Oh, Author Idol. When will the torment end? When I last left you concerning Remember the Titans, I was awaiting the judging on Round Two. I did get through Round Two with Adéle; I also managed to get through Round Three, which… was tough, to say the least. I only barely got through. Actually, to put it in layman terms, my Round Three entry got ripped to bits by all three judges, but I still got through because nobody else really managed to hit the mark either.
What was Round Three? Write a humour piece, 400-600 words. The catch? Limited dialogue tags. So basically… no separate sentences apart from those attached to speech. Which meant, effectively, that you were writing a script. And it's not as easy as you'd think. Mine died a gruesome death – so did most of the others. I have posted it up (it's called Punish Not My Evil Son) and, uh… well, you can see how funny you find it. I admit it to not being comedy gold, and it fell seriously flat with "Simon", "Randy" and "Paula"… But, eh. It's up, anyway.
Round Four… ugh. Somebody kill me now… 500-800 word piece. Second person. NO adverbs. No adverbs. NO ADVERBS.
Rawr…
I'll keep you posted… :(
Thankyou to: Quinn and His Quill (stop asking questions, you…); Dark Austral (it's a dang shame that the judges didn't find my Author Idol entry as funny as you and a few others found that Arsenal line…); Someone (no, this story is not almost done! There's still so much to re-equilibriumise… Seth, Slade, dead Titans, baby, that damn contraception issue…); Ray1 (one of my best chapters? Why thankye muchly!); Athena's Wings (Marcus gives Seth some hate in this chapter, but he doesn't use a, uh… giant paper shredder… I am looking forward greatly to this poster, BTW!); LoopyLouise123 (yup, Robin's always got someone to save his booty! And don't worry – I'll sort out all those loose ends for you, in one lovely big braid. With sparklies and beads, okay?); YamiTai (Marcus is back this chapter to dish out some punishment – there's also something special for you… although I am not sure if you will like it or not…); CrazyInsomniac (wow, a treat, huh…? Guess you wouldn't consider my pathetic Author Idol entry one of those…? O.o); Guardian of Azarath (hee hee, did you ever get around to updating your fic? And yeah, sure Marcus showed up to screw with Seth's plan; that's what good guys are for, right?); Simmie (see, the problem with you, Simmie m'dear, is that you notice too much… and I can never answer your questions!); Me (yeah, Slade lost his soul. Last chapter, actually. Go and check it out if you missed it. And another one who found that Arsenal line funny… the irony..,); Narroch (wait, I'm sorry, who are you again? I vaguely remember your name from a time a very long time ago, when you reviewed… Thanks for joining us, you bum. :D JK, you know I love you. I'm not a leech, BTW. And I was 16 when I wrote this, not 14); and TheFallenAngel67 (yeah, I'm cruel. All my cliff-hangers are chosen very carefully. Mwa ha ha. You think Marcus is eccentric? Hn. Maybe…)
Below the Belt
Waiting until the floor above them had stopped vibrating, Raven's bird-shaped empath emerged into the room again. Robin and Raven stepped from the shadow of it and looked around warily.
Where the Orb of Azarath had connected with the hard floor there was merely a splayed scorch-mark, glittering with a vague essence of the magic it had once harnessed.
Terra and Arsenal ventured up tentatively from behind their wall of rock.
Clustered together around Marcus Vandiver, the senators all looked around, lowering their barriers.
Of Seth, there was no sign whatsoever.
Raven embraced Robin tightly.
"You did it!" She cried. "You beat him!"
Her lips swept towards his and his heart sank…
Stopping her lips with his fingertips, he looked very hard at her.
"Raven," he said levelly, "do you love me?"
She hugged him tighter.
"More than anything else," she whispered.
Feeling sick, Robin prised her off.
"Then…" He took a deep breath and turned away. "…He's still here…"
He felt her grasp his arm and turned back to…
…her…
Seth Elliott grabbed him around the throat and threw him up against the wall, strangling him against it.
"You little bastard," he spat, relishing Robin's futile struggling. "You really thought that was going to kill me, didn't you?" He didn't even smile as he heard Robin choking. "Do you realise what you've done?!"
Robin couldn't answer him, instead gasping for air, clawing at Seth's strong hand.
