"Vampire Genesis"
Chapter 7: "Sanguinary Sacrilege"
Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing do not belong to me. The former is the property of DC Comics and Time Warner, while the latter is the property of Kohta Hirano. The concepts of the Initiative and the Wamphyri belong to Joss Whedon and Brian Lumley, respectively. Additionally, the characters of Julius Belmont and Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes belong to Konami and the character of Rayne belongs to Majesco. The only thing I really own is this story and the plot for it.
Author's note: Oh, I'm really going to put the Titans through hell. With Jericho having been corrupted by the demonic monstrosity that used to be his father, the Titans are in for a literal hell of a time. They'll get some help, of course, but whether that help will be wanted is something else. And things may not end all that happily for a few of them. Anyway, on with the story.
Robin and Jericho stared each other down, trapped in the corridor by the quarantine protocol. A blade extended from Robin's shadow-metal arm. Jericho's hands twisted and grew into hideous claws. The two walked closer to each other, each prepared for an attack from the other. The two finally moved so that they had their backs to each other.
"It's come to this, hasn't it?" Robin intoned bitterly.
"Yes," Jericho hissed inhumanly. With an unnatural speed, he whirled to slash Robin with his claws. Robin's response was to dodge and kick Jericho into the wall. Jericho merely bounced off the wall and rebounded into a lunge at Robin, who caught him by his wrist and threw him. Jericho twisted in midair and landed on his feet, only to be assaulted by a flurry of punches thrown at speeds too great to be followed by an ordinary human. Then again, Jericho was no longer human.
Jericho grabbed one of Robin's fists and squeezed, puncturing skin, muscle, and bone with his claws. Robin bore the pain and kneed Jericho in the stomach. Unfortunately, when Jericho reflexively pulled away, he took much of the flesh and muscle of Robin's hand with him. The grievous injury began to heal and Robin flickered at Jericho, kicking him hard in the stomach and sending him flying back. Robin flickered behind Jericho, who whirled just in time to get a hard punch from Robin. Jericho's body sailed down the corridor and Robin flickered behind him again, knocking him down.
Jericho sprang into the air, kicking Robin in the head and rattling him. Jericho pursued his advantage, swiping at Robin with his claws. The wounds still healed, but not as easily as normally, much like the initial wound Jericho had dealt him. Robin threw his shadow-metal fist between Jericho's claws and struck him in the face. Jericho again went flying, Robin pursuing him down the corridor and slashing him repeatedly at super-speed with his shadow-metal blade. Jericho's wounds quickly healed, despite staining the white of his clothes with his blood.
Jericho finally landed on his feet, sweeping his leg out to trip Robin, who jumped over it only to find that Jericho had turned his sweep into an upward spin that landed his foot in Robin's stomach. Jericho pursued his edge and flipped upward to strike Robin with his other foot. Robin blocked the kick and grabbed Jericho's ankle, twisting hard, only for Jericho to twist with him and score another kick on him. This time, the kick came forcefully enough to send Robin flying down the corridor, Jericho pursuing him with vicious punches and claw swipes.
"Not so fun when the shoe's on the other foot, huh?" Jericho mocked.
Robin stabbed the floor with his shadow-metal blade, using it to anchor himself and stop his unwilling flight. Robin landed with a forward slant to his body, charging at Jericho while dragging his blade along the floor. The blade screamed with Robin's rage, sparking brightly as it was dragged along the surface of the floor. At the very last second, Robin brought the blade up to slash Jericho up the torso. Jericho clutched his wound, hissing in pain and fury.
The body jumper turned to run away from Robin, but Robin was faster, punching Jericho in the face despite his attempt to escape. Jericho fell to the ground, looking up at Robin with ferocious rage in his now-red eyes. He rolled to his feet and projected himself through Robin's body and past the barricades that were supposed to keep him in the corridor. Robin sped through, telekinetically pushing his atoms between the atoms of the barricades.
Unfortunately, he was just in time to see Jericho – in Kid Flash's body – attacking the other Titans. Robin charged at Jericho and struck him in the middle of his rampage. Jericho snarled at Robin and the two began fighting at high speed all over the living-ops room. Starfire was firing her starbolts at Jericho, but in Kid Flash's body, the new Wamphyr was just too fast. Beast Boy lunged at Jericho as a tiger, but Jericho whirled into a kick that sent the shape-shifter flying. Beast Boy rebounded as the Werebeast and rushed Jericho, who jumped into his body to maul Kid Flash and Robin, who both dodged his attack.
