Enter: The Jackal, Part 5
By Kevin Jackson
It's now Saturday morning, 10:31am, but the setting is far from sunny and relaxing. At a large church and cathedral, Xanth has succeeded in opening the gates of the underworld, and Shiir-Kov has crossed over with an army of pure hellspawns at his command. The Titans look on in awe at the sight of Shiir-Kov, who almost reminds them of Trigon.
"THAT'S…SHIIR-KOV??", says Cyborg in extreme awe.
Beast Boy nearly freaks out. "Dude, it's like Slade and Trigon fused together or something!", he yells.
"Impotent fools!", yells Xanth. "You will greet Lord Shiir-Kov with the proper respect, or your bodies shall be incinerated by—"
Shiir-Kov puts his hand out in front of Xanth to silence him. "Easy there, Xanth", he says calmly. "No need to be testy over these human children. They seem rather comical, do they not?"
"You won't succeed", Robin says. "We'll stop you and send you back to where you came from."
Shiir-Kov snickers. "Oh, I highly doubt that", he replies. "But hey, it's good to think positive, right? Is that what you humans say? I'm sure it is, because it shows nothing but weakness", he says as Robin grows more frustrated. "Putting thoughts into your head that you can possibly get something done does no good, young one. You must declare it. You must claim it. Only then will your objectives be met. And my objective is clear: claiming this world and this realm as my own, and destroying those who oppose me. So it was declared, so shall it be."
Now frustrated, Robin rushes in for the attack, ignoring the hectic pleas of his teammates. He leaps into the air, pulling six of his blast caps from his belt and hurling them at Shiir-Kov, who calmly shuts his eyes and stands perfectly still as the projectiles explode all around him and create a dust buildup in the process. Robin lands back on his feet and looks on after his attack.
"Declare that!", Robin yells. After a few seconds, the dust cleared and Shiir-Kov was gone. His maniacal snickering is heard echoing throughout the cathedral. "What?!", says a shocked Robin.
Starfire gasps. "He is gone??", she says.
The team looks around the cathedral in confusion. "Y-y…..you gotta be kidding me!", says Robin.
Shiir-Kov's voice echoes throughout the room. "I kid you not, boy", he says before reappearing to Robin's left. "Nice try, though."
Just as Robin looked to his left, Shiir-Kov extended a strong punch that sent Robin flying across the cathedral and slamming into a wall. The other Titans ran to Robin's aid.
"ROBIN!!", shrieks Starfire. "Are you alright?!"
Beast Boy looks back at Shiir-Kov in awe. "Dude, he hits hard!", he says.
Starfire's eyes green over. "Unforgivable", she says as she turns to Shiir-Kov. "NO ONE HARMS MY FRIENDS!!!" She flies toward Shiir-Kov at top speed.
Cyborg yells at her. "STARFIRE, WAIT!!"
Ignoring Cyborg, Starfire flies at Shiir-Kov as fast as she could, reaching him in less than half a second, and throws a power-charged punch at him. He side-steps away from the punch as fast as she threw it, then backhands her in her back, using her own momentum to send her flying through a wall.
"STARFIRE!!", yells a worried Cyborg.
Shiir-Kov turns to Cyborg and Beast Boy. "Now then, which of you insects will amuse me now?"
Beast Boy looks slightly scared and is hesitant. "…Go ahead, Cyborg", he says while patting Cyborg on the back.
"ME?! You do it!", Cyborg replies.
"Dude, you got guns!", Beast Boy replies.
Cyborg answers, "Well you can change into whatever, so you're more unpredictable!"
Beast Boy somewhat cringes. "Yeah, but I'm fragile!"
Cyborg puts his hands up to try and come to a solution. "Ok ok ok, tell ya what. …RPS for it [Rock-Paper-Scissors]."
"Fine.", says Beast Boy as he puts his fist up. The two play a single round of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Cyborg wins with rock over scissors. Steam spouts from Beast Boy's ears. "Aw man!"
