same time to pick up more speed. Beast Boy's eagle form screeched as he flew in, and the soldier spun around in surprise. Beast Boy's claws lashed out – and then he was thrown backwards almost to the other side of the room. Metatron gave another beat of his wings, so close now, all he needed was another second…
He was a foot away from the soldier when he stopped dead in mid air. The soldier turned back around to him, slowly.
"I told you before, you won't be able to hit me. I'm too good—" the soldier was hit from below by a disc of yellow energy. Meteorion looked up and gave a jaunty salute before returning to her own battle. The distraction was all Metatron needed. With one final beat of his wings he arced upwards and then folded them back, coming down on the telekinetic from above, all four claws latching on firmly as he flipped them over and sent them spiralling towards the ground. He felt a telekinetic shove trying to pry him away, so he charged his hands with energy. He wasn't quite doing enough to form energy balls but with the zero distance between his palms and his enemy's skin, what he was doing was literally burning the soldier from within. The telekinetic push disappeared as the soldier screamed, and Metatron did one final flip to drive his leg downwards onto the soldier's chest as the soldier crashed into the ground.
Met took a moment to catch his breath before checking that the soldier was well and truly unconscious. Then he looked around him, trying to see where he was needed most.
Coatl and Beast Boy could do with some help, said the familiar voice of Neuroa inside his head.
Metatron raced off to see what he could do…
Wait, lookout!
…And was blindsided by a blast of blue energy, sending him crashing through two fighting teens and into a wall.
"Cold…" he managed to gasp out, before pushing himself to his feet, shuddering, and falling over unconscious.
"Coldstream, actually," said the Raincoat soldier that had attacked him. While he was wearing the standard outfit of his team he was also wearing a mask that covered his face and wrapped around the lower part of his head, leaving only his spiky black hair exposed. A jagged line separated the two colours of the mask, running straight down over the middle of the right eye, the smaller part being red and the larger part being black.
"Nice name," came a voice from behind him, as one of the giant weights came hurtling in his direction. Coldstream dodged to the side, tumbling on the ground and rolling to his feet again. Bloodborne was kneeling beside the fallen telekinetic, one hand outstretched, the other not far from his mouth, a couple of drops of blood still on his fingertips. "Does exactly what it says on the can. Like mine."
He moved his arm sharply and the weight flew again towards Coldstream, who again dodged.
At which point two more figures dropped out of the air, landing beside Metatron – Solenoid and Soul.
"Did he just say his name was Coldstream?" Solenoid asked as her companion began to heal the half-demon.
"Yeah, why?" Bloodborne responded.
"I think that's the name of a town in—" the girl cut off as she had to dodge backwards to avoid a blast of blue energy. "Hey, no need to get snippy, you!" she yelled at Coldstream. Then seeing that Soul had finished healing Metatron (who was slowly pushing himself to his feet) she grabbed the former under the arm and bounced off again.
"Are we finished socialising?" Coldstream asked scathingly. Bloodborne and Metatron shared a look.
"Yeah, I think so," Bloodborne replied.
"Good." Coldstream did as his name suggested and fired another blast of cold energy at the two, who sprang apart as it passed between them. But even as they moved they were returning fire, Metatron charging another energy ball and Bloodborne swinging the weight around for another attempt. Coldstream ducked and rolled backwards, using the weight to block the blast of heat energy Metatron had thrown. Bloodborne was already ripping a long strip of metal from one of the unknown machines and swinging it like a bat, trying to trap Coldstream between the two weapons. The cryokinetic simply fired a blast of energy at the weight and then dodged over it, causing the metal strip to hit it and smash the frozen metal into pieces.
Through those pieces, though, another globe of golden energy passed, and this time Coldstream's dodge wasn't quite quick enough. It caught him on the shoulder and the force of it sent him spinning around, falling to the ground. He growled deep in his throat as he pushed himself up again.
"You'll pay for that," he said to Metatron, thrusting out an arm and shooting a blast of cold at him. And then he cried out in shock and pain – he hadn't seen Bloodborne approaching, hadn't seen him grab his arm, but he had definitely felt him sinking his teeth into it. Before Coldstream could punch him for the sheer audacity of it, Bloodborne had jumped back.
"Ugh…what have you been eating?" Bloodborne gagged, wiping a small trickle of blood from the side of his mouth. "You taste horrible."
Coldsteam growled in pain and anger, and threw a blast of cold energy at the teen. Bloodborne lazily reached out and caught it in his free hand.
"Now your powers are my powers," Bloodborne said smugly as he swung the metal strip at Coldstream, who rolled underneath it. Metatron fired some more energy balls at him and he jumped over them, somersaulting and coming to land as a blast of cold energy arrowed in on him – and he caught it in his hand.
"It's not what you've got, it's how you use it." Coldstream redoubled the force of the energy, and again, and then sent it straight back at Bloodborne, hitting him square in the chest. Then a giant ball of golden energy slammed into Coldstream, and he barely managed to return the favour in kind before he was sent flying backwards and skidding along the floor.
Solenoid and Soul were already landing to heal Bloodborne and Metatron.
Coldstream pushed himself to his feet, clutching his chest. "You two are really beginning to annoy me."
"Shucks," the girl replied as she took up a defensive position in front of the others.