"No, I don't think so," Seth whispered. "Not now. You're going to die, Richard. Now that you've destroyed my powers, I have no other choice but to punish you dearly for it. And now that I no longer need your soul… Well, you're going to wish you'd never been born, circus boy…"
"Seth, let him go!" Raven screamed at him, lunging at him, her eyes doubled, flaming red.
Seth effortlessly caught her wrist and threw her backwards.
"Be still, my bride," he said softly to her. "Now that my powers and my prophecy are no more, you and our child are all that matter to me. Do not make me hurt you."
"I'm not your bride!" Raven shrieked, getting unsteadily to her feet again. "I'll die before I'll give birth to your wretched spawn!"
"You're going the right way about it, let me tell you," Seth responded idly, throwing the near-unconscious Robin to the floor next to her. Raven knelt next to him, pulling him to her as he coughed and gasped for air; putting up a barrier as Seth suddenly struck out at her. The force from his blow ricocheted off, shorting out her wall of black energy, and she collapsed next to Robin, shaking her head as she propped herself up on her elbows.
Seth reached down for Robin again—
-And was sent flying as a pillar of rock smashed into him from the side, throwing him up against the wall. A hail of explosive arrows followed, and suddenly Terra and Arsenal were there, followed by the Senate.
All closing in on Seth once again.
Robin rolled over, coughing and massaging his throat.
"You okay?" Raven sat up, reaching for him.
"Fine…" He took a few deep breaths of air, as though he thought he could stock up for the next time somebody started strangling him.
She found her way into his grip once again, nuzzling against him for comfort. Tears leaked from her eyes.
"I really thought we'd done it…" she whispered, her voice catching.
"I-"
"Get up, both of you."
Robin and Raven looked up from where they were pathetically embracing one another to find Marcus Vandiver standing over them. When they didn't respond to his command, he reached down and hauled them both to their feet.
"You're both in danger now," he said before they could even open their mouths. "Robin; you he wants to kill. It is, however, Raven's welfare that concerns me more. That child within your womb is all he has left; it must be destroyed."
"Oh, sure," Raven spat. "I'll just go book an abortion right now, shall I?"
Marcus shook his head at her sarcasm, turning his attention back to Robin.
"Both of you must leave this place now," he pressed. "Robin, I want you to take Raven and go."
"Go where?" Robin asked desperately, wincing as an explosion sounded behind them.
"As far away from here as possible," Marcus replied, non-helpfully. "The rest of the Senate and I – with the help of your friends – will attempt to destroy him in his now-weakened state. It is, however, essential, that you two leave this place, in case we are unable to contain him."
Raven opened her mouth to fire off another argument, but Robin put his hand to her lips.
"Okay," he said softly. "We'll go…"
Marcus nodded tartly.
"We place her within your care, Richard Grayson," he said, his voice monotone. "Protect her with your mortal life; do not fail her. The birth of that child…"
Marcus shivered and turned away.
"Rest assured that it will not be a joyous occasion," he finished flatly.
"Marcus!" Raven called after him; he was still this cold, angry, terrifying version of himself, and she had to know… "You will defy Azar?"
"I must." He did not look at her. "For you. For Robin. For Azarath. For… for Jonathon. I must."
Without another word he sought to rejoin the rest of the Senate, his robes flowing behind him like liquid.
"He will kill him," Robin noted softly.
But Raven shook her head.
"Robin, I don't think he can. We can't run away," she whispered, clutching at his cape. "There's no escaping him now…"
"What other choice do we have?" Robin took hold of her wrist, tugging at her. "I'm not letting him hurt you."
"He won't." Raven pulled against him. "Robin, it's you he wants now."
"So you think I should just stand here and let him kill me?" Robin challenged her.
"No, but…" Tears leaked from Raven's eyes once again. "Robin, I don't see what good running will do…"
"We won't know until we try," Robin replied, pulling at her desperately. "You know I hate running away, Raven. You know I do. But we have to try."
Still concocting more arguments, Raven let him drag her towards the kicked-in doorway of the room. He offered her a reassuring smile; his face set as he turned away from her again.
And besides, he mused grimly, when have I ever taken "No" for an answer?…
—
"I can't see us beating this guy, T," Arsenal muttered as he and Terra came back to back, panting with the extraordinary effort it took to fight Seth.
"Maybe not us," Terra murmured in reply, shaking her hair back. "These guys… maybe."