Mai sped at Jericho, fighting the Werebeast form he had stolen. As fast as she was, he proved to be faster, grabbing her by the throat and locking eyes with her. He abandoned Beast Boy's body for hers, throwing Beast Boy aside and attacking the other vampires. Gavin and Undine double-teamed Jericho, but he flipped over them and kicked them both in the back of the head. A Razorbird flew at him, but he simply twisted and bent backward to evade it, back-flipping into an attack on Argent, who materialized crimson plasma chains to trap Jericho, only for him to depart from Mai's body and leap into hers.
You will be my trump card, Jericho whispered harshly in her mind. He loves you. He will hesitate to fight me while I am using your body.
And that's assuming we let you use her body, Thanatos retorted.
In other words, you're not welcome in here, Argent added.
Jericho found himself forced to retreat from Argent's body, only to attempt to jump into Raven's body. Unfortunately for him, Raven's body was not an ordinary body. It was also a dimensional portal and thus . . . "NO!" the Wamphyr screamed as he was pulled into another dimension. Specifically, he ended up in Raven's mindscape, surrounded by avatars of the various aspects of her nature. "Do you think you can trap me here?!"
"Actually, you sorry fuck, yes," the green-cloaked Raven representing her courage answered.
"Try it!" Jericho yelled, lunging at Courage, only to be brutally smacked to the ground by her.
"This is a representation of Raven's mind. In here, she has absolute control. You don't. You're trapped."
In the real world, Raven looked at the Titans, a regretful expression on her face. "He's trapped. Until I can find a way to remove the taint of that leech from him, he's stuck inside me."
"Do you think you can prevent him from taking you over and using you to attack us?" Robin asked.
"I'll have no choice," Raven answered.
"That was just sick," Beast Boy said. "And not in the good way. There was just so much . . . evil in there."
"It wasn't him," Robin said. "It was that thing, that thing Slade put in him. We have to find a way to get it out of him."
You can't, L'andira whispered ruefully. The leech feeds itself into the host's nervous system. You can't remove it without killing him.
So be it, Robin answered. I'm sure Joey would rather be dead than twisted by that thing.
You're finally beginning to understand, L'andira congratulated him.
"Right now, we have to find Slade and make him pay for what he did to Joey," Robin spoke aloud.
"Sounds good to me," Kid Flash agreed.
"You don't even have to ask," Raven added.
Suddenly, the lights flashed on and off. "What's going on?" Beast Boy asked.
The front windows abruptly shattered, allowing a small contingent of black-clad intruders to enter. Their outfits were basically body-gloves with attached holsters for large and seemingly unwieldy pistols, one on each hip. Their faces were concealed by masks that covered their entire heads, save for a hole that allowed their hair to flow freely. Large opaque lenses vaguely shaped like teardrops were the only visible features on their masks. The leader was a woman, judging by the curves hugged by her body-glove and the long red hair that flowed from the mask.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in our Tower?" Argent asked.
"My name's Looker," the woman replied. "And we're here to retrieve the subjects you stole from us."
"You're from the Initiative, aren't you?" Robin deduced. "Looks like you're going to be in for a fight, because we're not letting you take them again."
"Come on, then, boy," Looker challenged.
"Titans, go!" Robin shouted, ordering the team into battle.
Looker drew her guns so quickly that even Robin, Kid Flash, and Argent could only register her reaching for her guns and then gunfire. Kid Flash sped out of the way of the bullets, while Robin performed acrobatic evasive maneuvers, and Argent blocked with a plasma shield. Raven protected herself with a telekinetic shield as well, while Beast Boy frantically moved out of the way of the bullets and Starfire flew into the air to evade. Starfire retaliated with her starbolts, only for Looker to blur out of the way of those starbolts and emerge behind Starfire, even though Starfire was aerial. With a vicious pistol-whip, Starfire was knocked to the ground.
"Starfire!" Mai shouted, leaping into the air for a flying kick to Looker, who simply circumvented Mai's attack and kicked her in the back. The kick sent Mai flying into the ceiling and as she fell, Looker accelerated her descent with another kick, this one to her stomach.