Coldstream seemed to be looking about for something, and then he spotted what he was after. Not far away Coatl and Beast Boy were surrounded by a group of six Raincoat soldiers, desperately trying to defend themselves, but being overcome by the numbers.
"Force! Shock!" Coldstream called. Two of the six looked over and then peeled off from the group. When they reached him, Coldstream pointed over at Solenoid and Soul. "They're your targets," he ordered.
"Uh oh," Solenoid said as the two nodded and ran towards her. She turned around and grabbed Soul, who had thankfully just finished what he was doing, and sprang off. The two followed.
Bloodborne, meanwhile, had had the beginnings of a plan. As soon as Metatron had regained consciousness he spoke to him.
"I saw your fight with the telekinetic and I think I have a plan," Bloodborne said.
"Good, I've decided I hate cryokinetics," Metatron responded.
"I just…I'll need to drink some of your blood." Metatron looked at him sharply and Bloodborne inwardly cringed. Other people often found his ability to be unnerving and he didn't like to use it on an ally. It freaked them out. He genuinely liked these people and didn't want to lose a possible friendship with any of them.
"You know I'm a half-demon don't you? I don't know what my blood will do to you."
Bloodborne gaped. "Uh…well, uh, I guess that's just a risk we'll have to take. Here's my plan…" or at least, there it would have been, had Coldstream not chosen that moment to interrupt with another blast of energy. They both dove to the side.
"No time! Just wing it!" Metatron said, one claw having already opened a cut on the inside of his forearm, he pushed it to his companion's mouth. Barely waiting long enough for some blood to transfer, Metatron then bent his legs for a mighty jump, straight upwards, flipping around and sinking his clawed feet into the ceiling. He hung there like a bat, watching the fight below him, hoping to figure out what Bloodborne had planned.
At that moment Bloodborne didn't really have anything planned; he was too busy trying to channel the heat that was building in his body. Borrowing powers had never caused him pain before but he could tell the moment the blood touched his lips that this was different. He just had to hope that he could last out long enough.
He stretched both of his hands out before him and began pouring all of the heat towards them, the golden energy growing to the size of a beach ball.
"Do you really expect to be able to hit me with that?" Coldstream asked. "His powers are now your powers, but I'm willing to bet his weakness is now your weakness. That was a very foolish move."
"It's not what you've got…" Bloodborne gasped out, even as Coldstream's hand pulled back for one more blast of energy, even as, thank god, Metatron dropped down behind him, having understood the plan, grabbed both the attacking arm and the other one and wrenched them behind his back, and intoned along with Bloodborne "…it's how you use it."
Bloodborne tossed the energy ball straight at the pair. Coldstream struggled but Metatron was too strong for him and had his arms locked too well. The energy ball hit them both head on and glowed brilliantly as it impacted. When his sight had cleared, Bloodborne could see Coldstream hanging limply from the arms of a completely unharmed Metatron.
Then Bloodborne collapsed.
This time help wasn't coming. Soul was still being dragged around by Solenoid, who was still trying to deal with the two that Coldstream had set upon on them. Metatron dropped the cryokinetic and moved to his fallen companion who was lying shuddering on the floor.
"It'll…pass…eventually…" he gasped out between convulsions.
"I hope so," Metatron replied. Then he knelt down, picked up Bloodborne, and put him over his shoulder. Unfurling his wings again he launched himself into the air and over to where the boy Robin had called Human Shield was standing in defence of the four who were currently powerless, and Neuroa who was directing things from afar. It didn't seem like anyone had bothered them yet.
"Room for one more here?" he asked, gently laying Bloodborne down.
"We'll take care of him," Fiona replied.
"You best get back out there though," said Neuroa.
Metatron nodded and returned to the fight.
Starfire wanted to help Bloodborne, but there was really nothing she could have done even if her hands hadn't still been bound, so she resumed watching the battle. Although the hastily-dubbed Titans outnumbered their foes, not all of them were involved in the main fight. Combined with the obvious training the Raincoat team had received, Starfire's battle trained eyes could tell that the Titans were not the strongest side. Yet the Olympians did not have someone directing the battle from afar, nor did they have someone waiting to heal any injuries. The longer the fight lasted, the more likely the Titans were to emerge victorious.
Starfire hated that she could not aid her friends in the battle, that she was forced to observe helplessly from the sidelines as they risked their lives. She watched as Robin and Typhoon squared off against each other, as leaders inevitably do.
Eyes locked together, they circled each other, seemingly oblivious to the carnage going on around them.
"You should not have interfered here," Typhoon said. "You will accomplish nothing."
"I did you a favour actually."
Tyhpoon stopped circling, amused yet sceptical about this.
"How so?" He asked.
"Well," Robin replied, "if I hadn't come, Batman would have. And you really wouldn't have liked that."
Robin sprung forward, swinging his staff around in a wide arc, aiming at Typhoon's head. The Raincoat soldier ducked in response, the bo staff brushing his spiky red hair as it passed, and he spun around trying to sweep Robin's legs from beneath him. But Robin had already jumped; his first attack had been a feint, and now he was twisting in the air, bringing his staff down with full force towards his foe's head.
It missed by millimetres as Typhoon saw the attack coming at the last second and managed to jerk himself away. Robin had expected the attack to hit and had slightly overbalanced but he quickly used his momentum to his advantage. Typhoon was still attempting to recover his balance when the staff swung at him again, and he could do nothing but throw himself backwards. Robin pressed his advantaged and launched a flurry of attacks that Typhoon barely dodged until he was forced to block the last one with his arms.