Not wasting any time, Beast Boy immediately rushes toward Shiir-Kov and transforms into a tyrannosaurus rex. He attempts to chomp down on Shiir-Kov, but his mouth was caught in Shiir-Kov's grasp. As his jaws are being held open, Beast Boy's power pushes Shiir-Kov across the floor, leaving a trailing print from Shiir-Kov's feet. Beast Boy struggles to lock in the bite, but can't fight Shiir-Kov's strength. At that moment, Shiir-Kov lifts Beast Boy off the ground by his jaw, swings him around, and hurls him upward into another wall, morphing Beast Boy back to his normal self before he hits the floor.
Cyborg gasps at the sight of his comrades easily dispatched of and almost loses hope, but he still fights. Cyborg runs toward Shiir-Kov while firing his sonic cannon. Each blast was dodged with a few deflected by Shiir-Kov's own energy charges. Once in melee range, Cyborg throws a punch, but Shiir-Kov dodges. At the same time, he grabs Cyborg by the neck and choke-slams him hard into the floor, cracking it in the process. He then lifts Cyborg up by his neck, places his other palm on Cyborg's chest, and conjures a fire blast that blows Cyborg into the wall near Robin. All the while, Xanth watches from the sidelines, entertained by the display.
Shiir-Kov claps at the Titans. "As futile as they are, I applaud your efforts", he says with glee. "You see, I am all-powerful." Shiir-Kov slowly walks to the center of the cathedral with his hands behind his back. "Xanth has reported to me last night that you all faced my son Jackal in combat and were defeated", he says as he snickers. "Ahh, that's my boy. I should warn you, though." He stops in the cathedral's center, his back turned toward the fallen Titans. "His power is merely a fraction of what I am capable of."
The team slowly regroups, each tendering their own injuries. "Man,…I'm starting to think he's right", Cyborg says with low confidence.
"Yeah!", Beast Boy replies. "We just got our butts kicked….and he BARELY MOVED!"
Starfire struggles to a knee as she speaks. "Ungh….Friends,…I fear we are fighting….a losing battle."
Robin is on all fours, trying to shake off his pain. He clenches his fist "No! We can't give up!", he says as he struggles to his feet. "The world is depending on us! ...Jackal and Raven are depending on us! We can't let him win! We've got to fight!"
Cyborg's face swims with anger and annoyance. "Robin, have you lost it?!", he yells. "You saw what happened to us when we fought Jackal, and you saw even worse when we attacked this guy! If we fight, we're as good as dead!"
"That's never stopped us before, Cyborg", Robin replies.
Steam spouts from Beast Boy's ears again. "…Aw man! I hate when he uses that against us!"
Robin steps out in front of the group, leering at Shiir-Kov as he prepares yet another motivational speech. "C'mon. The Titans East should be here with Jackal and Raven soon. Until then, we have to do our best to hold him off. I know it's not gonna be easy, but we still have to try, and I'm willing to give my life to defend our world."
Starfire nods, and stands. "…I have always stood by you, Robin", she says. "…And I shall stand by you today as well."
Beast Boy rises to his feet with a smirk. "Yeah, count me in!", he says.
Cyborg stands with a look of determination. "The Teen Titans stick together, no matter what."
Robin nods as the team prepares themselves. Cyborg clenches his fists, Starfire's eyes green over and her fists charge with her star bolt energy, and Beast Boy takes a knee and places one hand on the ground, as if ready to morph into an animal and immediately charge to Shiir-Kov. Robin reaches into his belt and pulls his bo staff, extending it to full length. Shiir-Kov then turns towards the Titans with a smirk on his face.
"TITANS, GO!!", yells Robin.
As Beast Boy immediately morphs into a cheetah, the Titans charge at Shiir-Kov, whose eyes glow red as he stands snickering and ready to take them on. Meanwhile,…
Raven walks through the forest with Jackal. She still tries to contact her team via communicator. "I'm starting to get a signal, but I still can't get a clear connection", she says.
Jackal blows off the communicator with disgust. "Forget that thing. We're on our own now."
Raven sighs. "The others could be in danger right now."
"Well right now, we need to stay on our guard", says Jackal. "I can feel the aura of the underworld, and I'm almost positive that Shiir-Kov will send his army after us."
"Army??", asks Raven.
