Chapter 14
"Nooooooooooo!"
Constantine roared in the black of the night. His rage was fueling him. Constantine levitated debris and cars, hurling them into the air – not at any particular target, just to vent.
"Where are you?!!"
He clenched his hands into fists. He breathed heavily, traumatized.
"How could you…?"
Tears began to form under his mask.
"you… monster…"
He sunk to his knees and screamed at the sky. Never before had Constantine ever lost someone close to him. It hurt badly. The pain was overwhelming. The knowledge that Constantine would never be able to speak to him again… was unbearable.
"Father Thomas…"
Then Constantine suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck. He reached back and felt the area. Slowly, he began to fade. Next, Constantine saw the ground open up, fire spew from it, and a dark claw reach out. A deep voice boomed from the chasm.
"Constantine…"
Constantine groaned in response.
"Son of Raven…"
Another groan from the boy was his answer. Then all he saw was the color – black.
"Constantine, Son of Raven. The Devil would like a word with you."
---
"I suppose you're wondering why I called you here today."
"Get on with it."
"It appears that we a situation in New York City. We have had numerous reports of police officers murdered, vehicles and buildings destroyed, and civilians slain. Someone of great power is roaming through the city, slaughtering all in his path."
The group conferencing were all sitting at a round table. It was the world leaders.
"Continue."
"We have reason to believe the end of the world is apparent. I've already sent out several representatives and agents to confirm this. All factors point to John's book of Revelation. This person, in New York City, is leading it. He is the head.
"I've already made contact with several superhero organizations. This doesn't fall under Justice League jurisdiction as of yet, but mark my words, it soon will. Therefore, our only option is to attack it with full force. I have taken the liberty of sending out a distress beacon to the original Teen Titans members. Unfortunately, there is only one who we have still not reached."
"Who?"
"I hope it's just coincidence. But it appears that the one member we cannot reach has spawned the person who is causing this mass carnage."
"Sir, but that means…"
"Yes… it's Constantine."
All eyes widened. The man continued.
"I can't say I'm surprised. It's ironic that his mother, Raven, is the only member that we can't reach."
---
"Stop! Stop in the name of the law!"
A police officer carrying a semi-automatic machinegun charged toward his target. He was suddenly lifted off the ground, and tossed aside. A boy wearing a red-leather trenchcoat and a Jason Hockey Mask, shrouded by the trenchcoat's hood, walked.
Constantine chuckled at the mortals inferiority.
"Fools!" Constantine laughed, "You can't beat me! I am all powerful!"
There was a new feature to Constantine's appearance. It was the addition of two eyes that had opened on his forehead, giving him the impression that Constantine had, in fact, four eyes. The eyes were symbolic of his evil side: more explicitly, his demonic side. Constantine's grandfather was the demon known to humans as Trigon, who also sported four red eyes instead of two. Constantine's new eyes had pierced through the mask, exposing them as though they were just like the bottom two.
A truck marked 'SWAT' came into the street. Ten officers exited from the back. As soon as they saw Constantine, they started firing. Constantine was telekinetically deflecting the bullets away, so that none of them would hit him. He laughed.
While his sword was in his right hand, Constantine used raised his left. Shouting "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Constantine elevated the SWAT truck over the heads of three officers. They looked up in horror as the vehicle was swiftly brought down, crushing them.
The others shuddered at the sound of the cracking bones. Then, Constantine lifted the dead bodies through the truck itself, and ripped them into tiny pieces. The fragments of bone, marrow, and flesh floated in the air. Constantine focused on one officer, making the bits of carcass slice right through him. He too became a corpse.
Constantine grinned, "You call me a murderer. You treat me like a murderer. So I might as well be a murderer!"
The men looked down as their rifles were crumpled and left their hands. Six officers remained. Constantine threw his sword, impaling one. Next, he made it return to him, and slashed off the heads of two others.
The final three made a run for it. They feared for their lives. One felt that he could no longer move, and Constantine tore his body apart, limb from limb. The pair ran for an unoccupied police car, watching Constantine approach them. The car wouldn't start. Constantine outstretched his hand, the fingers condensed into a fist. The car was shrunk to the size of a golf ball. Blood dripped from the metal.
"You took away Father Thomas! Now everyone will suffer for my pain!"
A tank pulled around the corner. Constantine turned around to see it. The tank fired a mortar. Constantine sidestepped to the right, making the mortar miss. Constantine chuckled as he wafted his hand upward, shooting the tank high into the air. The boy's middle and index finger pointed at it, and flicked his wrist and fingers to the right. The tank soared across the city, finding a home in an office building.
"The whole world hates me! I might as well give them a reason why!"
Twenty police cars, sirens sounding and lights blazing, drove up in Constantine's direction. The vehicles were all in a lined formation, one next to the other. Constantine shot his hand at a building, and crumpled the base. It timbered over, smashing all the oncoming cars.
"Face my wrath!"