They leapt apart again as a ball of yellow energy went flying past between them and they resumed their circling before Robin spoke again.
"You're all kinetics, aren't you?" he said. Although his attention had seemed to be completely focused on the man in front of him he was still aware of everything that was happening around them. "Telekinetic, pyrokinetic, aerokinetic…not one of you has a different type of power." He had to move to the side to avoid a burst of flame that scorched past him. "My first attack should have hit. You nudged it off course at the last second. Are you telekinetic?"
Typhoon's only response was to smile viciously and launch another attack, feinting to the right and then switching to the left, going in with a jab to the face. Although he was clearly well-trained his moves were obvious to someone of Robin's level, and he dodged easily.
Then he heard a rushing sound behind him, but even that didn't give him enough warning. Suddenly he was completely encased in a bubble of water, seemingly floating in mid-air. He almost let out what little oxygen he had in a gasp of surprise, but managed to restrain himself. He saw Typhoon speak, and although the worlds were highly muffled he could still read his lips.
"Hydrokinetic, actually." Typhoon brought his arm up, and the water moved, taking Robin with it, and crushing him against a metal crate. The pressure pushed down on his chest, threatening to compress his lungs and force out the rest of his air. He struggled against it but couldn't seem to find purchase on anything. He pulled an explosive batarang from his belt and tossed it, hopefully far enough away that it wouldn't hurt him, but close enough to disrupt the water. Thankfully he had managed to judge the distance correctly. Unfortunately, as soon as the water was blown away it was pulled back in again. As darkness started to creep in to the edges of his vision he pulled two more batarangs from his belt and hoped his crazy plan worked.
Meanwhile, if you were wondering what was happening to Leo Knight and Zhara (and I know at least Asta was), after Leo had taken over from Beast Boy he had given Zhara enough time to pick herself up from the ground.
"Why are you doing this Karen?" he asked, his tone pleading. "Is it because I wouldn't help you? If it is…I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I'm just terrified of losing you, you know that."
"Never fear, brother, my motivations are not nearly so trivial as mere revenge. I serve the Unholy Prince now." As she said this Zhara took a step towards him and gestured delicately with her fingers, flames racing up to cover her right arm.
Leo took a step back.
" The Unholy Prince? Do you mean…Satan? Is this some sort of brainwashing cult?"
"He would never stoop to such means!" Zhara screamed. She thrust out her hand and the flame shot from it straight at Leo. He managed to duck out of the way, barely, and the fire hit an inoperative machine behind him. As he rose again he touched the button on his palm to generate electricity and then made it dance in his hand. Although he could control it, he could not create it, unlike his sister.
"I…I d-don't want to hurt you Karen. Please don't make me. Please." He was practically begging, but he didn't care. If he thought getting down on his knees would have made a difference he would have.
Amazingly, Zhara seemed to soften at this. The fire on her arm went out and she took a more tentative step towards him.
"I don't want to hurt you either, Leon," she said sincerely. Relief flooded Leo. He closed the distance between them and wrapped her in a tight hug. After a moment she pushed away from him slightly.
"Join us," she said. "Fight beside me, not against me. Agree to serve the dark master. A new time is coming, when the Unholy Prince shall rule all, and we will be his most trusted servants. Second only to him! It will be glorious. The only thing that could make it better would be my brother at my side."
Leo looked into her eyes and saw the intense glint of fanaticism.
"He has brainwashed you, hasn't he? This is some form of mind control. Sorry Karen, or Zhara, or whatever it is you're calling yourself. I don't want to hurt you but it looks like that's the only way to save you."
He charged his hand with electricity again and then shot it out towards her, but instead of dodging backwards like he expected she rushed towards him, bringing her own hand around to slam into the armour on his chest. There was not much force behind the blow so Leo was barely rocked backwards, but after a moment he felt his chest heating up. Looking down he saw each of her fingers glowing brightly, hot enough to melt through his specially designed suit of armour.
And she was doing it at the exact spot where the energy core was. He tried to charge electricity into his hand again to defend himself but she was already tearing the core out of his suit. She threw it into the air and tossed a fireball at it, causing it to explode. With his powers effectively neutralised Leo had no choice but to resort to hand-to-hand combat so he lashed out with a kick to Zhara's stomach and then dove behind a nearby machine to escape the blast of flame that came his way in response.
He had to be able to find power somewhere in this place.
Across the room, Meteorion was thinking something completely unrelated to Leo's plight. Namely, that she wasn't cut out for this superhero business. She was desperately trying to avoid a giant hand made of earth that seemed intent on grinding her into dust, but no matter how she dodged or how large a blast she aimed back at it she just couldn't get rid of it.
Duck! said a voice in her head, and she complied instantly, just barely managing to avoid a second hand that seemed to come from nowhere trying to swat her like a fly. She couldn't even work out who it was that was attacking her. Every time she stopped to take a look she left herself open for an attack. All she needed was a moment to get her bearings.