Jackal nods. "Yes. …Pure hellspawns with all of my powers and strength. Since I have human blood, however, I am able to exist on the human plane. Hellspawns cannot survive in this world for very long unless the gates of the underworld were to be opened. If a pure hellspawn were to appear in this world without the gates opened, it would eventually turn into dust."
Raven ponders his world. "I see. So if we find a way to close the gates, they would all die?"
Jackal nods. "Or be pulled back into the underworld as they close. That's my guess, anyway." He hears a noise and halts the both of them. "Wait", he says as he listens. "…Did you hear that?"
Raven looks around. "…Hear what??"
Jackal's face molds into a battle face. "…It's here."
At that moment, a creature shoots up to a tree branch in a blur, then drops down to strike at Raven and Jackal. She looks up and gasps at the last second before Jackal shoves her out of the way of impact. Just when the creature came down, Jackal catches it by its neck while planting his foot to its chest, rolls back and throws it over his head and onto its back. The creature got back to its feet as Jackal handsprings back to his feet, then turned and took a defensive stance while pulling a kunai. It was that moment when Jackal realized that he was facing against a pure hellspawn.
The hellspawn appears to be a humanoid demon-like beast with sharp teeth and claws, blackish-silver fur and shoulder-length hair wildly draped over its solid black eyes. The hellspawn roars at Jackal ferociously.
Jackal yells ferociously at the beast, then pauses. "...Oh yeah, I can't do that anymore."
The hellspawn lunges at Jackal and the two engage in combat. While the creature's strength is immense, Jackal dodges what blows he's able to and lands numerous counter strikes, which mostly do nothing to phase the beast. He has to rely on his ninja agility and training to put up a fight. After a failed attack from the hellspawn, Jackal zips into the trees and leaps back down to attempt an overhead strike with his kunai. The creature, however, got wind of Jackal's position and hurled a giant fireball at him, sending Jackal flying hard into a tree trunk and almost knocking him out cold.
"Jackal!", yells Raven. She starts running towards Jackal, but gets cut off by the hellspawn. She tries her powers now that she's face-to-face with it. "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!!" She waves out her hands, but nothing happens. She gets frustrated. "Darnit!!"
The hellspawn attacks Raven as she tries frantically to get away from it. She falls over next to a log with a large and thick branch next to it, just large enough for her to be able to lift. When the hellspawn lunged forward, Raven picked up the branch and swung it across the hellspawn's face, dazing it a little. Raven gets back to her feet and manages to land two more face shots with the branch before the hellspawn blocks the strike with its forearm, which was tough enough to snap the branch in two. It then grabbed the remaining portion of the branch in Raven's arms and set it on fire, causing her to immediately drop it so that she wouldn't get burned.
In retaliation, the hellspawn lifts up a larger log in preparation to throw it at Raven. Just as it lifted the log over its head, Jackal leaps down from a tree branch and stomps the log down onto the hellspawn's head, causing it to drop the log and tender its head for a moment. Dropping in front of the hellspawn, Jackal takes advantage of that moment and drives his kunai deep into the hellspawn's lower abdomen. As it shouts in pain, Jackal dropkicks it hard onto its back, where it lays there shrieking in pain.
Jackal runs to Raven. "Are you alright?", he says as he helps her up.
Raven nods. "I'll be fine. My powers…are still-"
Jackal cuts her off. "Don't worry about it, as long as you're safe."
Raven starts to smile, but that half smile drops when she sees the hellspawn on the ground. "Wh….what's happening??"
The hellspawn pulls the kunai out of its stomach after much struggle, then places its hands around the wound as it moans in pain. The wound lights up and begins to close.
"Uh oh", says Jackal. "…It's healing. …We gotta move! C'mon!"
Jackal and Raven start to run in the opposite direction as the hellspawn completely heals and roars loudly. Jackal and Raven run for at least five minutes until they reach the edge of the Amazon River, where they can not run any further. They turn around to find that the hellspawn had already caught up to them without even breaking a sweat. After it leers at them, it roars into the sky loudly, echoing across the entire forest.
"This can't be good", Raven says. "What's it doing?"
Jackal starts looking around, hearing echoes of other roars around them. "…Calling for backup."