Kid Flash ran up the wall and along the ceiling, throwing himself off to tackle Looker hard. Unfortunately, Looker merely moved out of the way, leaving Kid Flash to plummet to the ground. Raven caught him telekinetically and gently set him on the floor. With a speed that took even Kid Flash aback, Looker tackled him to the ground, Kid Flash struggling against her superior strength. Finally, he simply vibrated through the ground, leaving Looker holding nothing but thin air.
That was when Beast Boy charged at her as a wolf, Looker rolling out of the way of Beast Boy's charge and shooting at him. Beast Boy dodged the bullets and tackled Looker, who simply put one of her guns to his muzzle, forcing him to jump away a split second before she pulled the trigger. The bullet struck one of the vampires in the chest, causing him to scream in pain and collapse, bleeding profusely.
"JT!" another of the vampires shouted in horror. "Aw, fuck! That was silver, wasn't it?" He looked at Looker, an angry expression on his face. "You bitch!" He lunged at Looker, only to be struck in the head from a bullet from her gun.
"Evan!" a vampire yelped, horrified.
Robin gaped in horror as he saw what was happening. Two of the vampires under his protection had been horribly injured, possibly killed. He zoomed at Looker, dodging her bullets and sliding into a kick that knocked her legs out from under her. As she fell, he punched her in the stomach with his shadow-metal fist, that same fist sprouting a blade that punctured the fabric of her suit and the skin, muscle, and organs beneath. Robin ripped the blade out through her side, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from her.
Looker rose from the floor, clutching her injured stomach as though to keep her organs from spilling out. She turned to the other black-clad Initiative soldiers. "What are you waiting for?! Help me!"
The other Initiative soldiers followed her instructions, attacking the Titans and the vampires under Robin's protection. Like Looker, they drew their seemingly unwieldy pistols, opening fire on everyone present. Unlike Looker, the Titans with more advanced senses could see them drawing their pistols and were thus able to react more swiftly. The vampires dodged the Initiative soldiers' bullets, trying their best simply to stay alive. The sad truth was that many of them simply did not know how to fight. They had strength and speed on their side, but with no real fighting experience, they would simply be cut down.
Starfire weaved around and between the bullets, using her tremendous flight speed to keep out of harm's way. She retaliated with starbolts that the Initiative soldiers managed to dodge for the most part. The ones they couldn't were absorbed by their suits, while Raven telekinetically slashed them with dark energy knives. Kid Flash zipped around the battlefield, knocking around Initiative soldiers whenever he got the chance. Beast Boy attacked the Initiative soldiers in various combat forms, ranging from a tiger to a gorilla to a wolf to a bear.
Looker pulled out a sword blade that looked like a more elegant meat cleaver from behind her back and attached it to the muzzle of one of her pistols. She zipped at Robin, swinging at him with the gun-blade, only for him to block it with his own blade. The two combatants jumped back from each other, dragging their blades on the floor to stop themselves. The two zoomed at each other, slashing each other upon passing. Looker whirled around and fired at him with her other gun. Robin dodged and zipped around the bullets, throwing Razorbirds at her. Looker shot the Razorbirds down, only for Robin to lunge at her and pin her to the wall.
An invisible force threw Robin off Looker, but Robin quickly recovered, even as Looker resumed firing at him. Robin dodged, retaliating with quickly thrown shuriken. Looker dodged the shuriken and continued shooting at Robin. Suddenly, a plasma whip lashed at Looker, knocking her gun out of her hand. The whip retracted, replaced by a crimson plasma fist that knocked Looker into the wall.
"Thanks for the save," Robin said.
"You're welcome, love," Argent answered.
Looker came back at Robin and Argent with her gun-blade, slashing at the duo. Argent chopped Looker's forearm, hitting a nerve that caused Looker to reflexively drop her gun-blade. Argent quickly caught it before it could land on the ground and examined it. "Nice weapon," she remarked. "I'll hold onto it for ya." Just as she was about to slice Looker with her own gun-blade, Looker telekinetically pulled it out of the plasma wielder's hands and back into hers.
"Argent, you think you can tap into Thanatos' powers?" Robin asked.