When she saw one of the hands sweeping in for another attack she spun around to meet it, firing as many discs at it as she could. Hundreds of tiny pieces of debris where thrown from it forming a small dust cloud, but what she needed was bigger, so she charged the biggest energy disc she could and blasted it at the earth. It severed the hand from the arm and the resultant cloud was more than adequate. After a pause to make sure that she couldn't be seen she took a deep breath…and then began choking on all the dust. Coughing and spluttering she stumbled about, trying to find a patch of clear air. Which she did, clearing her lugs just in time to see the arm barrelling towards her.
Yup, she thought, as it smashed into her and began to crush her against a wall. She definitely wasn't cut out for this.
Neuroa, watching from afar, scoured the battlefield for someone who could be spared to help Meteorion. She saw Photon and Bullet double-teaming a female Raincoat soldier.
Photon, Bullet, can either of you help out Meteorion? There's a geokinetic that's got her between a rock and a hard place, literally.
"We're kind of busy right now!" Photon replied aloud. She was trying to dodge a large and probably very heavy piece of machinery that had been knocked over by a blast of pink energy from her opponent. The Raincoat soldier was wearing a black and red mask but had distinctive pink hair tied into pigtails, and she seemed to be able to throw blasts of bad luck. That just so happened to also be coloured pink.
Now, I could go for the rest of this scene calling her 'the Raincoat soldier' or 'the eikoskinetic', or I could confirm what ninety-nine percent of you should have already guessed and just call her Jinx.
Anyway, moving on.
"It's okay, I won't be gone long," Bullet said, and then disappeared in a flash of black and white.
"Bullet! Come back!" Photon called after her, staring in despair at the now vacant spot beside her. Belatedly she remembered she was in the middle of a fight, and she turned just in time to avoid a pink hex blast.
"You really should pay more attention," Jinx said as she cart wheeled closer, nimbly dodging the bolts of light Photon threw off in a counterattack. Jinx fired her own blasts, left, right, left, as she wheeled and spun ever closer. Photon desperately scrambled back almost tripping over the debris that littered the ground, just barely avoiding each of the blasts. And then – slam.
She had backed up right into the wall. Jinx finally stood straight, a triumphant grin on her face.
"Told you so!" she sing-songed, and raised her hands above her head, a large hex blast charging in them. Photon cried out in alarm and instinctively raised her own arms, her hands clenching tightly.
Unexpectedly, Jinx faltered, the pink glow fading out unspent.
"What…what did you do to me?!" She clutched at her face. "I'm… blind. You've blinded me! I'll get you for this, you little bitch!"
Jinx swung out with a fist in a clumsy attack. Photon ducked beneath the swipe, then again as another flailing limb shot out at her. She tried to slide along the wall to the right, but a hex blast impacted on the wall, little specs of concrete exploding out.
"You're not going to get away from me!" Jinx screeched.
Photon sank down to the ground instead, all but cowering before the pink girl. Her arms were still raised in front of her with her fists clenched. She was afraid that if she moved them Jinx's sight would return, and then she was done for. There had to be some way out of this, but she just couldn't figure it out.
"Hey, what did I miss–" started a new voice – Bullet, returned from aiding Meteorion. She stopped short as she took in the scene. The momentary hesitation was all it took for Jinx to aim a hex blast her way. Bullet started to move but the blast clipped her, and she tripped, her momentum carrying her forward to crash towards the wall, unfortunately right where Photon was cowering. The light manipulator let out a squeal of fright but couldn't move, and the two girls collided.
Jinx blinked as her vision returned and saw the two of them lying in a heap against the wall, limbs in a tangled mess. She snorted in disgust.
"Amateurs."
Right at the far end of the hall another Raincoat operative was saying something similar. It was a young man with shoulder length hair prematurely grey in colour, and he wore no mask to hide his attractive face. His clothes too, although almost identical to the standard Raincoat uniform, seemed to be in some way subtly different, more stylish. In short, he had a presence about him, a natural charisma or charm that drew the eye. Currently he was sitting atop a metal frame, surveying the battle scene in front of him. Although sitting might not have been the best word for it. His relaxed posture verging on a slouch suggested another name: lazing.
"I can't believe this. None of you measure up. It's a wonder I was included in such a group, to be honest, because you're clearly all far beneath me."
Fever, the dark skinned pyrokinetic, paused. She had spotted the strange young man sitting out of the main battle and had decided to investigate what he was up to. Unfortunately her bright yellow costume hadn't been designed for stealth, but she had given it her best shot, sticking to what shadows there were and keeping out of sight whenever possible as she crept closer towards him. Having been spotted she was about to step out of the cover she was in when the man spoke again.
"I mean, the Boss says we've to fight, so I'm here, but really! There's no one here who can challenge me! No one even worth my time!"
There was something about the way he was talking, as if to an audience…or maybe just to himself. He hadn't spotted her at all. He was just indulging his ego. Fever continued on.
"Now, maybe if the Bat himself had shown up I might have understood. That would have been worth getting out of bed for. The headlines would have been amazing." The man rose to his feet, his arm gesturing before him theatrically. "'The Magnificent Kan Defeats the Bat!' Or 'Batman Dead, Kan Victorious!'" The Raincoat soldier, apparently called Kan, heaved a great sigh. "Alas. It was not to be."
Fever had gotten as close as she dared. With the man practically prancing around in full view on top of the framework it would not be difficult to hit him, and she was fairly sure he hadn't spotted her yet. Without the time to dodge, he wouldn't have a chance, which was something Fever was profoundly grateful for. His constant monologue was making her want to vomit. She took careful aim.