A look of surprise embodies in Raven's face. "What?!", she yells.
Five more hellspawns instantly appear and surround Jackal and Raven, cornering them at the Amazon River. They all engulf their arms in fire as they prepare to strike. Though Jackal and Raven seem to stand no chance of survival, they stand their ground.
Meanwhile at home, the Titans are still engaged in battle with Shiir-Kov, which is thus far a losing battle. The scene comes back to show the Titans blown away by Shiir-Kov's power. While the entire team hits the ground hard, Cyborg gets back to his feet and continues fighting. Knowing that his sonic blasts will do no good, he rushes toward Shiir-Kov while launching small heat-seeker rockets from his shoulders. They explode around Shiir-Kov, who leaps forward from the smoke without a scratch.
At that point, Cyborg attempts hand-to-hand combat again. He comes forward with a straight punch, but it's avoided when Shiir-Kov teleports away from it and behind Cyborg. Once Cyborg sees him again, he tried to swing around with a backfist strike. Shiir-Kov ducks it, swings his arm to sweep Cyborg off his legs and, before Cyborg would hit the ground, field-goal kicks him across the sanctuary to where his body hits the corner ceiling and Cyborg falls back to the floor.
In the form of an anaconda, Beast Boy wraps himself around Shiir-Kov and squeezes as hard as he could. With little struggle, Shiir-Kov teleports out of the constriction. Immediately, Beast Boy morphs into a rattlesnake and attempts a poisonous bite. Shiir-Kov catches Beast Boy by the head and neck, then throws him towards a wall. Morphing back into a human, Beast Boy plants on the wall and leaps off. Once airborne, he morphs into a brontosaurus and attempts to smash down on Shiir-Kov, who quickly avoids the collision. Immediately afterwards is a swing of Beast Boy's long powerful tail, which Shiir-Kov also leaps away from.
Wasting even less time, Beast Boy continues his attack by rushing up in the form of a giant gorilla and swinging his fists everywhere like a berserk beast. Seeing the obviously reckless form of fighting, Shiir-Kov merely avoids each blow with teleportations until Beast Boy loses sight of him. When Shiir-Kov reappears behind him, Beast Boy turns around and tried to smash him with a double-axe fist. Shiir-Kov blocks it overhead, deflects Beast Boy's arms away, and then hits him with a hard uppercut punch that sends Beast Boy high into the air and crashing into the floor.
Starfire is next, flying high in the air and sending out star bolt after star bolt to try and hit Shiir-Kov. Again, he avoids and deflects the projectiles. Once she loses her patience, she launched a huge collection of energy from her eyes. Shiir-Kov blocks the beam with his own energy from a single hand, then fires off an energy shockwave that reflects back into Starfire's eyes, blinding her for just a few seconds. He takes advantage of that and teleports again. When Starfire regains sight, she looks around to find that Shiir-Kov had disappeared. A split second after that, he reappears above Starfire's left while she was high in the air. When she finally realizes that he was there, he falls through with a punch to the jaw and sends her crashing into the floor so hard that the force of his punch made a crater just larger than Starfire's body. She was knocked unconscious.
"STARFIRE!!", yells Robin as he immediately gets up and runs to her. Shiir-Kov lands about twenty feet from them. "YOU MONSTER!!!", yells Robin as he turns towards Shiir-Kov.
Shiir-Kov crosses his arms. "Well now, was that a significant other in your life?" He snickers, then speaks sarcastically. "I'm sorry. Sometimes, I don't know my own strength."
Robin clenches his fist. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!! YOU'RE GOING BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM! I SWEAR IT!"
Shiir-Kov nods at the thought. "Ah, that positive thinking again. All I seem to hear from you is talk rather than action. You must not be too concerned about your companion there, who quite possibly may be dead by now.
In a fit of rage, Robin grabs his extended bo staff and rushes at Shiir-Kov. "I'LL SHOW YOU ACTION!!!!!"
Shiir-Kov's eyes red over as he roars at Robin.
Meanwhile, as Jackal and Raven are surrounded,…
Jackal stands in front of Raven to defend her. "Stay back.", he saya.