Suddenly, an interdimensional portal opened behind Constantine. He knew what this was. It was called a 'Boom Tube.' A hundred minions, parademons—gruesome, snarling, metallic-winged soldiers, obviously not of this world—flew through…
…followed their master, Darkseid.
"No," Constantine muttered, "this is not right."
"My apologies, Earth Demon," said Darkseid, looking at Constantine, "but I'm sure you can share the end of this planet."
Constantine's expression became very grim.
"No?" Darkseid continued, "You want to destroy this world by yourself? Well, it's not reserved for you, Constantine. Yes, I know who you are. Your reputation has reached even my ears. But you are still no match for me. Not even Superman was."
Darkseid looked around, "I heard of the United States' President's demise from your hands. Thank you. With his termination I consider this an ideal time for invading the Earth!"
All of the parademons circled Constantine. He was surrounded. Darkseid gave a 'destroy-him' glance, and they attacked. Returning his sword to his scabbard, Constantine drew his pistols.
Standing upright, Constantine pointed both pistols forward. They were positioned and held sideways, so that the knuckles and back of his hand were upward instead of off to the side. Constantine fired alternatively, but rapidly. While at first the guns were practically together, Constantine moved them farther apart with each blast. Nothing save his arms moved, and they eventually made their way around his body. Every blast found a home in a parademon, but this attack left Constantine wide open.
Constantine felt an immense pain as Darkseid's Omega-beams from the eyes hit him in the chest. Granny Goodness, a stocky, elderly woman with a cape and a scepter, was right behind Darkseid, cheering him on.
"Ooh! Nice one, Darkseid!"
Darkseid grinned as he waited for the smoke to clear. The parademons that once stood behind Constantine were now thrown forward like ragdolls by some force. Constantine arose from the smoke. Darkseid's eyes widened.
"Very impressive, Constantine," he admitted, "It takes quite a lot to surprise me, and I must admit, that was truly remarkable. Only the most powerful beings can resist my Omega-beams head on. I once reduced a man to ashes, but I can see now Constantine… you are more than a man."
"That's right," Constantine affirmed.
The Omega-beams had blasted away Constantine's chest plate of high impact armor made of Kevlar material. Constantine's bare chest and abdomen were showing. It was strange, because the left side of his chest and stomach seemed to have markings on it. A blue labyrinth went from his waist to his shoulder, but oddly enough, it did not touch the right side of his body. It was quite possible that the labyrinth was drawn on, for that is how it looked.
"But I doubt you'll survive another hit," Darkseid said.
Constantine leapt toward Darkseid, who fired another Omega-beam at him. Constantine holstered his guns and drew his sword. He reflected the beam so that it hit a parademon, frying it. Then, seeing two more parademons pounce toward him, Constantine's pistols flew out from under his arms like boomerangs. They hit the parademons, and carried them into a crowd of others.
Constantine was suddenly ambushed from behind. He was locked in an arm-brace by Kalibak, the son of Darkseid, and Constantine's chest was now exposed. Kalibak cried out to Darkseid, "Now, Father!"
Constantine struggled, and brought down his elbow hard in Kalibak's stomach. Constantine backflipped over Kalibak, so that Darkseid's Omega-beam would hit him instead. Darkseid gasped at his folly. Instead of Kalibak, all that remained was a pile of ash.
In anger, Darkseid summoned all the parademons to attack Constantine. The boy readied himself, but was surprised to see an Apokolipic tank fire a blast at his feet from three yards away. Constantine was thrown to the ground, and the parademons piled on him.
After a few seconds of pounding, Constantine burst threw the dogpile with explosions of negative energy. Constantine jumped and tackled Darkseid. They wrestled in midair, until they finally found their way into a building. Darkseid kicked Constantine off of him, sending him into the building across from it. Darkseid himself needed time to recover.
"Ha! So he's alive!" smirked Granny Goodness, referring to Constantine.
She handled the scepter in her hand, "That poor fool, it would've been a lot less painful for him if he had just rolled over and died!"
Granny was now off to the side, hovering on a similar foot disk as Darkseid's.
"Darkseid is invincible!" she said to herself, but still audible, "and now he's going to conquer this whole planet! Hee hee hee hee!"
"That's not going to happen! What you and that monster have done is unforgivable!"
A deep voice behind Granny bellowed. She was surprised to hear that she was not alone. Granny turned around to see Beast Boy. He was now an adult, and was no longer skinny. Years of intense training have toned his muscles and perfected his skills. Beast Boy had come to the realization that Raven was not meant for him, and the 'pain' from this fueled his want to train and become stronger. The result was a mature Beast Boy who was finally serious, and disregarded childish jokes and pranks.