"Yeah," Argent replied. She concentrated, closing her eyes and reaching deep into her soul, where Thanatos resided. Her eyes opened and her body began to glow scarlet. She stretched out her arm and a double-edged sword materialized in her hand. "Crimson Shadow . . ."
Argent zoomed at Looker, about to slash her with Crimson Shadow when Looker blocked with her gun-blade. The two combatants pushed against each other with their blades, each seemingly even, until the tables turned via Looker pulling out a hidden pistol and shooting Argent in the stomach with it. Argent fell back, outraged by Looker's underhanded tactic.
"You don't bring a gun to a swordfight!" she shouted.
"Correction, Argent: You bring everything that will give you an edge to a fight and it's better that you don't let your opponent see all your cards," Looker retorted coolly.
Argent was rather surprised when her wound stopped bleeding and began to seal itself. A giddy smile soon came to her face. "Whoa . . ." She flipped back onto her feet and slashed at Looker, who dodged her swing and swung her foot out to trip Argent. The plasma wielder simply jumped over Looker's foot and kicked her in her masked face, sending her flying. Argent darted behind the flying Looker and slashed her in the back with Crimson Shadow, bringing her to the ground. Looker rolled onto her injured back, wincing from the pain, and telekinetically brought her pistol to her to shoot at Argent.
Argent dodged Looker's shots with inhuman speed, cutting Looker again with Crimson Shadow. "What's the matter?" she taunted the masked redhead. "Can't you keep up?"
In fury, telekinetic energy lashed out from Looker in all directions, knocking Argent to the ground and battering the other combatants, Robin included. Once the assault stopped, everyone was left almost too thrashed to get up. Some were quicker to recover than others, such as Robin, Argent, and the stronger vampires. The others soon got up after them and Looker's head turned to Argent in a manner that would suggest she had a murderous expression underneath her mask.
"Come on, then," Argent challenged.
Looker rushed Argent, armed with her gun-blade. Argent blocked with Crimson Shadow and spun around Looker, attempting to cut her again. This time, Looker simply blocked without looking at Argent and whirled to punt her into a wall. Argent flipped backward and landed on the wall with her feet, crouching on the wall and pushing herself into a swift thrust of Crimson Shadow at Looker. The masked redhead sidestepped Argent's thrust and swung her foot up to kick Argent into the ceiling.
A blue blast of sonic energy struck Looker in her wounded back, sending her crashing into the wall. She fell back and landed on the floor. The blast prompted the Titans to turn and see a repaired Cyborg standing with his cannon-arm out, a scowl on his face. "Get. The hell. Out. Of our home."
"Fine by us," one of the Initiative soldiers answered.
"No!" Looker yelled. "We wipe them all out! All of them!" She zoomed at Robin, only for Argent to interpose herself between them and block Looker's gun-blade. Looker grabbed Argent by her choker-clad throat and squeezed. Argent simply stabbed Looker with Crimson Shadow and pulled it out through her far side, spinning around to slash Looker again.
"Come on, Looker, it's time to leave," one of the Initiative soldiers, the apparent second-in-command, stated. "Those two cut you up big time. Besides, we've killed all the goddamned bloodsuckers in here, anyway."
"All . . . ?" Robin uttered, the scent of true death filling his nostrils.
The Initiative soldiers departed, the second-in-command supporting the injured Looker. When they left, the fog of battle faded away, only to be replaced by horror at seeing the vampires Robin had taken into his protection filled with bullet holes. Many of them had been shot in the heart or the head, and with the bullets being silver, those wounds had proved fatal. Even if they weren't hit in the head or the heart, the properties of the bullets hindered their healing abilities, placing them in critical condition if not killing them.
"Aw, man," Beast Boy uttered, shocked. He'd never seen so much death in front of him, not even when his own parents had been killed. He had the urge to throw up, but he managed to hold in the contents of his stomach.
"No . . ." Robin uttered. He zoomed over to one of the vampires, none other than Mai. "Mai . . . I'm sorry . . ."
"Don't be," Mai answered weakly. "Just . . . don't let me die, ok?"