Raven looks at him. "Hm?? What're you-"
Jackal pulls two kunai. "I'll protect you with my life", he says as he takes a fighting stance. "I swear it."
Raven's eyes are filled with both fear and compassion, never knowing that there was someone who cared for Raven as much as Jackal did. As a hellspawn is about to rush and strike, a golden static bolt is shot from the direction of the Amazon River and knocks it down. Confused as to what happened, Raven and Jackal look behind them to find Bumblebee in midair over the river with Titans East gathered on the shore below her.
"Someone called for backup?", says Bumblebee with a smirk.
"Who on earth??", says Jackal with confusion.
A soft smile appears on Raven's face. "It's ok", she says. "…They're friends."
Bumblebee equips both stingers in each hand. "Alright! TITANS EAST, GO!!", she yells.
The Titans East make their attack. Speedy takes bullseye shots at the hellspawns, trapping two of them in a net that exploded from two of his arrows. Mas y Menos used their speed to double clothesline one of the hellspawns not once, but twice. Aqualad uses his telekinesis to communicate with the piranhas in the river, and then uses his sorcery to send a wave of water at all of the hellspawns. At the same time, the numerous piranhas in the river chomp at the hellspawns continuously, giving the Titans enough time to try and evacuate the area.
Aqualad goes back to the sub. "C'mon! Hop in!", he says.
Jackal hesitates on going with them. "Who are you people??", he asks.
"The ones who just saved your butt", Bumblebee answers. "Now let's just try to avoid death!"
They all gather into the sub and make their getaway in hyper drive. After they escape, the hellspawns regain their health and escape from their traps. They all stand and roar in the direction that the sub fled.
"Ok, does someone wanna tell me what those things were back there??", asks Aqualad.
"Hellspawns", says Raven. "They came here when the gates of the underworld were opened."
"Whoa whoa whoa, time out", says Bumblebee. "The underworld? As in fire pits and demons and all-around weirdness underworld?? You can't be serious."
Jackal nods. "I'm afraid so", he says. "The gates have been opened. It's only a matter of time before Shiir-Kov will be at full power and try to take over our world."
Speedy looks over at Jackal. "Shiir-Kov?", he says. "Isn't that the guy the other Titans are dealing with right now?"
"What?!", says Raven in shock.
Aqualad responds. "Yeah. Last time we checked, they were getting beaten pretty badly!"
Jackal clenches his fist. "We have to hurry, then", he says. "They need my help,…and I have a score to settle with Shiir-Kov."
"Por que??", says Mas y Menos.
Jackal looks at Mas y Menos with a raised eyebrow. "What??", he asks.
Bumblebee responds. "Don't mind them. They don't speak much English. What they're trying to ask is how are you connected in all this?"
Jackal sighs as he looks at Raven, who returns a you'd better tell them look to Jackal. "Well…those things we just finished fighting…I'm one of them." As expected, his response is returned by looks of shock from Titans East. "…and Shiir-Kov…is my father."
"WHHAAATTTTT?!?!?!?!", yells Titans East in unison.
*COMMERCIAL*
A Geico Announcer speaks to the scene of a middle-aged Caucasian man standing with Gary Coleman. "Charles Hart is s real Geico customer, not a paid celebrity. So to help tell his story, we hired a celebrity."
"Three months ago," says Charles, " my car broke down and I had to get it to the shop."
Gary speaks. "Man, my ride busted on me! Had to get it fixed!"
Charles continues. "I called Geico thinking I was gonna get a long wait with no service."
Gary scratches his chin. "And I thought to myself: 'Watch out! I'm dealin' with The Gooch!'"
Charles continues with a smile. "Geico gave me immediate service, got me reimbursement for a rental, and fixed my girl up like new."
With a confused impression, Gary looks at Charles. "…Whatchou talkin' bout, Charles??"
The Geico Announcer finishes. "Geico. Real service, real savings.