He had a very straight face, a strong face. Composed. He had completely shaved his head, remembering Starfire's prediction of his eventual baldness. Even his eyebrows were shaved off. When the Titans disbanded with Raven's departure, Beast Boy also got braces. Years later, his teeth were now perfectly straight, and that stray left fang from his jaw no longer showed. He wore a purple-bluish outfit, very baggy. His top was sleevless and cut like V, so that the tip of his chest would show. The pants were of similar color, and bagged down to his ankles.
Granny quivered with fear as she glanced around, "Hah? Wh—Who are you?"
Beast Boy didn't say a word, but his eyes narrowed. Granny grinned.
"Hmm. My, what a lovely shade of green you are. Looking good," Granny's nasal voice annoyingly droned, "Who could blame you? After all, you've seen the power of Darkseid. It figures you'd turn green with envy!"
Beast Boy's face remained neutral, "No, I always look this way. So there's no use in flattering yourself, Granny."
"What!? How dare you! You've got some nerve talking to me like that, you insect. Yes! You better watch yourself, or I'll sick Darkseid on you next!"
"Yeah why don't you call him, witch, I'm sure he'd be glad to see you writhing in agony like the worm you are!"
"What?!! Oh that does it!" Granny yelled in anger, "You're going to regret every word of that, you!"
"Call that monster," Beast Boy said threateningly, "So he can watch you die!"
"Hah?"
Granny was then shocked to see Beast Boy making a move to strike her. Granny quickly raised her scepter and shouted a command.
"Barrier!"
Immeditately Granny was encircled with a yellow force-field, and Beast Boy's attack didn't penetrate it. Granny giggled joyously.
"You see?" She said, "I'm far too powerful for you."
Beast Boy scoffed. Granny pointed her scepter at him and shouted an incantation that echoed.
"Haparapapa!"
A viscous gray liquid shot out covered Beast Boy in small pieces. He lifted one arm to block his face, but a tiny bit got on his cheek. Beast Boy looked at the liquid that covered his arm and body. It slightly fizzed and crackled. He watched as it made his arm swell and expand.The pulsing liquid would soon make his muscles overbulge and explode. A certain piano theme rang in his pointy ears.
His gaze left himself and moved on to Granny. She was laughing victoriously. But Beast Boy was tired of being called weak. He was tired of losing, tired of being bested. So now he would show her. Flexing every muscle at the same time, Beast Boy shot off the sizzling liquid, much to the surprise of Granny.
Her laughter ceased and her smile disappeared. It instead turned into a look of disgust and frustration. She clenched her fists hard, angry at Beast Boy resuming his neutral expression.
She gritted her teeth, not knowing what to do. Beast Boy just stared at her, his eyes didn't move. He knew she didn't have a plan. His expression didn't change.
Granny turned around and ran a few feet away, screaming.
"Darkseid! Darkseid! Come get him," she screamed, pointing to Beast Boy, "Hurry, Darkseid! Get hi-i-im!"
Seeing Beast Boy approach, Granny whipped around and activated her barrier. She was slightly confident.
"Ha! There's no way that you're going to get in here!"
Beast Boy's arms changed into those of a gorillas. His power was perfected. If he wanted to he could change only parts of his part into those of animals. Granny was worried at the sight of this.
Beast Boy lunged at her, and thrust a hand hard at the barrier. Granny took a step back, trying to hold it up.
"No, you fool!" Granny pleaded with him as the shield began to break, "Don't you know that if you destroy me… then no one… no one will be able to control Darkseid?!! I'm his voice of reason! Listen to me! If I'm gone, he'll destroy everything instead of conquer it! Do you want that?"
"That's not going to happen even if you alive! So it doesn't matter anymore!"
He pushed through the barrier, and it broke. Granny squealed as she made a run for it. She summoned the hoverdisk to get away. As it approached, she leapt in the air toward it.
Much to her surprise, a tall, green Tyrannosaurus Rex was right there with an open mouth. Granny cried out in pain as the beast brought down its mouth and sunk its teeth in. Beast Boy changed back into this normal self, spat out the scepter, and resumed his neutral expression.
Darkseid was now back on his hover disk, stunned to see his closest subject eliminated. Suddenly, Darkeid heard a "hah!" above him, as if it was a battle cry. It was Constantine.
Constantine held his sword above his head, gripping it hard, the blade pointed upward. Although he was in midair, his legs were slightly bent – like in a crouching position. His red-leather trench coat fluttered in the wind. His eyes blazed and focused on Darkseid.
Darkseid couldn't move. He was stricken with shock – his jaw dropped. All he could do was watch. Though it all happened in exactly five seconds, Darkseid felt like he was watching this for five minutes.
Darkseid was standing still on the disk when Constantine swiftly brought the blade down. Darkseid didn't even feel it.
His eyes widened as he saw the Constantine's shoulder facing him eyes staring at him. The sword's tip was now pointing down. After a few seconds, Darkseid was baffled to see his vision divide and move in two opposite directions. His right eye was moving downward and his left moved upward. Constantine's body was distorted.
The Son of Raven had literally divided Darkseid in half with one vertical cut.