"Instead, I'm just left with the amateurs. Oh well, at least there's not much--"
He was cut off when the blast of flame crashed into him, the fire and smoke enveloping his body, only a strangled cry of shock and pain piercing through it before that too disappeared. Fever hoped she hadn't overdone it but her fire was always stronger when she was angry and Kan had been seriously pissing her off.
Slowly the smoke cleared, and in its wake was left…nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"Well, that was rude."
Fever spun around and her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Sitting once again, this time on a crate in the corner, completely unharmed, impeccably dressed, and – impossibly – looking even more attractive, was Kan.
"Oh, sweet thing, stop, please! I know I look good but such close scrutiny makes even me blush!"
Fever just continued to gape.
"Oh, well, if you insist." Kan sat back and preened himself.
Somewhat regaining control of her senses, Fever half-heartedly threw another fireball at Kan, barely taking the time to aim properly. As such the blast flew high, but it would still have clipped Kan's head had he not scrambled to duck at the last second.
"Hey now, pretty lady! None of that. You could do some serious damage to a face as handsome as this with one of those, and oh what a tragedy that would be." He slipped forward off the crate and made to close the distance between them. "What say we have ourselves a little…" he stopped short as Fever raised her fists defensively before her, flames encasing them. "…dance?"
"I don't know what your deal is but in case you haven't noticed there's a fight going on, and we're on opposite sides," Fever said.
"Oh, no! No, no, no. What you haven't noticed is that the music has started…and it's playing my song." A look flittered across Kan's face then, a look at odds with the carefree attitude he had so far displayed, a look that could only be described as dangerous. But Fever had little time to process this fact before something else caught her attention. She could hear music. And it wasn't as if someone had just switched it on, no, it was that it had only taken her until now to notice it. It had been playing all along, a lilting, carefree orchestral piece.
Kan was standing in front of her, a smug smile on his face detracting from his otherwise perfect features, with one hand extended out towards her. "Shall we?" he asked.
Fever swiped out with one flaming fist to bat at the offered hand but Kan managed to pull back just in time.
"A simple no would have been…" he started, but another blast of flame cut him off as he was forced to leap to the side to dodge. Fever followed it with another, and another, a whole barrage of fire blanketing the area. But Kan managed to avoid every single one, ducking and weaving, spinning on the spot…he looked like he'd decided to dance anyway.
"Maybe you're more of a waltz girl?" he asked, and then the music changed. It wasn't like someone had switched tracks. One song melded seamlessly into the other, the lilting tune now replaced by a more serious waltz.
Fever growled in annoyance and closed the gap between the two. She started throwing in some hand-to-and manoeuvres and although Kan still managed to dodge her attacks she could tell he was finding it difficult. What she couldn't work out was why he was bothering to dodge at all. She was almost certain that her first attack had hit, and it should have at least singed his clothes. In fact, she had expected him to be severely wounded. But he had reappeared looking completely untouched. If he could completely shrug off an attack like that one, why was he bothering to dodge here?
And what in god's name was up with that music?
"Okay! Obviously not waltz! Let's move away from classical….oh, lord, you're not into pop are you?" And with that sneering accusation the music changed again and this time Fever faintly recognised it as a reasonably recent song from the charts. Some girl group or other.
She didn't let up her assault though and she could tell she was driving him back. He continued to dodge but he was beginning to sweat – from his acrobatics as well as how close her flames were getting. With one more blast she forced him back a last step and he toppled backwards, having crashed into the crate he was sitting on before. Now he lay across it fumbling to get one hand underneath him for balance, looking up just in time to see her leaping towards him with a flaming fist aimed directly at his head. He threw out his other hand and cried out.
"STOP!"
There was a power in his voice, one that was fuelled by his charisma, an almost irresistible tone of command. Fever, caught by surprise, stopped.
There was silence for a few moments.
"Hammer time!"
Then, inexplicably, he was off the crate and standing behind her and….was doing the dance. The MC Hammer dance. Whilst singing along to the music, which had changed again.
"You can't touch this."
She was being mocked. He'd been mocking her all along. Her anger rose and with it her power, engulfing her hands, then her arms, then her entire body. She almost flew at him, the flames extending metres to either side of her, offering no chance at escape. He had time only to blink and then she was upon him…and through him. She stopped herself before her momentum carried her into a wall, and turned to look at him again. He was completely unfazed.
"You. Can't. Touch. This."
He was…intangible? No, that wouldn't explain his seeming ability to teleport. He was…
"An illusion. That's all you are." She laughed at him, and he frowned. "Just an illusion."
She had no warning of the blow that landed on her head, a sharp downswing of a metal pipe held in the hands of another Kan. Fever dropped to the ground unconscious.
"Not just an illusion."
The two Kan's faced each other over the fallen teen.
"My, you look sexy today," one of them said.
"You know, I was just thinking the same thing…"
Across the battlefield where many fights were taking place, music could be heard, but was not noticed.
Entirely at the other end of the room a small group of teens were huddled in front of a large door that stubbornly refused to open. Fiona, Zach, and Sean sere sitting against said doors. On the ground in front of them were the unconscious bodies of Bloodborne and Meteorion, and occasionally standing, occasionally pacing just beyond them was Starfire. In front of her was Human Shield, standing ready to defend his companions from any threat that came their way, and Neuroa, observing the battle and helping where she could.
Things were not going well. Cyborg had gone to the aid of Beast Boy and Coatl but it was still four-on-three and they were slowly being worn down. Robin was not faring well against Typhoon, nor Leo against Zhara. Slyde, Metatron and Legend and teamed up against another three Raincoat operatives but weren't getting very far, and the rest of the Titans were scattered across the battlefield, unconscious or unable to fight. Solenoid was desperately trying to keep herself and Soul from being hurt by the two operatives that pursued them, and there was no time to be healing anyone.
Starfire closed her eyes in despair. If only her hands were not bound, she would be able to help her new found friends, but there was nothing she could do. Then she forced her eyes open again. At the very least she would bear witness to their battles.
Solenoid was dragging Soul almost by the scruff of his neck. She jumped past a large crate and held them both against the wall, looking for the next attack. A slab of concrete from the floor was flipped up and thrown at them. Solenoid pushed it aside even as she jumped again, lifting them to the ceiling this time. But she had been running for some time now and she couldn't hold them there for more than a few seconds before jumping back down to the ground. Which was a good thing, because a blast of electricity impacted on the roof where they had just been.
"Can't…keep this up…" she panted "…is there nothing…you can do?"
Soul, who was looking slightly bedraggled himself from all the leaping around, shook his head.
"I don't believe in violence. I swore an oath only to use my powers to heal."
Solenoid made a slightly strangled noise at hearing this. Then her eyes widened in shock.
"Get down!" she shouted even as she let loose most of her remaining force between them, pushing them both back away from each other as metal pole went whizzing past. Soul was sent over to where Neuroa and the rest were, and Solenoid herself went flying back into the metal frame of a weights machine. She managed to soften her impact and grab hold of it before she slipped and fell to the ground. The metal pole came back for a second go, striking out at her head. She ducked underneath it, but it wasn't finished. It stuck out again and this time she had to swing down from the top of the frame to avoid it, using her powers to push herself enough to swing back up again. As she came back up she grabbed the pole to still it.
And then she realised her mistake, as an arc of lightning shot out, not aiming at her but at the pole. She tried to drop it but wasn't fast enough – the electricity hit and travelled along the pole, through her, then down to the earth. Her muscles fried, she slid from the top of the frame and toppled to the ground.
Solenoid could feel every inch of her body crying out in agony but she couldn't just give up. She was just attempting to push herself to her feet, her arms shaking under the strain, when two shadows fell across her.
"Knew you couldn't keep that up forever." Force, the telekinetic one, leered down at her.
"Looks like we get to have some fun now." Shock had an arc of electricity running playfully between his fingers as he looked over at the mostly powerless group of Titans.
Solenoid grimaced as she finally got her legs under her, determination forcing her to her feet. But just as she was beginning to rise a weight slammed into her, throwing her back against the frame with a sickening crunch.
Soul had used the slight breather to see to the two teens that had been carried back to the group. There was nothing he could do for Bloodborne, who would recover on his own (and shortly, if Soul was any judge) but he managed to bring Meteorion around.
Even still, things did not look good as Force and Shock approached with matching lecherous grins on their faces. Starfire was at a total loss. All around her, her comrades were falling, injured or possibly worse. Human Shield moved right into the fore of the group, directly in the path of the two enemies.
"If you want to get to them, you have to go through me!" he shouted defiantly.
Force and Shock stopped and looked at each other quizzically. They looked back at Human Shield…who suddenly found himself picked up and thrown across the other side of the room. Neuroa paled.
Meteorion moved forward and fired a disc of energy but a blast of electricity cut straight through it and into her, throwing her backwards.
For Starfire everything seemed to slow down. She looked out across the battle seeming to take in everything at once. Meteorion crashed into the wall behind her as Human Shield finally impacted on the wall on the far side of the room. Neuroa took a step backward away from the two soldiers. Solenoid lay crumpled under a pile of weights, unmoving. Bullet and Photon lying in a heap against the wall. Phaeism and Slyde unconscious on the floor as Metatron and Legend fought to protect their bodies. Cyborg, Coatl, and Beast Boy backed into a corner.
Robin, momentarily bursting free of a ball of water threatening to drown him before it surrounded him once more.
A great anger welled up in Starfire. The first people she had met in a long while that she could call friends were fighting for their lives, and losing. As the rage built up she acted instinctually, channelling into her hands as power, before she realised it wouldn't work, that the handcuffs were still on. Only…it was working. Looking down she saw sparks leaping from the panel that Robin had managed to prise open and a green glow began to emanate from beneath it. Focusing her considerable anger she began charging the largest starbolt of her life.
"Get…away…from my friends!" she screamed as she raised her hands above her head (the handcuffs finally tearing free) and then she brought them down, throwing the starbolt right at Force and Shock. There was no time for them to dodge and the starbolt was large enough to encompass both of them, a huge burst of light enveloping them then sending them flying backwards.
Starfire rose up into the air, her fists and eyes glowing green.
"You will not hurt my friends anymore."
Force and Shock, lying on the ground singed and smoking, made no move to argue. Or even get up.
Twin explosions caught Starfire's attention and she looked over to see Robin on the ground panting having somehow escaped the water bubble he had been trapped in. His foe was on the ground unconscious. Robin looked up and saw Starfire hovering in the air, her hands unbound, and he smiled. Rising to his feet he jogged over to her.
"You managed to free yourself I see."
Starfire grabbed him in a bear hug.
"I could not have done it without your help! Thank you, friend!"
She did not seem to hear the gargling noises he made as she squeezed him tight enough to restrict his breathing, but they both heard the entirely unsubtle noise of someone clearing their throat.
"A-hem."
Starfire dropped Robin and they both looked over to see Raven standing beside them. Her eyes were fixed on Robin's.
"We need to talk."
Others, however, were still fighting. Leo Knight was still not faring well against his sister.
"If you do not join us then you will burn with all the rest!" Zhara cried. Leo was taking cover behind a metal box but as a blast of flame roared past he realised he wasn't quite as covered as he'd like. The fire clipped his exposed left arm and although his suit did not catch alight the heat was still intense. He cried out and dived to his right, rolling across an open space and under what seemed to be a boxing ring. The pain in his arm was abominable, feeling as if it was still on fire, but a quick glance told him it was not so. He tried to push it to the back of his mind.
"Don't hide brother. I'm trying to make it as painless as possible."
Leo glanced back. Apparently she had missed his desperate roll across to the ring and didn't know where he had gone. Maybe he could use that to get the advantage.
He lowered his head to the ground, peering out through the gap between the floor and the fabric that was currently hiding him from sight. He saw his sister standing by the metal plate he had been using as cover. She was looking around, clearly searching for any sign of him.
He desperately tried to think of a strategy to defeat her. With his suit damaged he had no way of generating electricity and as far as he could see there was none nearby. The lights in the ceiling were too far above his head for him to do anything with them and there didn't seem to be any power outlets in the room. Without his powers he was reduced to plan B; hand-to-hand combat. While he knew he was stronger than his sister he would have to get close enough to use it and that was going to be tricky.
As he watched, she began to walk towards him. His best chance would be to let her get close enough to him then attack her when her back was turned. As she approached his hiding place he shifted positions as quietly as possible, trying to set himself up for what he was about to attempt. She stopped a couple of paces from him and glanced around.
Seizing his chance he attempted to push himself quickly out of his cover, but his left arm screamed in agony and buckled beneath his weight. He couldn't get enough momentum to move him out of the cover so instead he kicked himself back under.
And it was a good thing he did because it was at that moment that Zhara looked back around. Had he succeeded in his attempt he would still have been scrambling to his feet and she would have had no problems burning him to a crisp. Leo's heart was hammering in his chest at the close call.
Zhara walked past him another couple of paces before stopping again to look around. It was as she passed that he got his first good look at her back, and he finally got a bit of luck. He noticed that her flight mechanism had been torn open as if by claws or talons, and sparks were occasionally leaping from it.
Turn about was fair play, he thought grimly.
He crawled closer to her current position and then slightly ahead of her. Sure enough, after a couple of moments she moved forwards again and ended up just ahead of where Leo was waiting. As she glanced around he rolled out from the cover and, mindful of his injured arm, rose to his feet directly behind her. Without giving her the slightest chance he plunged his hand into the claw marks on her armour and let the electricity erupt from within.
She gave an odd, startled scream, cut off after only a second while her body jerked with the current flowing through it. After a few moments Leo eased up and she dropped to the ground unconscious. He looked down at her, breathing deeply as his heart rate slowly returned to normal.
He bent down and picked his sister up, turning to carry her to Neuroa and the others.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he said.
Zhara gave him no response.
In the meantime Soul had been busy healing some of their injured back to full health. Not that all of them would thank him for it.
Take Slyde, for instance. He had begun the fight employing guerrilla tactics. His control over friction allowed him to move quickly but didn't grant him any real benefit offensively so he concentrated on zipping about occasionally distracting a Raincoat soldier so that one of the others could get a good hit in. It was a good tactic, but unfortunately he must have attracted some unwanted attention, as he was knocked unconscious with no idea what had hit him. And he would quite happily have left it at that if the alternative was what was happening to him now.
Now he knew what was hitting him.
It was little pink bolts of energy.
Every time one of them hit him something bad would happen. He'd lose his balance or trip over and slam into a wall. But the worst thing was that they didn't even need to hit him. Hitting near him seemed to be good enough as crates would fall over or the floor would crack and he'd end up being heavily bruised again.
Actually, maybe that wasn't the worst thing. Maybe the worst thing was that the girl that was throwing the pink blasts was quite obviously laughing at him. Every time he tried to retaliate, every time he even got too close to her she would throw a blast at him and he'd go flying right past and into another wall.
Slyde wasn't even the only one cursing Soul for healing him back into the fight. Phaeism was having problems of his own.
He'd done his fair share in the battle so far, even taken out one of the Raincoat soldiers, but now had managed to get stuck up against his worst possible opponent: an aerokinetic. In his gaseous state he was putty in the soldier's hands, the wind driving him wherever the soldier wanted. Even as normal he couldn't really do anything as large gusts allowed the aerokinetic to keep his distance while sharper blasts cut into Phaeism's skin. He was on the run, desperately trying to keep something solid between him and the soldier. Which is perhaps why he wasn't looking where he was going.
"LOOK OUT!" Slyde cried, unable to slow his forward momentum enough before he crashed into Phaeism. The two lay in a tangled heap on the floor.
"I hate aerokinetics." Phaeism's muffled voice came from somewhere beneath Slyde.
"I hate probability manipulators," Slyde responded.
Phaeism pushed Slyde's leg off of his chest and sat up.
"Switch?" he asked.
"Switch," Slyde agreed.
Phaeism decided the easiest way to untangle themselves was for him to turn to gas, and he reformed himself standing upright. They nodded at each other before heading off to their respective targets.
Phaeism approached Jinx. The girl seemed to be recovering from a fit of laughter.
"Aww, Accident Boy doesn't want to play with me any more? I guess you'll have to do instead."
Jinx throw a hex blast at Phaeism who turned himself to gas, and the blast passed right through him and impacted on a climbing frame behind him. The frame gave a massive creak and collapsed forward but Phaeism, still in his gas form, wasn't worried. The frame fell straight through him. Jinx's eyes widened in alarm.
This was much more like it, Phaeism thought with a smirk.
Meanwhile Slyde poured on the speed, sliding across the ground as if it were ice. The aerokinetic saw him coming and sent a massive gust of wind his way, but Slyde concentrated on reducing the air friction and the gust blew harmlessly around him. Slyde swung his fist as he reached the soldier and it connected with his face.
On second thought, maybe it was alright to be back in the fight after all.
The battle had swung decisively in favour of the Titans and although some fights were still continuing they clearly had the upper hand. Raven, Robin and Starfire approached Cyborg as he and Beast Boy, Coatl, and Legend succeeded in scaring off the last of the large group that had been picking on them.
"Cyborg, Raven's located the source of the mind control," Robin said as he reached the group.
"It seems to be coming from an additional chamber not far from here," Raven continued. "And…whoever is doing this must be powerful."
"Starfire here has shown she's a pretty heavy hitter, so I want the four of us to go investigate it." Robin looked around at the other three. "Beast Boy, Coatl, you guys handle things here."
Cyborg was nodding but Beast Boy looked heartbroken.
"You don't want me to come with you?"
"Like Raven said, Beast Boy, whoever is doing this must be powerful. I don't want you to get hurt."
At this, Beast Boy's expression changed from heartbroken to outright angry.
"Oh I get it. You're just like Mento. You think I'm not good enough for this." Robin tried to interrupt but Beast Boy was having none of it. "Well, here's something to think about. How many of you have experience fighting in a team, huh? Not one on one, not as somebody else's sidekick, but actually with a group of people?"
Nobody responded to that.
"I've been with the Doom Patrol almost my entire life. Sure, I was only the mascot but I'm willing to bet I've still got more team experience than the rest of you combined! You need me and I'm going, end of story."
Beast Boy stormed off towards the exit.
"It's the other door, Beast Boy," Raven said.
"I knew that!" he responded as he changed course to the other door. He stopped and leaned beside his, his arms crossed and every muscle in his body radiating his frustration.
There was an embarrassed silence for a few moments after his outburst.
"Well…I guess, uh, that makes the five of us then," Robin said, clearing his throat.
"Six," said Legend. Robin was about to protest when she held something out to him. He looked down in bemusement at the little teddy bear in her hand, made to look like an old man, wearing glasses and carrying a walking stick.
"Mr Scruff is going with you too."
Robin took hold of the bear, not quite sure what to say.
"Don't worry. He'll look after you," Legend said to Robin, then she walked off to help in another fight.
Robin looked up at Coatl.
"Can you handle things here on your own?" he asked.
Coatl looked around at the few skirmished still ongoing.
"Yeah, no problem," he replied, and headed off.
Robin, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven looked at each other for a moment, seeming to steel themselves for the battle ahead, then almost as one they moved over to the door that Beast Boy was leaning beside.
"What took you so long?" the green boy asked, a grin already lighting his features again.
Robin held a finger to his lips and pushed the door open. On the other side was a long hallway, dimly lit by light coming from the room at the end. The group crept along the hall in single file. No other doors led off from it and after about twenty metres it opened out into a large room.
Although similar in size the previous chamber had clearly been a training area of some kind whilst this space was obviously living quarters, and quite a luxurious one at that. Three large cream sofas were arranged in the main room grouped around a rectangular glass table littered with various books and magazines. Large paintings hung upon red walls, interspersed with objects from various cultures – here an aboriginal mask, there a Chinese Guqin, on one wall a Scottish Claymore two-handed sword hung over the fireplace that the couches were clustered around. Around the room pedestals held various vases and busts. A large set of heavy wooden double doors in the opposite wall lay open, revealing a large bedroom beyond, a grand and ornate four poster bed lying within. To the right a large stairway led up to another level, a balcony visible surrounding the room. The entire room was suffused with a soft light emanating from a chandelier in the high ceiling, and the stately feel was capped off by the majestic sounds of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to arrive." Reclining in the middle of one of the sofas, facing away from them, was a large man with long black hair. Although he spoke perfect English his voice had a vaguely European burr and as the five teens filed into the room he rose to his feet and turned towards them. He was wearing the Raincoat colours but instead of a uniform he was wearing fine clothes; a pair of red pants and a red shirt with a large collar, on top of which was a black waist coat. A black cape fell from his shoulders.
"I…am Dracula."
Shocked silence met this announcement. A shocked silence that, once again, Beast Boy felt the need to break.
"I knew it was him all along!"
AN: ...bator.