*BACK TO THE SHOW*
Robin continues his fight with Shiir-Kov, which is a losing battle thus far. He does, however, impress Shiir-Kov with his agility and persistence. Whenever Robin was knocked down, or his attacks were dodged, he would come right back with more. Shiir-Kov attempts to strike with a flame-charged fist, but misses. Taking that to his advantage, Robin leaps forward and lands a punch to the face, them an elbow to the gut, then a swinging kick to the face, and finishes with a throwing bird shuriken into Shiir-Kov's leg, causing him to shriek in pain. Now enraged, Shiir-Kov merely turns around and elbows Robin in the middle of the head, knees him in the gut, then straight palms him from the middle of the sanctuary, crashing Robin into a far wall and nearly knocking him out cold. The Titans have all been beaten brutally at this point, and can barely stand back up.
Shiir-Kov grunts in pain. "Little maggot! No one has EVER shed my blood before, let alone manage to strike me!", he says as he pulls the shuriken from his leg. With some concentration, the wound starts to heal up. "Clearly, I underestimated this bird child."
Beast Boy struggles to simply sit up. "Dude…this…sucks", he says.
Robin is hurting the most right now, barely able to get himself to his knees. "We…can't…give…up", he mutters.
Xanth interrupts the show. "My lord," he says, "allow my army to deal with these pests. You must rest rather than waste your energy on these children."
Shiir-Kov stands straight up after tending to his leg. "Hmm…", he says as he nods. "Indeed, I have spent most of my energy traveling through the gates. Very well then, Xanth." Shiir-Kov turns and walks to a door in the back area of the sanctuary.
Xanth kneels. "What shall we do with them, my lord?", he asks.
Shiir-Kov stops. "…Do what you wish with these pests", he says. "But remember, if my son arrives, I shall deal with him myself." Shiir-Kov walks away.
Cyborg manages to get to his knees. "You're…kidding. He wasn't….even at full….power??"
Xanth snickers at the question. "Afraid not", he answers. "Much of his energy was expended as he tried to force through the gates. Consider yourselves lucky. He may have killed you by now if he were at full power."
Starfire stumbles back to her feet. "This…cannot be", she mutters.
Xanth laughs at them. "Not that it matters. My hellspawn army shall finish you all off now. Go!"
A swarm of eight hellspawns all summon demonic fire from the ground, which blow the Titans from their positions into the walls at unison.
Xanth's maniacal laughter echoes throughout the room as the Titans struggle back to their knees. "Isn't this amusing?", he says. "The illustrious Teen Titans kneeling down before their new lord and master. You know, you can end the torment right now and pledge yourselves to the almighty Lord Xanth."
Robin struggles to get back to his feet. "…Not a chance", he states with a look of determination.
Xanth smirks. "…So be it", he says as he turns and directs the army with a wave of his hand. "Finish them, if you please."
As the hellspawns rushed forward to finish off the Titans, four kunai and four shurikens connect to each of the hellspawns from above, hitting anywhere from the neck to the arms and chest. Confused, everyone looks up to find Jackal perched on the upper level of the sanctuary.
"Dude!!", yells Beast Boy in surprise.
Robin has a surprised smile. "Jackal! You're alright!"
Xanth is shocked with anger. "You!!", he yells. "Why won't you DIE?!"
Jackal's expression shows a look of determination. "Isn't this something, Xanth?", says Jackal. "Even without my powers, you still can't kill me."
Angered by the comment, Xanth quickly launches two razor light discuses at Jackal. He leaps over the canopy to avoid them, letting them tear the canopy apart. While still airborne, Jackal hurls a shuriken at the chain of a chandelier positioned over Xanth, causing it to fall from the ceiling. Xanth creates a forcefield to block the chandelier.
"Enough of this!", Xanth yells. "Seize him!!"
Jackal begins his battle with the hellspawns. He utilizes his kunai to the fullest extent, connecting random slashes and impalements. When two of the hellspawns rush in, Jackal ducks their blows and drives each of his kunai deep into their shoulders, then flips them down to their backs and continues fighting.
Raven runs into the sanctuary with a bag around her shoulder and runs up to the Titans. "Are you guys ok?", she says.
"Raven!", says a happy Starfire as she still tenders her injuries. "You're alright!"
Beast Boy sits up. "Ungh! Yeah, we missed you while we were getting our butts handed to us!", he says.
Robin breathes hard from the pain and exhaustion. "Where are….Titans East?", he asks.