She went to dart forwards again and Arsenal caught her around her lithe waist, pulling her back to him.
"Roy!" Terra seethed, pushing against his chest. "What are you…?"
Blue met blue, his through his mask, hers half-obscured by her wave of gold hair.
He kissed her quickly, his lips pressing against hers for such a brief time she barely had time to widen her eyes before he pulled away again.
"In case we don't survive," he said, releasing her. He swept past her, leaving her standing there, one hand at her mouth.
"You aren't Beast Boy, Roy," she said softly, still not turning to him.
Arsenal froze for a few seconds.
"Neither was Dick," he said finally, not turning to her either.
They stood there, back to back, perhaps a metre between them, and silence bouncing across that metre-span.
Finally Arsenal broke it and walked away, sliding an arrow into his bowstring.
Terra whipped around, watching him go. Tears shone in her eyes.
I guess he never really did forgive me…
—
"This is all about Jonathon, isn't it?" Seth mocked, taking a blow from Aurora Mariotte in a knife block, deflecting an attack from Zachariah Warrix with his other hand.
His gaze, however, was on Marcus; and his language, now that he was no longer threatening Robin and Raven, had slipped comfortably back into Azarathian.
"Look at you all," he went on maliciously. "All rallying to defend his honour. Jonathon was not worthy of being a senator, let me tell you. Mind you…" He grabbed James Sinclair by the front of his robes as the other senator came behind him, throwing him effortlessly to one side. "…None of you are. Azar knows the quality of the Senate had gone downhill…"
He spun, grasping an entire handful of arrows from behind and crushing them in his grip. He sent a force of invisible energy at Arsenal, throwing him backwards into Terra, sending them both sprawling.
"Even enlisting the help of humans," he spat, turning back to Marcus. "And I thought you could sink no lower…"
"I could not ever sink as low as you, Seth…" Marcus spat in reply.
"Oh, is that so?" Seth sneered. "Despite my unsavoury motivations and methods, Marcus, I rather think that your repertoire of believing every lie I ever told you, rallying every filthy lower breed you can find to join you, and falling in love with another senator, who was both an idiot and the same gender as you… Yes, I rather think that makes you lower than me, Marcus, whether you agree with me or not."
Tight-lipped and furious, Marcus did not answer him, cutting a blade of green energy at him instead. Seth threw up a forcefield which then expanded at his command, seeming to explode outwards, slamming into all of the senators. They were each thrown backwards as they were hit by – seemingly – nothing.
His eyes blazing white, Seth stood alone in the middle of the room, waiting from them to get up. Sure enough, seconds later, Marcus was soaring at him again. Stepping backwards and rocking with the blow, Seth pushed Marcus' attack away, snapping a kick into the other man's solar plexus. Marcus staggered, but healed himself seconds later, driving the pain from the blow.
Unfazed, Seth knee-hauled Marcus in the crotch.
His indigo eyes wide, Marcus crumpled. On his hands and knees, sweat beaded on his forehead as he forced out the incantation through gritted teeth; Seth's shadow fell across him as he did so.
"If you thought that was below the belt," he quipped,"how about this?"
Marcus lifted his head, his eyes blazing; but the blaze in them faltered and faded when he found, not Seth Elliott towering over him, but…
…Jonathon Vaughan.
Except the hazel in his eyes had given way to pure, solid, glittering green.
"Jonathon" knelt, grasping Marcus by the front of his torn crimson robes and hauling him to his feet
"Will you hit me or kiss me?" He whispered mockingly in Jonathon's voice.
Marcus looked away, shaking a little; and perhaps with the beginnings of tears in his eyes.
"Neither," he said finally, his voice little more than a whisper. "I'll kill you…"
He turned his face back to Seth; and with no other warning than his blazing-white eyes, his Soul-Self soared out of his body, and, as though solid, and electric even, barrelled right into "Jonathon", throwing him across the room with an explosive smoky collision.
"Jonathon knew you were a liar!" Marcus seethed as his Soul-Self joined back up with his solid body. "Azar help me, I wish I had listened to him. But you murdered him for what he knew, Seth. You will not dishonour his memory as well."
To pour salt in the wound, when Seth rose, he was still in Jonathon's form. A gash from the concrete on his cheek, the auburn hair in disarray, the emerald green cloak and black silk robes a little torn.
But he smirked, and basked in Marcus' anguished hatred.
"Azar damn you…" Marcus whispered in English.
—Already sensing her behind him, Seth whipped around, a shield already in place. Calica White's attack rebounded and she ducked beneath it, long dark hair flying. She swept a low kick into his gut, stepping backwards from it, her lips forming Azarathian spells, one after another. Her hair lifted and her eyes glowed white as white magic – so unlike Seth's – surrounded her, spiralling from her very form…
Seth lazily deflected it at the last minute, using her moment of weakness to grasp her arm, elbow her in the gut and throw her headlong to join Marcus halfway across the concrete floor. No sooner had he released his grip on her than he had Zachariah Warrix to contend with. The other senator slammed a kick into Seth's stomach, then uppercut him in the jaw before he could heal himself.
"You can't beat us all, Seth," Zachariah murmured. "Don't be a fool, and don't think that stealing Jonathon's form will make us go easy on you."
Seth looked up, wiping his (Jonathon's) mouth.
"It would be wrong of me to allow you to continue to remain so deluded, Zach," he whispered maliciously. "How about I clear matters up…?"
He swept at the other man, but Zachariah expertly parried his blows, knocking them aside. Not panicked in the slightest, Seth suddenly whipped behind him, allowing James Sinclair – who had been sweeping to attack from the other side – to smash into him. Even as both senators were sent sprawling, Seth turned back to them, muttering an incantation. He gave a complicated flick of his wrist and bands of glowing gold – not unlike Wonder Woman's lasso – were summoned from his fingertips, enclosing around Zachariah and James and binding them together back to back. Even as they struggled on the concrete floor, their magic rebounding from the enchantment upon their bindings, Seth turned from them and kicked Michael Shelley aside; then spun, knocking back Catriona Darke with another of his forcefields. She staggered and collapsed, struggling to get up again.
He turned, smirking—
Emma Tomasi punched him full-on in the face. Looking up – and again wiping his bleeding mouth – he found Emma Tomasi and Sarah de Marçon, squaring off in front of him.
He laughed.
"Ah, ladies," he mused dryly. "This is the part where you slap me and say you never want to see me again, right?"
"No," Emma spat, correcting him. "This is the part where we kill you."
"Oh." Seth's arrogant smile, plastered across Jonathon's face, did not deteriorate. "My mistake."
Emma came at him but he grasped her wrist, twisting it painfully to one side. Even as she cried in pain, Sarah swept to the rescue, snapping a kick with her high heels right into Seth's crotch.
He let Emma go and doubled over, but when they made the mistake of coming too close he suddenly straightened up again, grasping both women by their throats.
"Self-healing charm," he quipped brightly as he strangled them. "Works like… well, a charm."
He threw them in opposite directions with his inhuman strength.
"Guess I won't be calling you for a second date," he said breezily.
He slammed Aurora Mariotte aside too and closed in on Lawrence Westten, the last one standing.
Lawrence appeared bored, but backed away warily even so as he gazed at the other man with hooded eyes.
"If we could get this over with quickly," he sighed, magic glittering at his fingertips.
Seth threw him up against the far wall with sudden blast of luminous blue power.
"Quick enough for you?" He asked innocently as the senator slid down into a crumpled heap.
He sighed and lit himself up a cigarette, looking around for the next candidate to unleash his power onto. He still hadn't dropped Jonathon's form, despite the fact that he had hated the man enough to rip his heart right out of his chest.
He was looking for Robin. How he was anticipating killing that boy…
His eyes widened as he looked around wildly; searching for Robin, searching for Raven…
He spun and found Marcus standing in front of him, an unusual smile on his serious face. His cigarette dropped from his limp fingers, smoke billowing.
Around them, the others were beginning to get up also.
Terra and Arsenal dragged themselves to their feet.
"Where are they?!" Seth demanded seethingly, his murderous green gaze piercing Marcus.
Marcus Vandiver's smile only broadened; and again, he spoke in English.
"Gone…"
Seth screamed furiously, and the power that exploded from his fake form of Jonathon Vaughan was such that only those such as the Azarathian Senate could withstand his wrath…
TT
Sigh…
Not much to say, really. It's a short chapter, but…
Robin and Raven are back next chapter. Yayz!
RobinRocks xXx