"Just let me get those bullets out of you," Robin said, telekinetically plucking the silver bullets out of Mai. Still, Mai was having a hard time healing. "You've lost a lot of blood. Take mine." He removed his cape and pushed down the collar of his uniform shirt, revealing his neck to her. Mai leaned down and bit the vein in his exposed neck. Robin's blood flowed freely from his vein and Mai drank it greedily. The blood ignited every single neuron in her body, filling her with a strength and vitality that she had never known before, either as a human or as a vampire.
Finally, Mai pulled away from Robin, the blood she had drank from him coursing through her veins and healing her wounds so quickly that it was almost as though they'd never been made in the first place. Despite her lack of need to breathe, she panted heavily from feeling energized and aroused. The taste of Robin's blood on her lips was like a holy elixir to her, and in a way it was. She looked at his crotch and smirked.
"Why, Robin, is that for me?"
Robin looked down and saw that the fabric of his pants was straining to contain his erection. "Natural physical reaction," he brushed it off. "Blood drinking tends to provoke sexual arousal, whether you're the one feeding or being fed off."
"What will we do with all these deceased vampires?" Starfire asked.
"We'll bury them," Robin replied tersely.
And bury them they did. The vampires who were still alive and able to heal helped the Titans in burying their dead companions. Robin could feel L'andira's sorrow, intermingling with his own sorrow and his guilt. He should have been able to protect them, but he hadn't. Nothing in the world could change the fact that people had died, innocent people had died, because of his weakness, because of his inability to protect them.
Robin sensed a punch heading his way, but didn't do anything to dodge it. He simply let it hit him and knock him to the ground. He looked up at the one that had hit him, the young vampire Gavin, who was glaring at him with fury. "Gavin . . ."
"Save it, Boy Blunder," Gavin spat. "He believed in you. He fucking believed that you had the kind of power that could make real change, the kind of power that could strengthen us all. But you're nothing special, after all. Just some punk-ass who lucked his way into power and fucked it all up." He looked at the other vampires. "Come on. Let's get out of here while we still can. We'll take our chances on the outside."
The Titans watched sadly as the remaining vampires, save for Mai, departed from Titans Island via the tunnel pathway connecting Titans Tower to the city. "I don't blame them," Robin whispered. "I failed them, after all. I couldn't protect them and I couldn't protect Joey. Some leader I am."
"Please, Robin, do not beat up Robin over this," Starfire pleaded.
"How do you expect me not to?" Robin asked bitterly.
"We need to plan our next move," Raven said. "First, we need to figure out how they were able to access the Tower. Second, we need to strike back at them. Third, we need to find out what Slade's up to and stop him. With his new powers and nature, he's even more dangerous than before, although I'm sure you all know that already."
Cyborg plugged into Titans Tower's computer systems. "Ghost hacker."
"Ghost hacker?" Kid Flash asked.
"Hackers who leave no trace of themselves," Cyborg explained. "I know that someone hacked into our computer system; there's evidence of that, but they've left no footprints. The only hackers who can do something like that are cyberpaths."
"Cyberpaths?" Beast Boy repeated.
"Hackers who can psionically interface with computer systems and digital information," Cyborg explained. "The Initiative must have used one to cut through our security."
"Then that leaves the 'striking back' part," Robin said. "We're going to find these Initiative bastards and we're going to shut them down, and we're not going to stop until they are shut down. Are we clear on that?"
"Clear," a sensual female voice answered, prompting the Titans to turn and see three people on Titans Island. One was a seemingly young red-haired woman in skintight black-and-red latex, a bodice and pants, complete with platform heels, arm-covers, and curved blades attached to her wrists. The other two were seemingly young men, one auburn-haired and dressed in a brown duster over a black shirt and pants, a whip coiled on his hip. The other had long pale hair, piercing eyes, and was elegantly dressed in all black.
"Hello, Titans," the red-haired young woman greeted. "We're here to help."
End Notes: Those of you who've played the games in the Castlevania series ought to recognize the two guys. If not, they're Julius Belmont and Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes. For those of you who've played the BloodRayne games, you ought to know the lady is. If not, she's Rayne, formally Agent BloodRayne of the Brimstone Society.
I've put the Titans through hell, haven't I? First Jericho being turned, then the deaths of many of the vampires Robin was protecting, and the surviving vampires leaving. How much worse can I do to them? You'll see. Oh, you'll see. In the meantime, questions, critiques, and remarks are welcome. See you later.