"Dealing with the other hellspawns around the world", she says as she goes through the bag. "They had to call up the other Honorary Titans for help. Here. I got these from the tower." She pulls out a small bag of pills and hands one to each of them.
Beast Boy examines his pill. "What's this??"
Cyborg responds. "Oh. These are the experimental caplets that Robin and I were working on a while back. They're supposed to replenish some of the energy that the body expels. But these were only prototypes. I never made the final tests."
"Well…I guess this is the perfect time to find out", says Robin.
Each of the fallen Titans pop the pills and they regain a portion of their fighting energy as if they've gotten a good night's rest. They hop back to their feet with their energy regenerated and ready to fight.
Cyborg flexes. "Booyah! They work!"
Starfire stretches. "I feel like I can take on the whole army now", she says.
Beast Boy beats his chest. "Ooh yeah! Party time!", he yells as the Titans stand ready. You comin', Ray?"
Raven looks down at her hands. "…I can't", she mutters. "…My powers are gone."
"Gone??", asks Robin in shock. "But how did-"
"Nevermind me!", says Raven. "Just help Jackal!"
Beast Boy looks over and sees that Jackal is starting to get beaten badly. "Oh yeah, right."
The Titans jump in and fight alongside Jackal, taking on the hellspawns with ease now. Noticing their regained energy, Xanth casually leaves the area to allow them to fight their war. As the Titans were regaining a fighting chance, Robin jumps near Jackal.
Robin smirks. "Hey," he says, "if we get out of this alive,…I want to fight you again."
Jackal looks at Robin, then smirks as he nods. "Agreed."
Unfortunately for the Titans, the hellspawns that weren't knocked unconscious heal their injuries and continue the fight with more rage than before, and this was a continuous process for an extended period of time. After fifteen minutes of fighting, Jackal and the Titans were beginning to get worn out.
Beast Boy starts panting. "These guys just don't quit!", he says.
Jackal breathes hard, but keeps a fighting stance. "And neither should we", he says.
Robin nods. "My thoughts exactly", he replies.
They rush in to continue the fight, but are immediately knocked back by the flaming blows of the four hellspawns that remain in the fight. When Jackal and the Titans fall to their backs, one hellspawn rushes in to finish off Jackal. As a reflex, Jackal blocked his face and held out the palm of his hand as if to straight palm the hellspawn in the chest. When it hit, however, a bright light glowed from Jackal's palm that damaged the hellspawn over time to the point where it incinerated before their eyes.
Jackal looks at his hands, which are glowing a sky blue hue. "What??", he says in surprise.
Raven looks on in awe. "…Jackal??", she mutters.
Cyborg stops and looks back and forth at Jackal and the incinerated carcass. "Wait, what just happened??", he asks.
Robin looks at Jackal's hands. "It's like….a purification power", he says.
After looking at hands, Jackal looks back up. "…Mother", he says.
The three remaining hellspawns all attack Jackal in unison. Jackal dodges their blows to the best of his ability, and then lands numerous straight palms to their bodies, slowly incinerating them with the heavenly aura. He jumps with a rising uppercut to one of them, incinerating it after the impact. As another tries to rush and attack him, he straight palms it in the heart and incinerates it. Finally, before the last hellspawn rushs in, he pulls a kunai, charges it with the aura, and then hurls it into the hellspawn's heart, turning it to dust. A smile emits onto Raven's face as she looks at the exhausted Jackal. The other Titans cheer in celebration.
Starfire hops up and down in glee. "Victory!!", she yells.
"Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!", yells an excited Cyborg.
Beast Boy starts to run up to Jackal. "Yeah dude, that was aweso-" The Titans immediately freeze. "…Uh oh."
When the Titans stop in their tracks, Robin clenches his bo staff rightly. From seeing this, Jackal gets wind of why they stopped, his expression shifting from celebration to anger as he looks behind him to find Shiir-Kov standing ten feet behind with his arms crossed. A look of satisfaction lights up on Shiir-Kov's face.
"…After all these years," he says, "…we finally meet, my son."
Jackal turns towards Shiir-Kov and clenches his fists, silently leering at Shiir-Kov with a look of war in his eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED
